Texas A&M suffers first loss as offense fails to support Patton's gem
Game #6: Cal Poly 3, No. 1 Texas A&M 2
Records: Texas A&M (5-1, 0-0), Cal Poly (2-5, 0-0)
WP: Tanner Sagouspe (1-0)
LP: Clayton Freshcorn (1-1)
Box Score
A question posed on Saturday found an answer on Sunday.
No more.
Texas A&M's 35-game non-conference winning streak came to a crushing end as Cal Poly stunned the top-ranked Aggies in the series finale, 3-2.
"We just got to play better, and we haven't been playing well," A&M head coach Michael Earley said. "There's no excuse. It's my fault. I should've had them more prepared, clearly, and they weren't, so we'll continue to get better on that front."
For much of the afternoon, the 5,315 at Blue Bell Park watched a briskly played pitchers’ duel.
But in the ninth, most likely wanted to avert their eyes.
One Long Beach transfer's hours of brilliance were undone by another in an instant as Jack Collins' two-run homer to left off closer Clayton Freshcorn erased A&M's 2-0 advantage.
Then, Casey Murray Jr. reached on Gavin Grahovac's second error of the late innings and eventually scored the game-winning run.
It was the sixth unearned run allowed by A&M in just six games.
"I'm not feeling great about the defense," Earley said. "We got to clean it up, obviously, because it hurt us today, and it's going to continue to hurt us unless we do it. Right now, we're not covering it up with offense."
Left-handed starter Myles Patton, the aforementioned former Dirtbag, was fantastic, though he received minimal run support.
While the defensive struggles continued, A&M's undoing on Sunday was its offense.
After Hayden Schott's RBI single in the third, the Aggies went 0 for their last 19.
In fact, only one man reached after Schott's knock: Jacob Galloway on a two-out walk in the seventh. He was erased on a stolen base attempt that baffled even the Aggie coaching staff.
"From a performance standpoint offensively, just from batted balls and striking the baseball, we have to be better," Earley said. "Hitting is hard. It's extremely hard, but I expect our guys to perform."
An efficient Patton went toe-to-toe with Cal Poly righty Ethan Marmie for the better part of seven innings.
The Aggie southpaw allowed just four hits and fanned eighth, leaving to a thunderous ovation early in the eighth.
The Mustang was removed after seven frames in which he allowed just five hits. The demarcation between the two lines was a two-run third in which A&M strung together a walk, two singles and an RBI groundout off Marmie.
"We didn't execute from an offensive standpoint," Earley said. "We're going to continue seeing good stuff, especially playing in the SEC, and that guy did a really good job, but we've got to be better as a whole offensively."
Jace LaViolette walked and scored. Wyatt Henseler singled and scored. Schott was 2-for-4 with an RBI and Gavin Kash drove in A&M's second and final run.
Obviously, it wasn't enough.
In relief of Patton, Brad Rudis retired all three Mustangs he faced, but Freshcorn faltered in the ninth.
"He's going to continue to get the ball," Earley said of his closer. "He's going to keep throwing. They just put good swings on it."
Through six games, A&M is fielding a putrid .948 with 11 errors.
The weather could explain some of those woes, but not on Sunday, as mid-50s temperatures and a slight north wind represented a welcomed improvement from prior early-season conditions.
Yet, the vaunted offense did not heat up and failed to record an extra-base hit. The Aggies are hitting just .266 and slugging .462 against non-conference pitching.
"Our offense is not where it needs to be," Earley said. "Our offense will get there. I'm very confident in that. We just got to continue to get better on the defensive end."
While the starting rotation of Ryan Prager, Justin Lamkin and Patton has shined brightest, the bullpen remains a big work in progress.
Simply put, the Aggies must be better. Earley acknowledged as much.
Previously, the A&M skipper said he preferred to learn in a win rather than a loss. Now, he gets his first lesson in the latter.
"The problem was that we weren't learning, and that's on me," Earley said. "Baseball is a funny game. A loss was bound to happen. I didn't think we were going undefeated, so we just have to continue to grow and get better.
"I'm not concerned. I'm not worried. A little bit excited to get to work and fix it."
That work better find better answers.