Rob Childress
Turner Larkins
Braden Shewmake
John Doxakis
Texas A&M Baseball
Lexie Hudson, TexAgs
Pitcher Turner Larkins was impressive in his first start of the season, throwing four innings without allowing a hit.
The Wildcats got the scoring going in the top of the fourth. After cruising through his first three innings, Turner Larkins ran into a bit of trouble with a walk and a wild pitch.
Russell Crippen then delivered a sacrifice fly that scored Derek Scott and gave Abilene Christian the 1-0 lead.
The Wildcat lead would hold only for an inning. With two on and two out in the bottom of the fifth, Logan Foster came through with an RBI-single to left that scored George Janca and tied the game. That brought Shewmake to the plate with Nick Choruby on second and Foster on first.
Aggie pitchers dominant in 8-1 victory over Abilene Christian
Game #34: Texas A&M 8, Abilene Christian 1
Records: Texas A&M 23-11 (5-7 SEC); Abilene Christian 9-20 (1-14 Southland);
WP: John Doxakis (2-1)
WP: John Doxakis (2-1)
Throughout the course of the season, the most improved unit on the Texas A&M baseball team has been the pitching staff. A rough month of March has been offset by a couple of very solid performances in their last two SEC series.
On Tuesday, the Aggies continued their streak of success.
Four pitchers combined to allow just one hit as A&M defeated Abilene Christian 8-1 in front of 3,984 fans at Olsen Field. John Doxakis got the win, improving to 2-1 on the year. Braden Shewmake was 3-4 with a home run and 3 runs driven in.
Despite losing a combined no-hitter with two outs in the top of the ninth, Texas A&M head coach Rob Childress was more than pleased with the way his pitchers threw tonight.
“I’m just proud of our guys,” Childress said. “We weren’t real sharp early, but Turner made some big pitches and we got things going from a defensive standpoint. (No-hitters) are hard to get. You can’t get any closer than we got tonight, but all in all, I’m proud of our team.”
Lexie Hudson, TexAgs
Pitcher Turner Larkins was impressive in his first start of the season, throwing four innings without allowing a hit.
Russell Crippen then delivered a sacrifice fly that scored Derek Scott and gave Abilene Christian the 1-0 lead.
The run was the only blemish for Larkins, who was impressive in his first start of the season after battling injury and illness for the first few months of the year. The junior from Arlington threw 55 pitches in four innings and struck out two.
“It was good to get back out there,” said Larkins. “It’s kind of been a rocky season so far being sick and dealing with some other issues, but it was definitely good to get back out there and compete with my teammates and just get them off to a good start. I’ve still got a lot of work to do, but this was a good building point.”
The Wildcat lead would hold only for an inning. With two on and two out in the bottom of the fifth, Logan Foster came through with an RBI-single to left that scored George Janca and tied the game. That brought Shewmake to the plate with Nick Choruby on second and Foster on first.
The freshman from Wylie delivered as he has all year. Shewmake crushed a 1-0 pitch over the fence in right for his fourth home run of the year to give the Aggies a 4-1 lead.
“They threw me a fastball,” he said. “George set that whole inning up, Choruby drew a walk, Foster got a big hit and then we were able to make something happen from there.”
The Aggies would add a couple of insurance runs in both the sixth and seventh. An Austin Homan triple scored Joel Davis, while a Janca double – his second of the night – scored Homan. Hunter Coleman delivered an RBI-single in the bottom of the seventh, and Joel Davis followed with a sac fly. Altogether, the Aggies had 10 hits on the night.
Doxakis was solid in three innings of relief, not allowing a walk or a hit and striking out four. The left-hander was happy with his performance following the game.
I knew I just had to keep it down in the zone and throw a lot of strikes. I haven’t been doing a very good job of that, but I’ve been working on it and my teammates have been helping me
“I felt good,” he said. “I knew I just had to keep it down in the zone and throw a lot of strikes. I haven’t been doing a very good job of that, but I’ve been working on it and my teammates have been helping me.”Landon Miner pitched a perfect eighth, and then fellow freshman Jason Ruffcorn came on for the ninth. Despite allowing the only hit of the night, Ruffcorn looked impressive with his mid-90’s fastball and managed to seal the victory for A&M.
Moving forward, the Aggies travel to Tuscaloosa to play the Alabama Crimson Tide in a Thursday-through-Saturday series. Childress doesn’t seem to think that the team will be fazed by such a quick turnaround.
“We’ve done it quite a bit,” he said. “Our guys are prepared to have these short weeks on occasion, but the opportunity to spend Easter with your family is big for all of us – both teams included.”
First pitch on Thursday is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. The probable starter for A&M is junior right-hander Brigham Hill.
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