Pitching shines as No. 7 Aggies blank Rhode Island to claim series

Game #15: No. 7 Texas A&M 6, Rhode Island 0
Records: Texas A&M (15-0), Rhode Island (2-9)
WP: Brad Rudis (1-0)
LP: Evan Moloney (0-1)
Box Score

For the 15th time this season, Texas A&M baseball is victorious as they claimed the weekend series against Rhode Island on Saturday afternoon, 6-0. 

After blanking the Rams last night, the Aggie pitching staff delivered another shutout for their sixth this year. 

The Aggies started junior right-handed pitcher Tanner Jones for the third time this season as he made his longest appearance to date. He pitched four scoreless innings, allowing four hits and two walks while striking out eight hitters. 

"He got into some deep counts early in the game and got a little rushed to start the game," A&M head coach Jim Schlossnagle said. 

"I thought he got better as the game went on. It was good for him to get that kind of work, but it needs to be more crisp moving forward. Again, he missed a lot of the preseason, so he's still trying to figure things out.”

In the fifth inning, the Maroon & White turned to junior Brad Rudis out of the bullpen. Rudis pitched three innings of scoreless ball, allowing just one hit and striking out four. 

"When you know you have the best defense behind you in the country, it's really easy to throw strikes," Rudis said. 

Rudis is debuting a new arm slot this season, which is obviously working well for him. The Madisonville native has not given up a run in 9.1 innings, allowing just two hits and no walks. 

"I love it," Rudis said. "It's like I'm being a little kid, and I'm in the backyard playing wiffle ball over again.

"Whenever I got back here for the summer, I started working on it. I threw a bullpen and [Max Weiner] was like, 'I want to mess around with something,' and it worked, and I love it." 

Behind Rudis, Zane Badmaev and Chris Cortez pitched an inning apiece, completing the Aggies' second straight shutout. 

"Everybody in that bullpen has a lot of value," Rudis said. "We have a lot of lefties and righties that can do a lot of different things, and that's huge as we go into next week and into SEC play."

Overall, hitters from both squads had a tough day at the plate. The teams combined to bat 10-for-58, and a strong northwest wind played a factor in some of the results.

Zoe Kelton, TexAgs

Hayden Schott went 2-for-4 on Saturday afternoon with a walk and a pair of RBIs. 

"It's frustrating if you're on the fastball and you hit some balls hard into the wind," Schlossnagle said. "We didn't hit any balls hard, so wind didn't have anything to do with it unless it had to do with their mentality."

Though the Aggies' day at the plate was relatively mellow, they got off to a quick start. 

The first two hitters, Gavin Grahovac and Jace LaViolette, reached via walks before both of them were driven home on a double from Braden Montgomery that just dropped in front of the diving center fielder, Brody Mckenzie. 

Hayden Schott followed Montgomery's at-bat by driving him in with a double down the right-field corner. 

"I think in a game like this where you obviously want to keep scoring runs, but the momentum kind of stopped a little bit, and we stopped scoring, which obviously you never want to do, it's good to get those early runs to kind of get ahead," Schott said. 

A&M led 3-0 after the first inning. They would score just three more runs the rest of the way. 

"You want to keep going, and we weren't able to do that, but it's always good to get a few [runs] early just to settle in," Schott said. 

Zoe Kelton, TexAgs

Improving to 15-0, Texas A&M is off to its best start since 2015.

With the bases loaded in the fourth, Schott walked in a run before Burton was hit by a pitch, scoring and increasing A&M’s lead to 5-0. The Aggies capped off the scoring in the sixth as Ali Camarillo came in to score on a groundout from Grahovac. 

It wasn't the prettiest day at the plate, but that did not matter as the pitching staff once again dominated the Rams. 

"I've never had a staff like that where it's so shut out and dominant that when you're hitting, you're like, 'Obviously I want to score runs, but our guys are gonna keep doing their thing,'" Schott said. "It's obviously huge, and it gives you a little bit more confidence and comfort in the box knowing they're gonna pick you up on the other side."

If there's one thing Schlossnagle wants to see in the series finale, it's for his hitters to stay on the fastball.

"I want to see Justin Lamkin go out there and have his best stuff and fill up the strike zone, and I would like to see us get on the fastball," Schlossnagle said. "The whole mentality around here is to be on time for the fastball, and we weren't today. We still won the ballgame, but to be a successful offense, we're gonna have to do that."

Lamkin gets the ball on Sunday as the Aggies continue their quest to remain undefeated. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. CT.