Texas A&M pitching one-hits Houston in 11-inning exhibition rout, 13-1

Back at it again with another narrative-less baseball recap for you, Ags.

On a picture-perfect Friday evening at Blue Bell Park, Michael Earley’s Fightin’ Texas Aggies concluded their fall slate with a 13-1 exhibition victory over the Houston Cougars.

Without further adu, here are my takeaways from the 11-inning ballgame:

1. Playing sloppy defensive, the pitching staff more than made up for it. In total, A&M committed a quartet of errors, including one against Kaeden Kent that allowed an unearned run to score in the fifth...three of those miscues coming with the starters in the game. The Aggies fielded at a .978 clip in 2024, so don’t expect catching and throwing the ball to be an issue this spring.

Still, despite the defensive woes on Friday, A&M allowed just the lone unearned marker.

Jason Kelly’s group of hurlers deserve all the credit.

The Aggie pitching staff combined to punch out 15 Coogs while allowing just one hit. They only walked three.

As he did vs. Houston Christian, Ty Baker stood out. The heater was up to 97 with great shape to what is a true curveball. Additionally, McLennan transfer Clayton Freshcorn impressed as one of the two guys to throw multiple innings, retiring all six Cougars he faced in the process. If he can command his slider, he’ll be a weapon when the games count.

Also, it would be a shame to overlook Brad Rudis, who opened the night with a nine-pitch first inning that included a pair of punchouts.

How it shakes out and who takes ownership of what role remains to be seen, but this much is obvious: Texas A&M has the pieces to once again put together a special pitching staff.

2. This was an obvious uptick in competition. A&M handled it just fine. We know what the expectations will be once preseason voting and rankings come out. This Aggie club is obviously among the most talented in college baseball. In a different manner than they did vs. the overmatched Huskies, the Maroon & White flexed on a Big 12 foe.

With only one home run — a Sam Erickson tape-measure, two-run shot that cleared the left-centerfield scoreboard in the ninth — the Ags manufactured their other 11 runs.

Of their 15 hits, eight went for extra bases. They also worked Houston pitching for nine walks and two hit-by-pitches.

They were relentless, scoring crooked numbers in four different frames.

On a pair of doubles and a sacrifice fly, Blake Binderup plated five. One freshman outfielder was mentioned above, but Terrence Kiel II and Nathan Tobin also put on a show. The former utilized his electrifying speed to steal two bags (including one on a throw back to the pitcher), while the latter hit a pair of triples in his only two at-bats to drive in two runs. Caden Sorrell was again his usual impressive self, and Gavin Kash also had a productive evening in the cleanup spot.

Three of their biggest bats were missing in both fall exhibitions, but the offense was impressive against the Huskies and Cougars.

Earley’s offense is going to be among the nation’s best.

3. What’s the saying about things happening twice in Aggieland? Once again, the ballpark was near capacity in the early innings with a number of fans gathered in the berms and in Aggie Alley. Once again, the Blue Bell Park faithful gave Earley a nice ovation when he came out for the home plate meeting, but when he walked back to the dugout, he didn’t tip his cap this time.

Tonight, the Aggie skipper was focused on the task at hand.

While there is obviously stuff to clean up and reinforcements coming in the form of Jace LaViolette, Gavin Grahovac and Hayden Schott, the first-year man has to be pretty pleased with his first fall in Aggieland.

To perform well in front of impressive crowds twice during the month of October has to have this coaching staff pretty excited about what 2025 will bring.

February will be here before you know it. Until then...

#BTHOlsu

Line Score

Coogs - 0 0 0   0 1 0   0 0 0   0 0   1R 1H 1E
Aggies - 0 0 0   3 2 0   2 0 4   0 0   13R 15H 4E

Unofficial Box Score

Texas A&M Position Players
1. Kaeden Kent (L) - SS - 0-for-2, BB, K
2. Wyatt Henseler (R) - 3B - 1-for-3, 2B
3. Caden Sorrell (L) - RF - 2-for-4, 3 R, K
4. Gavin Kash (L) - LF - 2-for-3, 2B, 3 R, BB, K
5. Blake Binderup (R) - 1B - 2-for-3, 2 2B, 5 RBI, K
6. Sawyer Farr (S) - 2B - 0-for-0, R, 3 BB
7. Matthew Bergevin (R) - DH - 2-for-4, R
8. Jacob Galloway (L) - C - 0-for-1, RBI, 2 BB
9. Terrence Kiel II (R) - CF - 1-for-3, R, 2 RBI, 2 HBP, 2 SB
10. Bear Harrison (R) - EH - 0-for-2, R, K
10. Jamal George (R) - EH - 0-for-2, 2 BB
NOTE: Harrison & George alternated hitting in the 10-spot for the first eight innings

1. Jamal George (R) - 3B - See above
2. Bear Harrison (R) - C - See above
3. Matthew Bergevin (R) - 1B - See above
4. Terrence Kiel II (R) - 2B - See above
5. Nathan Tobin (L) - CF - 2-for-2, 2 3B, 2 R, 2 RBI
6. Sam Erickson (R) - LF - 2-for-2, HR, R, 3 RBI
7. Tristan Bittle (R) - RF - 0-for-2, K
8. Hayden Crites (S) - DH - 1-for-2, 2B
9. Ben Royo (R) - SS - 0-for-1
10. Trey Craig (R) - EH - 0-for-1

Texas A&M Pitchers
Brad Rudis - RHP - 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
Myles Patton - LHP - 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K
Grant Cunningham - RHP - 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K
Peyton Smith - RHP - 1.0 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K
Clayton Freshcorn - RHP - 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
Luke Jackson - RHP - 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
Ty Baker - RHP - 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
Gavin Lyons - RHP - 1.0, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
Houston Tomlinson - RHP - 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
Kyrin LeBlanc - RHP - 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K