A&M's offense capitalizes on poor pitching to beat Texas Southern, 9-4

Game #39: Texas A&M 9, Texas Southern 4
Records: Texas A&M (22-17), Texas Southern (10-25)
WP: Mason Ornelas (2-0)
LP: Alex Olquin (0-6)
Box Score

Texas A&M won its second game in a row as the Aggies defeated Texas Southern, 9-4, on Tuesday night at Olsen Field. A&M took advantage of three errors and nine free passes to down the visiting Tigers.

"I thought it was a fabulous game on our part," said Texas A&M head coach Rob Childress.

A&M scored eight of their nine runs between the second and fifth innings, plating at least one in each of those frames. Taylor Smith delivered the game's lone longball, a solo blast to left to lead off the fourth.

"I thought we just did a fantastic job from an offensive standpoint," Rob Childress said. "We had a lot of gritty, tough, hard-nosed at-bats."

When Texas Southern scored twice in the top of the fifth, the Aggies responded with a four-run rally in the bottom half to quell any hopes the Tigers had of a comeback.

"We punched back when they scored, and we did everything right to win a ballgame against a very well-coach team," said infielder Bryce Blaum.

Texas Southern pitching issued eight walks and hit one batter, and the Aggies took advantage. A&M scored twice on bases-loaded walks. The Aggies also notched 10 hits but stranded 11 base runners as the offense still wasn't operating at its fullest potential.

"We took advantage of a lot of free base runners and just had a marvelous game plan and approach offensively," Rob Childress said.

On the mound, starting pitcher Jonathan Childress turned in an adequate start for the Aggies, surrendering two runs on three hits in 4.1 innings of work while striking out four and walking three.

"Every game we play is the biggest game of the year, and I just want to attack and help our team win," Jonathan Childress said.

In the third, Jonathan Childress escaped a bases-loaded jam, striking out Dean Salazar before inducing a groundball to end the inning. The tight-rope act allowed the Aggies to seize the momentum.

"I think it was a huge moment, and probably the biggest moment was for Jonathan," Rob Childress said. "From a confidence standpoint, I felt like from that moment on, he was pretty darn good."

Jamie Maury, TexAgs

The Aggies hope to take this momentum into a huge series against No. 5 Tennessee at Olsen Field this weekend. 

Texas Southern scored two more runs in the seventh, both off of Chris Weber, one of which was unearned. Mason Ornelas then shut down the Tigers, picking up the final eight outs and earning his second victory of the season.

"He was really good," Rob Childress said of Ornelas' performance. "Getting us off those last few innings was fabulous."

With 17 games remaining, the Aggies are now five games over .500 but are still not where they want to be as they hope to carry what positive energy they have into this weekend's series with No. 6 Tennessee.

"There is a sense of urgency in this locker room," Blaum said. "Our culture in the locker room is very strong, and we know we're not where we want to be, but we have a lot that we can control from here on out."

Texas A&M and No. 6 Tennessee begin a three-game set on Friday night at Olsen Field. First pitch of the series opener is set for 6:32 p.m. CT.