Statement outing from Asa Lacy propels Aggies over rival TCU, 1-0
Game #12: Texas A&M vs. TCU (Shriners Classic game #2)
Records: Texas A&M (10-2, 0-0), TCU (6-3, 0-0)
WP: Asa Lacy (3-0)
LP: Brandon Williamson (2-1)
SV: Kasey Kalich (4)
Box Score
Following John Doxakis’ gem on Friday night, Asa Lacy put on a masterful display of his own, allowing just a single hit and striking out nine in seven innings pitched on Saturday night. The dominant performance lifted the Aggies over No. 17 TCU, 1-0. The southpaw displayed excellent command with his fastball hanging in the 93-95 mph range and his curveball catching the Horned Frogs looking.
“I thought [my stuff] was the best that it’s been in a while tonight,” Lacy said. “I felt like I executed a couple of sliders that were really good tonight. The curveball has been there [in the past], it’s just being able to use it.”
One of the few blemishes on Lacy’s outing came in the handling of the Horned Frogs’ leadoff men. The southpaw allowed the leadoff hitter to get on base in each of the first six innings – including three walks and hitting two batters. Because of this, Childress had Lacy pitch out of the stretch and it paid dividends.
“Well after the first five innings we decided to shake it up, it couldn’t hurt, it couldn’t do anything worse and it ended up working,” Childress said. “We were able to get the outs after that, so it worked.”
A&M pitchers Bryce Miller, Moo Menefee and Kasey Kalich didn’t allow a hit in their combined two inning relief effort. Freshman left-handed pitcher Menefee highlighted the effort as he was able to get the Aggies out of a jam with a runner on first and two outs – tossing a strikeout on a breaking ball. Just 11 months removed from Tommy John surgery, Menefee has been dominant in his outings thus far – Childress points to his incredible confidence as the reason for the success.
“He loves the moment, he just loves baseball and being out there. He lifted a couple of sliders up and he’s the one who shifted to the breaking ball,” Childress said. “That’s the kind of confidence that he has and it shows you how convicted he is with his stuff.”
Pitching and defense ruled the day from both sides as TCU starting pitcher Brandon Williamson pitched a gem as well, allowing just two hits and fanning five in as many innings pitched. The left-handed pitcher employed a four-pitch mix which really gave the A&M bats some trouble.
“Those two left-handers are going to pitch for an awful long time,” Childress said. “Williamson was equally as impressive as Lacy and those two guys are special. Both have four-pitch mixes and are fun to watch.”
The lone run of the game came in the bottom of the third inning when A&M left fielder Allonte Wingate led the stanza off with a ground ball into the right field gap. Williamson then got in some trouble and walked the next three batters that he saw – Zach DeLoach, Bryce Blaum and Logan Foster – plating Wingate.
“That was big, Wingate got up there ready to hit the fastball. We didn’t do a good job of that tonight but we did enough,” Childress said. “Then Logan [Foster] took a tough 3-2 pitch for us and that ended up being the difference in the game.”
The maroon and white appeared that they were going to break the game open with the bases loaded and one out. However, the next batter, Braden Shewmake, grounded into a double play to end the frame.
The Aggies will look to complete an undefeated weekend tomorrow as they take on the University of Houston. The game will be televised on AT&T Sportsnet with first pitch slated for 3:00 p.m.