Biggest inning of the season propels Aggies past Prairie View A&M, 13-3
Game #37: Texas A&M 13, Prairie View A&M 3
Records: Texas A&M (23-14, 7-8), Prairie View A&M (14-22, 10-4)
WP: Matt Dillard (1-0)
LP: Elijah Breeden (1-3)
Box Score
A 10-run explosion was more than enough for the Aggies.
After falling behind early, Texas A&M rallied behind a momentous fourth inning to defeat Prairie View A&M, 13-3, in seven innings on Wednesday night at Olsen Field.
“I thought we handled that really well,” A&M head coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “Sometimes you panic in a game like that … I thought we played a good, clean game.”
A&M used five hits and four walks in the season-high 10-run fourth inning to put the game completely out of reach. Three of those five hits came via the long ball, the most home runs in an inning for the Aggies all season.
The first of A&M’s home runs came off the bat of Kaeden Kent, who got the start in left field. Kent’s two-run blast was his first collegiate homer.
“I haven’t had one in a while,” Kent said. “The last one I had was in the fall, and it feels good.”
Brett Minnich launched a grand slam in the fourth that left his bat at 106 mph, traveling 433 feet over the right-field wall.
The big inning was capped off by a no-doubter, two-run homer to left by Jordan Thompson.
Early on, things seemed bleak for the Aggies who were trying to avoid their second-straight midweek loss. Ty Sexton got the start on the mound for A&M, tossing 1.2 innings and allowing three earned runs on five hits and a walk.
“I actually thought Sexton pitched really well,” Schlossnagle said. “I thought he had some really tough luck. He gave up four hits in the first inning. I don't think any of them were hit very hard.”
After Sexton, the Aggie pitching cruised while they let the offense battle back in the game. Matt Dillard relieved Sexton, pitching 2.1 innings of shutout ball with two hits. Dillard extended his streak of scoreless innings to nine in a row.
“It’s just staying true to who I am and not letting the results side of it get to me at all,” Dillard said. “Just trusting what coach [Nate] Yeskie puts in the wristband and trusting the defense behind me. Guys behind me are playing incredible defense.”
Despite a shaky start to the season for Dillard, Schlossnagle said he’s always had a lot of confidence in him.
“He’s an awesome young man,” Schlossagle said. “He has a great presence about him. He’s very mature, so I trust him. [The performances] are going to come and go, but he’s a strike thrower and that I trust.”
After Dillard, Chris Cortez pitched two innings and faced the minimum, retiring all six of his batters.
“It was really cool to see Chris go out there in his second inning and make a good PFP play and then turn around and smile,” Dillard said. “Haven’t seen that out of him, and it’s cool to just see that he’s having success and he’s also having fun out there.”
Despite loading the bases with one out in the seventh inning, Jaren Warwick worked a groundball to third base to close out the game on a 5-4-3 double play.
Much like last week's midweek contest, the Aggie relievers shined to keep their team in the game.
“The best is yet to come with this staff,” Dillard said. “I say it over and over again. As long as we just stick to who we are and not let anything get to us from the outside looking in and keep executing pitches at the bottom of the zone, I like our chances at the end of the road.”
As A&M slowly approaches the end of the road, they’ll need solid relief pitching to find success as they face tough competition in Southeastern Conference play, resuming with No. 13 Kentucky this weekend in Lexington.
