Texas A&M completes series sweep of ACU with 5-2 win on Sunday
With a 5-2 win on Sunday, Texas A&M swept ACU in a three-game weekend series and improved to 22-12 on the season.
Taking a break from SEC play, the Aggies regained confidence by outscoring the Wildcats by 29 runs across the three games. The conference hiatus came at a good time, as some of the Aggies’ key players did not see the field this weekend due to sickness.
“We had a lot of kids who were sick,” Texas A&M head coach Jo Evans said. “I’ve talked about this before, but the preparation in the fall to make sure people are ready to play other positions. Our flexibility and versatility, I thought, really showed this weekend.”
In the second inning, Makinzy Herzog took her first swing of the day and knocked a two-run homer out of the park. With a 2-0 lead, Rylen Wiggins knocked in Cayden Baker with an RBI groundout to tack on another run.
“I’m happy to see us get out and score a bunch of runs,” Evans said. “Our situational hitting today was very good and our timely hitting. Those are things that make a big difference, not necessarily that you out-hit your opponent.”
In the third, the Wildcats created some momentum of their own.
With bases loaded, ACU’s Calie Burris took a pitch to the helmet, scoring a run on the hit-by-pitch.
Grace Uribe was subsequently relieved by Emiley Kennedy, who pitched four innings and tossed four strikeouts.
Avery Miloch’s sacrifice fly in the third accounted for ACU’s final run.
Responding quickly in the fourth, Trinity Cannon grounded out to score Haley Lee. Next, Morgan Smith hit an RBI double down the left-field line, tallying another run to create a small cushion.
“It’s so different when you’re not playing an SEC series,” Evans said. “What I was concerned about coming into was that we would take it lightly because it was a team out of the SEC, and our team didn’t do that. I think that’s the best we’ve been at bat in that particular situation for the last couple years. That shows some maturity on the part of our players.”
Sunday’s game was the first time the Aggies saw the late innings on the weekend.
On Friday, the Aggies shut the Wildcats down in five innings, 18-0, before a five-inning run-rule on Saturday, 9-1.
Herzog closed out Sunday’s seventh inning with three strikeouts, only facing five batters.
The Aggies will extend their conference break with a midweek game against Incarnate Word (11-23, 2-4 SLC) on Tuesday, April 5, at 5 p.m.
“We’re continuing to focus on us,” Evans said. “[We’re] continuing to focus on what we’re good at, [and] what we can get better at. I love that offensively, we’ve been keeping our foot on the gas, scoring runs, [and] helping our pitcher out, so there’s not so much pressure on them. [Just] Continue playing all three facets of the game at a high level, and I think we’re doing that right now.”