Game #9: Oklahoma State 4, No. 1 Texas A&M 0
Records: Texas A&M (5-4, 0-0), Oklahoma State (5-4, 0-0)
WP: Harrison Bodendorf (3-0)
LP: Justin Lamkin (0-1)
Box Score
HOUSTON — How much worse does it have to get before it starts getting better?
Michael Earley is likely asking himself the very same question that Aggies everywhere are pondering following Texas A&M's 4-0 loss to Oklahoma State at Daikin Park.
"We're not performing," Earley said postgame. "I don't think I'm putting them in positions to perform or, obviously, preparing them the way they need to be prepared.
"It's my problem. It's not their problem. Those guys are giving their all, and I need to be better for them."
So why is it getting worse?
In a season already littered with them, Saturday's defeat — a fourth in a row — was the Maroon & White's most punchless performance yet.
And who's to blame for this one? Everyone not named Justin Lamkin and Luke Jackson.
"We're not performing. I don't think I'm putting them in positions to perform or, obviously, preparing them the way they need to be prepared.”
- A&M head coach Michael Earley
A&M's offense was offensively pathetic, mustering just four hits — half of which came in the bottom of the ninth. The defense was somehow even worse, committing four errors.
Wyatt Henseler was 2-for-3 with a double. Matthew Bergevin and Jace LaViolette were both 1-for-3.
"We're in a slump right now and just trying our best every day to show up positive and take the next step forward," Henseler said. "We're continuing to do that. I know it's a little bit slower than we'd like, but it's going to come."
A&M only had three other base runners — a walk, a hit-by-pitch and an error — as starter Harrison Bodendorf and relievers Drew Blake and Sean Youngerman combined to blank a club entering its final hours of owning a No. 1 ranking.
When the Aggies pieced together rare and short-lived threats, the middle of the order was there to let the Cowboys off the hook, as A&M's 4-5-6 hitters were a combined 1-for-12.
"Stuff gets contagious, and guys are pressing," Earley said. "Also, we've got to make some adjustments that we're not making, and that's on us as coaches to make those adjustments."
Cleanup man Blake Binderup was 0-for-4. Three times, he batted with two runners on. He grounded into an inning-ending double play in the first, punched out on four pitches in the fourth and popped up to first on a check swing in the ninth.
Binderup also committed a throwing error that yielded Oklahoma State's fourth — and second unearned — run of the night.
He's far from the lone goat, though.
On the weekend, A&M is 2-for-20 with runners on base. On Saturday, the Aggies were 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position.
"I'm trying to pinpoint that myself. If I had a really direct answer, I'd give it to you," Henseler said of the offensive woes. "Moving forward, we got to stay competitive. We got to stay positive. We got to stay confident.
Zoe Kelton, TexAgs
Texas A&M is 2-for-20 with runners on base on the weekend, and the Aggies were 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position against Oklahoma State.
"It's time that we start throwing some punches."
Like Friday's outing from Ryan Prager, another solid starting pitching performance was wasted. Lamkin suffered a hard-luck loss despite allowing just two earned runs and striking out 10 Cowboys without issuing a walk in 6.2 innings.
Behind him, Luke Jackson struck out four in 2.1 scoreless frames.
But nobody else upheld their end of the bargain.
And that's despite a lineup change entering the day.
"Just trying to shake things up a little bit," Earley said. "For us to be good, we need Hayden Schott and Gavin Kash to perform, so I just wanted them to take a second, see the game.
"We need those guys, and we need everyone."
Schott entered as a pinch-hitter in the ninth and grounded out to second to end the ballgame with Kash on deck.
Are more personnel changes on the way? What exactly is going to change for A&M?
Despite the oft-cited weather defrosting, the Aggies haven't. It seems only the questions are getting hotter and hotter.
"Baseball is a beautiful thing because I've been on teams where you start hot, you end cold; you start cold, you end hot," Henseler said. "I think you're going to see a pretty steady rise from us throughout the rest of the year."
That rise better start soon because it can't get much worse.
