Offense buzzes as No. 14 A&M run-rules New Mexico State, 19-0
Game #13: No. 14 Texas A&M 19, New Mexico State 0 (7 innings)
Records: Texas A&M (8-5, 0-0), New Mexico State (7-6, 0-0)
WP: Ryan Prager (2-0)
LP: Jack Turner (2-1)
Box Score
A few nights ago, Michael Earley sat in Texas A&M's third-base dugout and lamented his club's difficulties in playing nine clean innings.
Beggars cannot be choosers, so the first-year skipper will have to settle for seven such frames.
That's all No. 14 A&M needed in a 19-0 offensive annihilation of New Mexico State on Friday night at Blue Bell Park.
"Seven sounds good too, as long as we come out on top," a happier Earley said postgame. "In baseball, hitting comes and goes, and it just happened to come tonight. I've never, ever been concerned about this team and swinging the bat throughout the course of the season.
"Obviously, some concerns were raised on defense. We've just got to continue to build and continue to grow. Just because we've done well a couple of games in a row, it's the expectation every single day."
With the run-rule victory, long faces were replaced by wide smiles, even in the absence of long hair.
With many of the men in Maroon & White now sporting fresh buzz cuts, A&M scored sixteen earned runs on 18 hits. Defensively, they committed no errors for a second straight night.
The home nine tagged NMSU pitching for eight extra-base hits and went a ridiculous 10-for-19 (.526) with runners in scoring position.
"You've got to continue to play clean baseball, and I think you feed off of it," Earley said of his offense. "Whatever side of the ball you're on, you've got to perform. It's definitely contagious, and when you can put it all together, really good things can happen."
Scoring in five of six turns, all nine A&M starters base hit. Seven drove in at least one run. Only the mastermind behind the haircuts — the obvious Hayden Schott — did not score.
Despite a 3-for-5 night, No. 12 could have even shorter hair tomorrow.
"He might have to go bald," Earley quipped.
Jace LaViolette was 2-for-4 with three runs scored and four runs batted in. His third-inning home run — a two-run blast and the 54th of his career — is his first-round tripper since Opening Weekend.
"That one was a breath of fresh air for me," LaViolette said. "It has been fun kind of going through the tough times with the boys, and as you can see, we all shaved our heads, so you know, sometimes you have to start fresh and do some new things."
However, he is far from the only offensive standout.
Freshman spark plug Terrence Kiel II was 3-for-5 with two doubles and two RBIs.
Third baseman Wyatt Henseler was only 1-for-3 but launched a two-run shot to left in the second.
However, the biggest bat of the night belonged to first baseman Gavin Kash, who finished 3-for-5 with five runs driven in.
"Everybody's happy, obviously," he said. "Not saying we're breaking out of whatever we were in, but it's a step forward, and that's all we're asking."
Kash's grand slam in the sixth capped an eight-run frame that pushed the lead to 18-0.
He is among those rocking a new hair-do, but he owes his success to mechanical changes to his swing that have been implemented recently.
"Timing is everything in this game," Kash explained. "It doesn't matter what swing you have, so trying to be on time and be ready for anything is the only thing that we've been working on."
The offensive outburst makes left-hander Ryan Prager's second career complete-game shutout something of a footnote.
In lowering his ERA to 0.39, A&M's ace allowed just seven base runners across seven innings.
"Being able to do that, we kind of set up the rest of the weekend," Prager said. "Now, we're set up better for Saturday and Sunday and to win multiple games on the weekend, but at the end of the day, my job is to get outs, and really, it's just to make pitches. We try to go and do that as long as I can."
Bookending the night with strikeouts and fanning seven total, he became the 21st member of A&M's 200-strikeout club with a fourth-inning punchout of Jonatan Clough.
For that milestone, he received an ovation at the half-inning's conclusion.
"I didn't know where I was or how many I had," Prager said. "Being at Texas A&M has been one of the best things ever, one of the best decisions of my life. To be able to be a part of Texas A&M and kind of be enriched in the history is really cool."
Despite his success, Prager is not among those with a buzz.
By LaViolette's estimation, every position player except for three, as well as a few pitchers, have gone to athletic trainer Kalie Swain's make-shift barber shop.
Her clippers appear to be working.
"Sometimes baseball teams do quirky stuff," Earley said. "Whatever you think gets you going. What I do like about it and like about this group of guys is just the sense of team and doing stuff together. For the record, not everyone has to cut their hair, and a couple of guys have great hair, and I asked them not to.
"I think it just kind of shows their mentality, but also, baseball players do some weird stuff to try to get hits."
A&M's clean-cut ball club will aim for more clean frames when the series resumes on Saturday at 2 p.m. CT.
