Game #5: Penn 2, Texas A&M 1
Records: Texas A&M (4-1, 0-0), Penn (1-0, 0-0)
WP: Owen Coady (1-0)
LP: Jacob Palisch (0-1)
Box Score
Cold weather, colder bats.
A complete lack of timely hitting plagued Texas A&M on Friday afternoon as the Aggies fell to Penn in the series opener, 2-1. Fighting temperatures in the 30s, A&M was 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position and stranded ten total baserunners.
"Three things can happen in a game: You can pitch, play defense and get timely hits," Texas A&M head coach Jim Schlossnagle said. "For the most part, we played good defense on a tough day, but we didn't get a timely hit."
Brooke Homfeld, TexAgs
Kalae Harrison had the Aggies’ lone RBI on the day with a fourth-inning single that scored Logan Britt.
After the visiting Quakers took a 2-1 lead in the eighth, the Aggies had a prime chance to tie or take the lead following an Austin Bost single and a Troy Claunch double.
However, Penn's Owen Coady struckout Ryan Targac and Logan Britt to end the Aggie threat.
"We had an opportunity to put a ball in play, potentially score a run, and it just didn't happen," Schlossnagle said.
Coady worked 4.1 scoreless innings and struckout eight Aggies to earn the win.
"In the backhalf of the game, our at-bats were very poor, and you have to give credit to that lefty," Schlossnagle said.
A&M squandered chances earlier in the ballgame as well.
The Aggies left the bases loaded in the second but were unable to score. In the fifth, Bost grounded into a doubleplay that stranded Kole Kaler at third.
Texas A&M was 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position with less than two outs.
"There's three ways to win a ballgame: Defense, throwing strikes and timely hitting," Britt said. "We only threw strikes today."
A complete lack of run support meant Nathan Dettmer's quality start went by the wayside. The right-handed allowed just one unearned run and struckout four in six innings of work but was saddled with a no-decision.
"Three things can happen in a game: You can pitch, play defense and get timely hits. For the most part, we played good defense on a tough day, but we didn't get a timely hit."
- A&M coach Jim Schlossnagle
"Those runs will come," Dettmer said of his offense. "I trust my hitters, and I know what they got. They're better than that."
The lone run against Dettmer scored in the third following a two-out error by Kaler and a double by Wyatt Henseler.
"He gave us a chance to win the ballgame," Schlossnagle said of Dettmer.
Kalae Harrison drove home Britt in the fourth to tie the game, but the Aggies never took the lead.
With the score knotted 1-1 in the eighth, reliever Jacob Palisch allowed a leadoff single to Jackson Appel. After a sacrifice bunt and an intentional walk, Cole Palis flared a single to right that could have been caught by a diving Brett Minnich, allowing to Appel score.
"It's way more about how we respond to this than what happened today," Schlossnagle said.
Texas A&M and Penn are scheduled to return to Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park on Saturday for a 2 p.m. start, weather permitting.
