Grahovac homers twice, Prager deals as A&M wins SEC home opener

Game #22: No. 7 Texas A&M 6, No. 21 Mississippi State 3
Records: Texas A&M (20-2, 2-2), Mississippi State (16-7, 2-2)
WP: Ryan Prager (5-0)
LP: Nolan Stevens (2-1)
Save: Evan Aschenbeck (3)
Box Score

Jim Schlossnagle enjoyed two different types of wins on Thursday night.

His ball club took an SEC series opener.

The Aggies also raced — and beat — the rain.

With the threat of inclement weather looming on Thursday night, No. 7 Texas A&M defeated No. 21 Mississippi State at Blue Bell Park, 6-3, in a brisk 2:34.

"First of all, thankful to our field crew and our field maintenance staff," Schlossnagle said. "You don't want to play doubleheaders. We could've played three SEC games in 24 hours. That's tough to do."

That concern was avoided despite first pitch being delayed by 30 minutes.

A pair of Aggies took care of the rest.

Offensively, Gavin Grahovac drove in five of A&M's six runs on a pair of swings. Ali Camarillo's game-tying single accounted for the Aggies' only other run in the fifth.

On the mound, Ryan Prager reverted to his prior dominant form after a one-week blip in Gainesville.

A&M rode those two performances back to .500 in the nation's toughest college baseball conference.

"It has been fun," Grahovac said of the SEC competition. "All these guys are big [and] physical. All these guys throw hard.

"We've got a great group of guys, and we're going to continue to compete every single day."

A true freshman from Orange, California, Grahovac began the game with a leadoff home run to left field vs. Bulldog starter Evan Siary in the bottom of the first.

Four innings later, Grahovac plated four on a majestic grand slam that broke a 2-2 tie and brought a crowd of 4,776 to its feet.

Getting a Nolan Stevens breaking ball, he made no mistake.

"We always talk about team first, team last," Grahovac said. "If I can get something going for the team and guys continue to do what they're doing, it's going to be a successful season, for sure."

Grahovac now has eight home runs in his debut campaign. Half have come against SEC pitching.

Two big swings on Thursday night lifted Prager to his fifth victory of the year, snapping a run of five straight no-decisions for A&M starters.

"This is one of those he needs to grow from, for sure," Schlossnagle said of Prager. "He needed it. I needed it. I needed to see him to it in this league."

Pitching with the pace of a man who was double-parked, the left-hander scattered four hits over 6.1 innings while punching out eight and walking one. That includes striking out four — yes, four — in the opening frame alone.

Despite admittedly lacking his best stuff, the only two runs Prager allowed were both unearned markers in the third.

"Today was just a total day of compete," Prager said. "Throughout the year, you're going to have a few starts where everything is nails, you're going to have a few starts where everything is just not good, and those starts in between is kind of where you make your money.

TexAgs

After tonight’s outing, Ryan Prager owns a 1.67 ERA in 32.1 innings pitched this season. 

"Given what I had, I thought it was a really good day of just competing with it, and nothing is going to change."

Not only is his record still unblemished, but so is Prager's home ERA.

In 25.0 innings at Olsen Field, the Aggie ace has yet to allow an earned run while punching out 40 and issuing two walks.

Aside from returning to friendlier confines, Schlossnagle said a reversal of location led to Prager's reversal of fortunes.

"Normally, he throws his fastball up and his breaking ball down," Schlossnagle said. "Last week, he just had a really rough day. He had his fastball down and his breaking ball up. It's as simple as that."

Behind Prager, Josh Stewart and Evan Aschenbeck each recorded four outs, with the latter earning his third save in the process. The former racked up three strikeouts while allowing a solo homer to Hunter Hines — State's only earned run of the night.

Two of A&M's most trusted relievers, Stewart and Aschenbeck will be available later in the series.

"For us to strikeout 12 against a team that makes big, heavy, physical two-strike adjustments says a lot about how those guys threw," Schlossnagle said. "It was an awesome response from Ryan."

The series should now progress uninterrupted as forecasts in College Station clear up in the early hours of Friday morning.

A&M and Mississippi State resume their three-game set on Friday at 6 p.m. CT.