No. 22 Texas A&M takes both ends of a Friday doubleheader
Game #13: No. 22 Texas A&M 6, Oakland 3
Records: Texas A&M (12-1, 0-0), Oakland (1-12, 0-0)
WP: Shane Sdao (3-0)
LP: Jordan Dahlof (0-3)
Save: Clayton Freshcorn (2)
Box Score
Game #14: No. 22 Texas A&M 10, Oakland 2
Records: Texas A&M (13-1, 0-0), Oakland (1-13, 0-0)
WP: Weston Moss (2-1)
LP: Camden Cooper (0-1)
Box Score
Double the wins, but there are two more chances to play cleaner baseball.
In a Friday doubleheader on the final non-conference weekend of the year, No. 22 Texas A&M took both ends of the twinbill from Oakland at Blue Bell Park.
The Aggies won the opener 6-3 before taking the nightcap 10-2.
“Even this whole week has been somewhat of a challenge,” A&M head coach Michael Earley said. “Just kind of out of our routine, which is fine. … There’s no excuse, but it’s not easy, and I thought they handled it well, minus some of those mistakes in the first game.”
Now 13-1 on the season, A&M bounced back from a slow start to the afternoon to score 14 unanswered runs from the third inning of the first game until the fourth of the second one.
Perhaps they were pissed off by the early deficit. Perhaps they were pissed off by a few head-scratching base-running mistakes.
Either way, they responded.
“We didn’t necessarily hit the ball how we wanted to hit the ball,” Earley said. “Just some bonehead mistakes on the bases. … Those little things can really catch up to you know, and at one point, because of that, we made two outs on one pitch.
“Our swing decisions were good. We actually barreled the ball a decent amount. It was just like, ‘Do your job.’”
It was an extended stay at the office, but the job ultimately got done twice.
After allowing three runs in the second of Friday’s 18 frames, Shane Sdao retired the final 16 Golden Grizzlies he faced, providing plenty of length to begin a long day of baseball.
Caden Sorrell hit a three-run homer in the third, and Gavin Grahovac doubled home a pair two frames later to take the lead for good.
Grahovac continued his torrid day with a 2-for-4 showing in the latter victory with a homer and three RBI.
“Even his outs were loud,” Earley said of Grahovac. “We are really trying to work on him staying behind the baseball.
“He’s got to stay on behind the baseball, and more importantly, get good pitches to hit. He had been rushing some at-bats. Him, like some other guys, they’re not going to give you a perfect pitch to hit. You get three strikes for a reason, and I thought he did a better job of that tonight.”
Freshman Boston Kellner drove in four with a two-run single and a two-run homer in the evening rout.
Across the entire day, Terrence Kiel II reached base eight times, going 4-for-7.
However, he was caught stealing and picked off as the Aggies committed four outs on the base paths.
“We didn’t hit terrible,” Kiel said. “What we did bad was the base running, and coach Earley mentioned it in between games. He said, ‘Let’s clean it up. We’re a way better baseball team than that.’
“All we do is respond, and so we responded in the second game.”
That was the only thing Earley truly had to be pissed off about.
Weston Moss was pissed from his first three starts and channeled that emotion into an efficient quality start to follow Sdao’s lead.
Touching 98 mph on the stadium radar gun, the right-hander needed just 63 pitches to get through six innings of one-run baseball.
“I felt like I threw less than 10 off-speed [pitches], but I was just trying to throw it hard and in the middle of the zone, pretty much. That’s my mindset the whole time,” Moss said. “I just think I’m better than what I’ve shown this year, so I’m just pissed.”
The only run Moss allowed was a fourth-inning home run after the Aggies were already up 8-0, having scored five in the first and three more in the second.
Two more games remain until a trip to Norman to begin the conference slate.
One of those is a brunch-timed contest to finish the series with Oakland on Saturday at 11 a.m. CT.
“We’re going to get challenged again tomorrow,” Earley said. “There’s no asterisk on the schedule or on the win-loss record. You've got to come out and perform. I don’t doubt these guys, and I think they’re going to come out and play well tomorrow.”
