COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 12 Aggies’ chance at a game-tying, ninth-inning home run came up inches short as Texas A&M dropped the rubber match to the No. 5 Ole Miss Rebels, 7-6, Saturday afternoon on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.
With a Texas A&M trailing 7-5 with a runner on first and two outs, Hunter Coleman cranked a shot to the wall in left-center that came inches from leaving the park. Michael Helman scored to trim the lead to one, bringing Logan Fosterto the plate. Foster worked the count full, but struck out swinging to end the game.
It wasn’t the first time on the day that Texas A&M came up just short of a home run. In the fourth inning, Braden Shewmake blasted a shot that was caught by the leftfielder with his heels at the wall as the Aggie All-American came up a few feet short of a three-run dinger.
The Aggies finished the day with 13 hits, including four doubles. Helman went 2-for-4 with two runs and extended his A&M season-long hit streak to 18 games. Coleman ended the day batting 3-for-5 with two doubles, one run and two RBI. Foster batted 3-for-5 with one double, one run and two RBI. Zach DeLoach was 3-for-5 with one double and one run.
Aggie starter Mitchell Kilkenny, who entered the game with 34 strikeouts in 34.0 innings, battled the zone and labored through 4.2 innings, allowing five runs, three earned, on eight hits and two walks. Asa Lacy (0-1) was saddled with the loss, yielding one run on three hits in 1.2 innings.
The loss dropped the Aggies to 19-6 overall and 2-4 in the SEC. The Rebels improved to 22-3 overall and 4-2 in the SEC.
SCORING SUMMARY
B1 | DeLoach roped a double down the leftfield line, moved to third on a fly out by Helman and scored on a grounder to second base by Shewmake. A&M 1, MISS 0.
T2 | Cole Zabowski knocked a 1-1 offering over the centerfield fence for a leadoff home run. A&M 1, MISS 1.
B2 | Logan Foster gapped a double to left-center to start the frame and with one out he came around to score when Cole Bedford bounced a single up the middle. A&M 2, MISS 1.
B3 | Helman extended his hit streak to 18 games by bouncing a single up the middle. Shewmake followed with a four-pitch walk and Hunter Coleman snaked a single up the middle to plate Helman. After a pitching change, Foster slipped a single through the left side to knock in Shewmake. A&M 4, MISS 1.
T4 | With one out, Will Golsan dropped a double down the rightfield line and Tyler Keenan followed with a home run to center field. A&M 4, MISS 3.
T5 | A two-out error doomed the Aggies as Thomas Dillard reached base when Will Frizzell misplayed a grounder to first. Zabowski knocked in Dillard with a wall-banger to centerfield for a double and came around to score on a single to rightfield by Golsan. MISS 5, A&M 4.
B5 | Coleman slapped the first pitch of the home half of the inning down the leftfield line and scored when Foster singled to rightfield. A&M 5, MISS 5.
T7 | Dillard hit a leadoff double down the third base line. With one out, Golsan doubled in Dillard and with Cockrell plated Golsan with a two-out single. MISS 7, A&M 5.
B9 | DeLoach worked the count full before singling to leftfield. He was replaced at first when Helman hit into a fielder’s choice to short. After Shewmake struck out swinging at 2-2 pitch, Coleman blasted a shot to left-center that came inches from being an equalizer with his double scoring Helman. MISS 7, A&M 6.
NEXT UP
The Aggies travel to Whataburger Field to play the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders in a 6:30 p.m. game Tuesday night.
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach Rob Childress
On today’s loss…
“I’m really proud of the way we competed. This is a heartbreaking game. We’re playing a really really good Ole Miss team, and you look up at the scoreboard and you think, well gosh, Texas A&M let it get away from them in the seventh. We had opportunities back in the second and third to break the game open, bases loaded with one out. [Zach] DeLoach sends a ball hard and it’s a double-play ball. Just like that we don’t come away with another run, and third inning we had one out and we couldn’t ask for [Will] Frizzell to hit a ball harder than he did right at the first baseman, but we don’t cash in on that. In the fifth inning [Mitchell] Kilkenny is about to ride the ship with nobody on and we don’t make a play, and just like that they score two runs. We end up losing 7-6 instead of 7-5, and that’s the way this league deals. There’s no separation. It’s all about playing really good baseball, and we took a couple of breaks along the way. Give Ole Miss a lot of credit; they were very well coached and a very talented team, but I’m also very very proud of our guys.”
On a slow start to the season…
“We’ve certainly been through this before, but we’re games better than we were last year at this time, and that’s one thing we can draw from about going on the road. This time last year we went on the road to LSU and found a way to win a series. We’re going on the road this week against a really good Georgia team, and it’s about putting it all together. We’re 2-4 and very easily could have been 4-2. When you’re in this league, there’s not any room for separation.”
Junior C Cole Bedford
On how they are going to put this one past them…
“Tomorrow is an off day, so we will look back on that and see what we need to work on. I thought we played pretty good baseball. It’s just the SEC. It is a tough division and every play matters. We made a couple of mistakes today and we will have Monday to go back and look at that and get ready for Tuesday.”
On the start of the season…
“It is still early in the season, and you can’t really say, ‘Oh well, we will come around’ or just kind of keep waiting. We will reevaluate and see what we need to work on. There are a couple of things that we fix, and we have plenty of time. There is no panic, and I think that we are bringing it out. It is just little mistakes that we can fix. I think we are in a great place and everyone is coming out here ready to go.”
Sophomore DH Hunter Coleman
On the near-miss double in the ninth...
“I thought, especially with the wind today, it had a chance to get out. That would have been a big time home run, but, it hit the top of the wall. Just one of those days – game of inches.”
On not catching breaks…
“That’s part of it. Will (Frizzell) hit a ball as hard as you can hit it and it went right into the first baseman’s glove. That would have been another run on the board. But we have to keep coming and hitting the ball hard. We did a good job offensively tonight, it just didn’t go our way.”
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics