Late rally sends #7 Aggies past Prairie View to remain undefeated at home

Game #21: No. 7 Texas A&M 11, Prairie View A&M 9
Records: Texas A&M (19-2, 1-2), PVAMU (11-12, 3-0)
WP: Isaac Morton (1-0)
LP: Leonardo Bravo (3-1)
Box Score

It wasn’t always pretty. At times it was ugly, but a win is a win.

No. 7 Texas A&M battled through some rough outings from its pitchers and scored five runs in the eighth inning to pull off the 11-9 comeback victory over Prairie View A&M.

“Super proud of the level of competitiveness and maturity that our team showed throughout the course of the game,” A&M head coach Jim Schlossnagle said. 

The Aggies started the eighth-inning comeback with a pair of walks by the first two batters, Braden Montgomery and Ted Burton. The next batter, Hayden Schott, doubled down the left field line to decrease the Panthers lead to 9-7.

Ali Camarillo tied the contest two at-bats later with a single up the middle. 

“I was just trying to put a good swing on a good pitch to hit, and everything took care of itself,” Camarillo said. 

With two outs, Jackson Appel drove home a run with a double before Gavin Grahovac followed him up with an RBI single. 

Issac Morton finished the job, pitching a 1-2-3 inning in the final frame. He was one of the lone bright spots in the Aggie rotation, pitching the final 2.2 innings without giving up a run and striking out four batters. 

“He looked nasty today,” Camarillo said of his teammate Morton. “Slider, sinker, cutter, everything was on. They couldn’t touch him, and that’s what he does.” 

A&M’s comeback in the eighth might not have been possible if it weren’t for the early fireworks from Jace LaViolette. 

LaViolette smashed a two-run home run in the bottom of the first, before following it up with a solo shot in his next at-bat in the second inning. 

With the two homers tonight, LaViolette is now up to 12 on the season. 

Montgomery also added to his home run total in the game, smacking his tenth long ball of the season to center field in the sixth inning. 

“I feel like at-bats for the most part of the game were good,” Schlossnagle said. “We hit a ton of balls hard. A ton that could have been more homers hit into different parts of the park.” 

The pitching efforts from Morton also played a big role in the comeback for A&M as he kept the Panthers from ballooning the lead even more.

“He did a great job of throwing strikes,” Schlossnagle said of Morton. “That’s a really good thing for us, so hopefully that’s a big step forward. I know it is for him and for our team.” 

Other than Morton, it wasn’t a good night for Max Weiner’s bunch. 

Montgomery got his first start on the mound in the Maroon & White. However, it left a little more to be desired. 

“We felt like we needed to get [Montgomery] some mound time,” Schlossnagle said. “I wanted to try and get him or [LaViolette] off their feet a little, but before a four-game stretch. It was just kind of the perfect way to do it.” 

Zoe Kelton, TexAgs

Jace LaViolette now ranks eighth all-time in career home runs at A&M with 33.

However, Montgomery had trouble finding the strike zone, and of his 35 pitches, only 17 were for strikes. 

In the first inning, Montgomery walked a pair of batters who ultimately scored on a three-run home run from Tyran Norris. 

Montgomery was pulled in the second inning before recording an out as he walked the first two batters of the inning. He was charged with four earned runs on one hit and four walks. 

Zane Badmaev came in relief of Montgomery, tossing 1.2 innings and allowing a run on two hits. Brett Antolick followed Badmaev as he came into the game with two outs in the third inning. 

Antolick was charged with a pair of runs in his one inning of work, thanks to a two-run blast from the Panthers' leadoff hitter, Michael Smith, in the fourth inning. Smith’s homer put the Panthers up 7-5. 

Brock Peery was solid for two innings in relief but tired down as the game reached the seventh inning. He walked the first batter, gave up a single to the next and then hit Lee Allen. Peery forced a groundout, which scored a run before he was relieved by Morton.

Nonetheless, the Aggies found a way to get the job done.

“A win, no matter how it looks, always feels good, and we always celebrate it a little bit,” Camarillo said. “Then tomorrow, we’ll come back out for ‘Opening Day.’”

Tomorrow, the Aggies will begin its first home conference series of the season, barring bad weather, as Mississippi State comes to town. 

“They were in a funk for a couple of years after winning a national title, and now, they’re swinging the bat really, really well,” Schlossnagle said of the Bulldogs. “They’re pitching at a high level and have a lot of big arms. We’re going to see a lot of high-end velocity this weekend.”