Game #56: Southern Cal 14, #12 Texas A&M 3
Records: Texas A&M (41-15, 18-11), Southern Cal (46-16, 20-10)
WP: Andrew Johnson (8-2)
LP: Ethan Darden (4-4)
Box Score
Flush it.
That’s Texas A&M’s only option after Sunday’s ballgame went down the drain rather quickly.
With a 14-3 loss to Southern Cal at Blue Bell Park, the Aggies and Trojans will meet for a win-or-go-home Game 7 on Monday at 8 p.m. CT.
If A&M is to travel to Chapel Hill, they’ll need more success on the Blue Bell Park hill.
And that’s an understatement.
“I’m gonna flush this thing here in about five minutes,” A&M skipper Michael Earley said. “We’re gonna move forward, and we’re gonna come out tomorrow and get to play in front of our home crowd. What more could you want?
“We never want to lose. We never want to get our ass kicked. That always sucks, but it is what it is. It’s baseball. … We got a game tomorrow, and we’re excited to get out there.”
One night after Weston Moss never felt greater, the Aggie pitching staff fell into a crater.
After throttling Texas State earlier on Sunday afternoon, USC kept its foot on the pedal and drove hard-hit baseballs all over the yard and a pair over the fence.
The Trojans scored four in the first before adding three in the third and two more in the fourth. They then added a pair in the seventh and a trio in the eighth.
A six-pack of Aggie arms — Ethan Darden, Gavin Lyons, Cooper Powell, Hunter Vincent, Juan Vargas and Grant Cunningham — struggled and ultimately failed to keep the game within reach as each of the first five allowed multiple runs during their respective ineffective stints.
USC accumulated 17 hits, six of which went for extra bases. Finishing with five RBI, Andrew Lamb’s three-run home run in the third served as an early knock-out blow, but for good measure, Augie Lopez added a two-run blast an inning later.
“If there’s any day to show up, it’s tomorrow,” Gavin Grahovac said. “Season’s on the line, but at the end of the day, it’s nothing we haven’t done all year.
“Show up and respond. That was the message after the game.”
To that point, the Aggies are 11-3 in games following their 14 prior losses. They’ll need another to stay alive.
“Could there not be a more fitting outcome for this team than this right here?” Earley said. “This has happened to us a few times. Some of the losses we’ve had have been large, right? And all we’ve done is respond.”
Simply put: For A&M’s season to reach next weekend, someone must step up and pitch better.
See: Moss…or, more recently, USC’s Andrew Johnson.
“I’ve been here for four years. That’s the best pitching performance I’ve seen in four years. Hands down,” Trojan head man Andy Stankiewicz said. “In a big moment, when we needed somebody to step up and take the ball, there hasn’t been a guy who’s done that as well as (Johnson) did today.”
With his club facing elimination, the right-hander used 124 pitches to cover 7.1 innings.
He also threw 21 pitches vs. Texas State on Friday.
The big blows vs. Johnson were Chris Hacopian’s first-inning laser shot in the first and Grahovac’s 446-foot tank in the fifth, yet it wasn’t nearly enough weaponry to defeat the Men of Troy as Stankiewicz finally turned to his bullpen following Jake Duer’s eighth-inning RBI triple.
“That guy did a great job,” Earley said of Johnson. “We hit some balls hard and didn’t have anything to show for it, but we didn’t get hits with guys in scoring position, so he did exceptionally well when guys were on base.
“I thought we found some barrels. They found some gloves. No discredit to him. He did a great job.”
Turning to tomorrow, can A&M get something like what Johnson provided USC?
Through 56 games, the list of candidates appears thin, but the cupboard isn’t completely bare…though Saturday’s news about Aiden Sims stings even more.
At the back of the bullpen is National Stopper of the Year candidate Clayton Freshcorn. He can provide length, but how do Earley and Jason Kelly bridge the game to him? Or does he start?
Everything is on the table, but there are huge questions to answer.
If they can’t find the right ones, the season will wash down the drain.
