Offensive barrage, Turner Larkins push Texas A&M past HBU, 8-2

Records: Texas A&M 33-13 (13-8), Houston Baptist 22-18 (14-7)

WP: Turner Larkins (1-1)

LP: Ivan Smith (0-2)

The Texas A&M baseball team was looking to continue its recent trend of success after winning four straight games and 17 of its last 21.  

That trend continued on Tuesday evening as the Ags welcomed the Houston Baptist Huskies to Olsen Field. The Aggies found momentum early and never let it go as they won their fifth straight, 8-2.   

"We played a very solid game tonight. Pitching, defensively and offensively, we were very good," said A&M head coach Rob Childress. "We carried over what we did at Missouri last weekend. We played good in Missouri, and it was good to see us stay in the moment tonight."

The Aggie bats were the story of the ballgame. The Maroon and White pounded out 10 base knocks in the win and came up with clutch hits to push runs across. A five and two-thirds inning performance by Turner Larkins also aided the Aggies in the victory.  

After a scoreless opening frame, the Aggies came out in the second and exploded for four hits and four runs.

It all started with senior Joel Davis, who punched a one-out single through the left side of the infield.

After a Hunter Coleman walk and a George Janca single, senior Austin Homan placed a ball past a diving third baseman that scored Davis and Coleman with ease.

Walker Pennington was the next man up and promptly doubled down the right field line, beating an outfield shift, to plate Janca. Nick Choruby concluded the scoring in the inning with an RBI-groundout to shortstop. 

In the third inning, the Aggies were once again jump-started by Davis, who hit a hanging curveball over the right field wall for a solo home run.  

"We are worrying about ourselves and putting the blinders on, not worrying about the outside criticism. It is easy to get caught up in what people have said about us," said Davis. "Left-handed pitcher, got down 0-2 after some good swings on fastballs. He just hung a curveball, and I kept my bat speed and my barrel followed to drive it out."

The scoring trend continued in the fifth inning, as freshman catcher Hunter Coleman launched a one-out, solo home run over the fence in left center. The home run was the second on the season for Coleman. 

The Aggies were not done scoring on the evening however. In the eighth inning, after a Coleman single and a Janca walk, senior Blake Kopetsky, who pinch hit for Pennington, laced a ball down the left field line that scored Coleman from second. Choruby once again hit an RBI-groundout that scored Janca from third base. 

Another great story on the evening was the continuing dominance of the Aggie pitching staff. Junior Turner Larkins turned in an impressive outing, going five and two-thirds innings, giving up four hits, walking two and striking out three. The righty threw 88 pitches to notch his first victory of the season.

"I am probably going to be pretty sore tomorrow, but it was good to get out there today and I felt pretty good," said Larkins. "I have just been working with Casey, our trainer, trying to get back to full strength, and hopefully I can build off of this."

Junior Cason Sherrod came on in relief in the sixth inning and put up a stat line of one and one-third innings pitched, three strikeouts, zero hits and with zero walks.

Freshman Jason Ruffcorn took over in the eighth inning and went two strong innings with one strikeout and no walks on only 14 pitches. Freshman John Doxakis hurled the final frame for Texas A&M. The lefty found a bit of trouble, issuing a walk, a single and an unearned run, but the Ags eventually secured the victory.

With the win, the Aggies now turn their attention to nationally-ranked SEC West foe Mississippi State. The weekend series will begin on Thursday at Olsen Field.