Texas A&M grabs Thursday's series-opener versus LSU, 6-1

GAME #22: Texas A&M 6, LSU 1
RECORDS: Texas A&M 20-2 (3-1), LSU 15-6 (1-3)
WP: Jace Vines (4-0)
LP: Jared Poche' (2-3)
SAVE: Brigham Hill (1)
BOX SCORE

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Playing a team with the pedigree of #13 LSU, you cannot take anything for granted. During Thursday’s series-opening 6-1 win, the Aggies certainly didn’t.

Despite the offense stalling in the middle innings, the Aggies rode a strong performance from their starting pitcher and scored insurance runs in the seventh and eighth innings to close out the Tigers.

From the start, Texas A&M came out swinging…literally.

J.B. Moss took the first pitch he saw through the left side for a leadoff single. Soon after, a wild pitch and an infield single moved Moss to third. A&M grabbed a 1-0 lead two batters later when Hunter Melton’s sacrifice fly to right field proved deep enough to score Moss from third.

The maroon and white lead was doubled in the second inning.

After Michael Barash walked and Walker Pennington singled through the left side, A&M had runners on first and second. Failing to get a bunt down in two attempts, Nick Choruby finally swung away and grounded into a fielder’s choice that left runners on the corners.

Unlike the man before him, George Janca was able to get a good bunt down. The well placed sacrifice down the first baseline scored Barash from third and A&M had seized a 2-0 lead.

A&M’s starter pitcher, Jace Vines, cruised through the first two innings for A&M, facing just seven batters. The situation became a bit stickier in the third frame when LSU put runners on the corners with one out.

The young righty has proven tough so far this season in those situations and did nothing to alter that reputation in the third inning. First, he captured a clutch strike out, then forced a fly ball to center. Nick Choruby laid out to make the catch and got A&M out of the inning unharmed, albeit in dramatic fashion.

LSU threatened again in the fifth inning when Michael Papierski led off the frame with a double down the right field line. Vines pitched his way out of that jam, but wouldn't be so fortunate in the sixth.

A high fly ball to right field was lost in the twilight sky by Nick Banks and dropped for a leadoff triple. An RBI single later and LSU was just one back at 2-1. While the sixth didn't go as cleanly as the frames before it, Vines still did a masterful job of limiting the damage to just a single run.

“In those situations, you’ve got to make pitches,” said Vines on his mindset with runners threatening. “You cannot wait for them to ground out, you have to hit your spots. I think coach Childress had a great approach where we were attacking guys inside with fastballs, then throwing soft stuff away.”

“With that defense behind me, I just have to make them put it in play and let the defense make plays like they have all year.”

Vines would be pulled in the next inning, but his replacement, Brigham Hill, was just as good. He threw three scoreless innings and allowed the A&M offense to go to work.

After failing to capitalize on chances, most notably a bases loaded situation in the fifth inning, Texas A&M’s offense had begun to stall out through six innings. Cue Boomer White.

With runners on first and second, White pounded a 1-0 pitch to the gap in left-center, scoring George Janca and putting Ryne Birk on third. With a 3-1 lead, A&M drew back-to-back walks and pushed the lead to 4-1 heading into the eighth inning.

For a team as prolific on offense as A&M is, letting chances go by is never what their head coach wants to see. With that said, Rob Childress was pleased with the way his team rebounded.

“When you don’t get those big hits early, it’s usually going to be a one-run game. We were fortunate enough, in those later innings, to line ‘em up and get some big hits to pull away. Boomer White’s first two at-bats weren’t very good (two K’s), but his last two were the at-bats of the night.”

As Childress stated, Boomer White came through in the clutch with his RBI in the seventh inning, then another in the eighth. J.B. Moss contributed an RBI of his own in the eighth and A&M had reached its final tally of 6-1. Getting a win in the first game of a series is always important, but to do it against a rival like LSU is even better.

Moss agrees.

“(Winning the first game) is huge,” He said. “You give yourself the best chance to win the series by winning that first game. We’ll enjoy it tonight, then get ready to throw down tomorrow.”