Ags fall to South Carolina in series opener, 9-7

GAME #49: South Carolina 9, Texas A&M 7
RECORDS: South Carolina 29-21 (11-14), Texas A&M 41-8 (16-8)
WP: Jack Wynkoop (8-4)
LP: Mark Ecker (1-2)
Save: Reed Scott
BOX SCORE

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COLLEGE STATION, Texas - It doesn’t take much evaluation to discover the biggest Aggie weakness.

For months now, A&M has beat back its defense with a strong bat and bullpen. Clutch swings have followed nearly every error. Dominant performances on the mound have whisked away poor ones.

During Friday night’s 9-7 loss to South Carolina, the Aggies problems came out again. However, this time, they weren’t able to hide them.

Things started well for the hometown boys. Singles through the left side by Nick Banks and J.B. Moss put the Aggies in a position to strike during the second inning.

While numerous line drives lost their battle against the south wind Friday, Ronnie Gideon saw an opportunity and powered a 1-2 pitch through the breeze up against the wall in right center. The two out double scored both runners and A&M had jumped ahead 2-0.

Errors and an abundance of foul balls plagued the Grayson Long led A&M defense in the third inning.

After a free pass was issued to the lead off man, a sacrifice bunt went awry for the Aggies. Long scooped up the attempt and tossed it to Ryne Birk, who was covering the bag. A lapse of concentration led to Birk dropping the out and giving the Gamecocks runners on first and second with an out to spare.

One bunt and one out later, there were two men in scoring position. One scored quickly after a ground ball to Blake Allemand was too deep at short for him to attempt a throw home.

A&M got out of the inning without allowing any more damage, but the gap had been cut in half at 2-1.

In the fourth, Hunter Melton obliterated a solo homer and as it soared by the scoreboard in left, A&M had recaptured its two run advantage.

At that point, the numerous problems mounting for A&M became too much for the Ags to contain.

The issues seemed to be as vast as they were plentiful through six innings. Long threw 113 pitches, due in part to South Carolina’s apparent ability to foul off anything that moved. In addition to the 30 plus foul balls, A&M committed four errors, each contributing to runs and forcing Long to keep firing.

With one on and one out in the sixth, A&M called to the bullpen and out came Andrew Vinson

After an all night back and forth, the maroon and white appeared to be fed up with a tight strike zone before the sixth. If they weren’t, a 2-2 pitch from Vinson that was called outside might have pushed them over the edge.

It was not so much the pitch, but the swing that followed it. A three run homer rode the wind to left field and the Gamecocks had a new found 6-3 lead.

The Aggies had now put themselves in a corner, but were determined to fight their way out.

Their biggest punch came in the seventh when Mitchell Nau took a 1-0 pitch deep to left field. The three run homer tied things up at six and appeared to put the Ags right back in the battle.

It stayed that way until the top of the ninth.

In came Mark Ecker and out went another Gamecock homerun. The two run blast, that wasted no time clearing the fence in right center, was a heavy blow to the Aggies closer. South Carolina eventually plated one more run, moving their lead to 9-6, before the ninth was done. Head coach Rob Childress discussed his closer's performance following the game.

“(There’s) just not a whole lot of confidence.” Said Childress. “He didn’t get a pitch away to the big boy (Kyle Martin) and he doesn’t miss mistakes. He certainly didn’t miss that one.”

In need of late magic, the Aggies appeared to find some in the form of Mitchell Nau. The veteran capitalized on a shift by punching a double down the right field line, scoring Ryne Birk from first.

That run ended up being all the Ags could muster and they know a good chance got away.

“We didn’t play our best baseball tonight.” Said Nau. “We stressed taking care of the ball defensively and that was the deciding factor in the game. We tried to be better on it this week, but the cards just didn’t fall our way tonight.”

Now they must regroup for the rest of the series, something Nau feels good about.

“We just have to flush this one, 100%. We can be mad about it tonight, but when we come to the ballpark tomorrow it will be just like we won this game. It will be a new day with new challenges. We lost this one, but there’s nothing we can do about that now.”

The opportunity to move on comes tomorrow at 2:00 PM.