Kolek, bullpen lead the way as Aggies beat Rhode Island 4-1 on Opening Night
WP: Stephen Kolek (1-0)
LP: Tyler Wilson (0-1)
Texas A&M got its season started right on Opening Day, churning out 11 hits en route to defeating Rhode Island 4-1 Friday night in front of 6,169 fans at Olsen Field.
Stephen Kolek struck out 10 in 5.2 solid innings and the Aggies used an explosive second inning to grab a lead they did not give up.
“Overall I don’t think we could have played any better,” head coach Rob Childress said after the game. “It started on the mound, we got a veteran performance from each and every one of those guys. We played great defense behind them, and offensively we did a marvelous job. All the way around in every facet, I was really proud of the way we played tonight.”
The Aggies got the scoring started in the second inning, giving fans a taste of their high-level offensive firepower. Will Frizzell started it off with a sharp opposite-field double to left field in his first collegiate at-bat, and Logan Foster followed with a long at-bat that ended with him singling the payoff pitch to right, scoring Frizzell.
Moments later Baine Schoenvogel, who started in right field for the Aggies, laced a double down the third-base line to plate Foster from first. After a flyout, Michael Helman hit a ground ball to shortstop that scored Foster and gave the Aggies a 3-0 lead.
That was plenty of support for Kolek, who was dominant from the start. He struck out seven in the first three innings, including six in a row at one point. He scattered five hits, a walk and an unearned run, pitching into the sixth inning before handing the ball to Kaylor Chafin.
Chafin picked up right where he left off last year, tossing 3.1 scoreless innings of relief, striking out three. He retired Xavier Vargas, a left-handed hitter who recorded the Rams’ only RBI of the contest, to begin the ninth before Childress called for closer Cason Sherrod to seal the victory.
Sherrod, pumping a fastball that touched 96 on the radar gun, gave up a hit but got two outs with relative ease to end the game, including a strikeout.
“Seeing Chafin come out and do his thing was awesome to see, it brought back memories from last year,” Foster said. “And then seeing Cason come out of the ‘pen with that 96 mph fastball was something great.”
The Aggies tacked on another run in the fifth on a Cole Bedford double. First baseman Chris Andritsos led off the frame with a walk, and Bedford promptly deposited a line drive into the left field corner to score Andritsos from first.
The bottom of the order did the majority of the damage for A&M, as Frizzell and Foster went a combined 5-for-8 at the plate with an RBI and two runs scored.
Rhode Island starter Tyler Wilson lasted only four innings as the Aggies took him to several deep counts early in the game, elevating his pitch count quickly and getting into the Rams’ bullpen.
“Coach [Will] Bolt was telling us that we needed to stick to our approach at the plate,” said Helman, who went 2-for-3 with a walk. “I think as a whole we did a great job of that. We put a lot of good swings on balls and put pressure on the defense.”
Kolek and Chafin each gave up baserunners in the fourth and eighth, respectively, when they were pitching, only to have them erased on 5-4-3 double plays started by George Janca. The Aggies’ lone error came on an errant pickoff attempt by Kolek that got by Andritsos at first, and Braden Shewmake made a couple of nice plays at shortstop.
The win marks the 500th for Childress, and the 13th year coach was honored with a tribute that featured several former players, including Ross Stripling, offering kind words to their college coach.
“It’s pretty special — that means an awful lot to me,” Childress said of his former players’ reaction to his milestone victory. “That’s why we do what we do, and it just brings back a lot of great memories. I think anytime you get a benchmark win it’s time for reflection and all the players that have impacted you as a coach. It’s certainly nice of all those guys that had something to say.”
The Aggies return to the diamond on Saturday against the Rams. First pitch is scheduled for 1:02 p.m. as freshman lefty Chandler Jozwiak makes his first collegiate start on the mound.
