Aggies Topple Rice, 8-5

image_handler — (Source: Texas A&M Athletics)

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 23 Texas A&M Aggies defeated the Rice Owls 8-5 Tuesday evening on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.

The Aggies got back on the winning track, in part due to the A&M bats pilling up six runs in their final four times at-bat. They trailed 3-2 heading into the fifth before a three-run frame gave them a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

Rice took an early lead with a one-run first off Aggie starter Corbin Martin (2-2). With two outs and men on the corners, the Owls executed a double steal scoring two-hole hitter Ryan Chandler from third.

Joel Davis answered back in the bottom of the second. The senior sent his third dinger of the season way over the right field wall to even the score.

The deadlock was short lived as Rice grabbed the lead back posting a run in consecutive frames. Dane Myers singled home the run in the third and Dayne Wunderlich’s drove in the other with a sac fly off reliever John Doxakis in the 4th.

Doxakis (1-1) kept the Owls quiet for the rest of his 4.0-inning relief outing. The first-year lefty fanned four en route to his first career win.

The Aggies chipped away in the fourth loading the bases with nobody out. Davis again had the RBI, this time on sac fly to center that sent Austin Homan home.

The A&M offense captured the lead for good posting a three-run fifth. With one out, George Janca and Nick Choruby reached via consecutive singles though the left side off Rice reliever Addison Moss (0-1). Homan tied the game up on a single of his own before Shewmake’s sacrifice fly put the home team in front. Logan Foster plated the final run of the frame on a double to center.

The Aggie bats plated insurance runs in the seventh with a pair of runs. Foster and Davis added to their RBI totals with a single and double, respectively. In the eighth, Shewmake tallied his second sac fly of the game for the eighth A&M run.

Rice scored one run in the eighth and ninth off the third aggie pitcher Mitchell Kilkenny. They would put the tying run at the plate before Kilkenny recorded the final out of the game on a liner to Homan.

Davis highlighted the Texas A&M lineup going 2-for-3 and plating runs in three different innings. Homan started in the two-hole and reached four times, scoring on three occasions. Altogether, the two-through-five hitters went 8-for-13 with all eight RBI.

Next up, the Aggies hit the road for a three-game set with Vanderbilt in Nashville. First pitch from Hawkins Field on Friday is set for 6:30 p.m.