Struggles continue for offense, bullpen as Arizona upsets No. 1 A&M
Game #8: Arizona 3, No. 1 Texas A&M 2
Records: Texas A&M (5-3, 0-0), Arizona (6-3, 0-0)
WP: Casey Hintz (2-0)
LP: Clayton Freshcorn (1-2)
Box Score
HOUSTON — It happened again.
On a crystal clear Friday evening in Downtown Houston, it happened again.
With anemic offensive contributions and a bullpen that refuses to uphold a lead, No. 1 Texas A&M lost — again, for the third straight time — as Arizona pulled out a 3-2 decision at Daikin Park.
"One team got scrappy and out-toughed the other team," A&M head coach Michael Earley said. "From a performance standpoint, it's not good."
A&M led 2-1 entering the ninth, but closer Clayton Freshcorn — whether unlucky or plainly ineffective — was saddled with a second blown save of the young season.
After Maddox Mihalakis doubled off Kaiden Wilson to begin the ill-fated frame, Earley went to his fireballing righty.
With one out, Tommy Splaine lined a single to left to put men at the corners. It was the final hard-hit ball of the game.
"If you look at some of the so-called 'baseball failure' that we've had, most of it hasn't been super ugly," A&M starter Ryan Prager said. "Freshcorn just gets a little unlucky tonight. He got unlucky the other day, but he's one of our guys, and he's a guy we have full trust in.
"We just got to tighten it up a little bit, and that's us finding who we are and finding what we want to stand for."
Indeed, Easton Breyfogle and Brendan Summerhill drove in the tying and go-ahead runs, respectively, on infield singles, the latter coming with two outs.
That was enough to sink A&M, albeit for some controversy in the bottom of the ninth.
With one out, Terrence Kiel II reached on an infield single and darted to second on a throwing error by shortstop Mason White. The freshman speedster kept chugging for third and was ultimately gunned for the second out.
The play was reviewed — a delay that lasted nearly 10 minutes — and upheld.
"He's making an aggressive play, playing hard, which is hard to think about in the moment," Earley said. "You got to stay at second base right there."
Of course, Kaeden Kent subsequently singled, which would've scored Kiel had he not tried for third, but Jace LaViolette struck out to end the game.
It represented another missed opportunity for the Aggies.
Perhaps their biggest failure to capitalize occurred when they loaded the bases with nobody out in the first inning, yet Arizona righty Collin McKinney wiggled out of the jam.
Hayden Schott, Blake Binderup and Gavin Kash struck to end the threat.
"You've got to move a baseball with bases loaded and nobody out in the first inning," Earley lamented. "Your chances to win a baseball game having bases loaded and nobody out and you do not score, just look at statistics. It's not in your favor."
Those were the first three of 13 A&M strikeouts. McKinney sat down six across four scoreless, while reliever Casey Hintz struck out seven in five innings.
The Aggies finished 3-for-12 with two outs and were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
In fact, Wyatt Henseler's two-run homer off Hintz in the fifth was A&M's lone hit with men on base (1-for-10). It broke a scoreless tie and accounted for all of the Aggie offense.
"They're definitely pressing," Earley said. "With how we were approaching the fastball and getting beat by it at times and swinging at ones we shouldn't swing at and taking the ones we should swing at, we were up there hitting backwards."
Henseler was 1-for-2 with a walk and a hit-by-pitch. Kent was 2-for-5. The rest of the offense was 2-for-24.
Two Arizona pitchers were enough to hold the Aggies in check. Meanwhile, A&M needed four relievers behind its starter.
Despite the lack of run sport, Prager was his usual self across 6.1 innings in which he allowed just three hits and punched out 10 Wildcats.
The only blemish against him was Aaron Walton's solo home run in the sixth.
"How I like to play it is it's 0-0, and it's one inning every time," Prager said. "That takes all the outside noise out of it. It takes the score out of it. It takes whether it's the first or the seventh out of it, and just go pitch, and it's all about just executing pitches."
Yet another stout start by an Aggie lefty wasn't enough, as the offense and bullpen left Prager hanging.
A&M's ace has allowed just one run in 16.1 innings in 2025. He owns a 0.55 ERA. Yet only has one victory to show for his efforts, mostly because of the nonexistent offense.
Earley even admitted personnel changes could be coming, and with the skid at three, something must change and in a hurry.
"I'm super disappointed," Earley said. "I never want to feel like we get out-toughed, and I know we've got some dudes in there that are tough and got some grind in them, but we need that from everybody at all times."
The grind continues Saturday vs. Oklahoma State at 7:05 p.m. CT.
