Shewmake's big night leads Aggies over No. 25 South Carolina, 6-3

Game #53: Texas A&M 6, South Carolina 3
Records: Texas A&M (36-17, 13-15 SEC), South Carolina (30-22, 15-13 SEC)
WP: Kaylor Chafin (4-0)
LP: Logan Chapman (3-2)
SV: Nolan Hoffman (12)
Box Score

Two early home runs, solid relief pitching and timely hitting with runners in scoring position propelled Texas A&M to a 6-3 series-opening win over No. 25 South Carolina Thursday night at Olsen Field.

As a team, the Aggies racked up 13 hits and five different players notched multi-hit performances. Braden Shewmake led the way with a 3-for-4 night.

“Really a hard-fought win. South Carolina has had an amazing second half of conference play and they’re incredibly well-coached,” head coach Rob Childress said after the game. “Not very often have we had the opportunity to win a series in game two. It’s such a huge win, and we were a very determined group tonight. I couldn’t be more proud of our guys.”

Shewmake put the Aggies ahead early with a two-run homer in the first inning. Michael Helman worked an eight-pitch at-bat that ended with a sharp single to left, and Shewmake followed by smashing a 1-0 fastball to deep right, his fifth homer of the season.

Aaron Walters followed suit in the second, blasting a solo home run to right-center field that gave the Aggies a 3-0 lead.

“It’s huge — you can breathe a little bit,” Childress said of the two early homers. “When you’re chasing runs early in the series, they’re hard to come by and to have that lead was huge.”

Walters’ homer was the first of his college career, and he said he knew it was gone when it left the bat.

“It was great to get it off my shoulders. I’ve been wanting to do it, so it was great to get it over with,” Walters said. “I hit it really well on the barrel. I didn’t feel it at all, so that’s how I knew I hit it good.”

Mitchell Kilkenny cruised through the first two innings, but the Gamecocks got to him for a run in the third, fourth and fifth innings to tie the game. The last two runs came on solo home runs, with Madison Stokes going deep in the fourth and Carlos Cortes doing it in the fifth.

In all, Kilkenny allowed six hits and three runs in five innings, striking out six. He was saddled with a no-decision, and he has not won a start since he beat Alabama on April 13.

The Aggies managed to re-take the lead in the sixth. Shewmake led off with a single up the middle, moved to second on a passed ball and then scored on an infield single by Frizzell that caromed off pitcher Logan Chapman’s glove and bounced into shallow right.

Walters reached on another infield single later in the inning, and George Janca almost padded the lead but his two-out bullet went right to the shortstop to end the sixth.

The Gamecocks made things interesting in the top of the seventh when they got two men on with one out against Kaylor Chafin, but Cason Sherrod relieved him and promptly induced a groundout and a flyout to escape the jam unscathed and keep the 4-3 lead intact.

“That was gigantic,” Childress said. “We had Chafin back out there for the left-handers and we give them some free baserunners, but for Sherrod to come off his performance on Tuesday on short rest and get us off the field was huge.”

Brian Okosun

Will Frizzell went 2-for-4 at the plate with an RBI and a double in Thursday's win over South Carolina. 

Though they ultimately would not need them, the Aggies added two valuable insurance runs in the eighth. Frizzell led off with a double to left-center and, after a sacrifice bunt by Cole Bedford, Logan Foster ripped an RBI single into left.

After Janca drew a walk, Allonte Wingate scored Foster with an RBI single up the middle that gave the Aggies a three-run advantage.

After struggling to hit with runners in scoring position in last weekend’s sweep at Arkansas, A&M was much better in that regard on Thursday. As a team, the Aggies were 7-for-16 with runners on base and 3-for-10 with men in scoring position.

“The coaches preached that all week long and we kind of had a team heart-to-heart on Monday,” Shewmake said. “We decided the coaches are right about what they’re telling us and we need to be better and compete with runners in scoring position.

“We had two balls that were chopped and went our way. Before a lot of times we were striking out in that situation, so we were just moving the ball and trying to make things happen.”

That was plenty of support for Nolan Hoffman, who allowed only one base runner to collect a six-out save, his 12th of the season.

The win moves the Aggies to 13-15 in SEC play, and the teams return to Blue Bell Park Friday for the second game of the series. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. and can be seen on SEC Network +.