COLLEGE STATION – The Texas A&M Aggies defeated the Houston Baptist Huskies, 12-5, Tuesday evening on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park to move to 8-1 on the season.
The Aggie pitching staff combined for a season-high 16 strikeouts, the seventh 10-plus strikeout performance of the season.
Starter Chandler Jozwiak matched his career high with eight strikeouts. The southpaw tossed 4.1 innings, allowing two runs, one earned, on two hits and two walks. Bryce Miller (2-0) earned the win, giving up one run on two hits and one walk, while fanning three in 1.2 innings of work. Joseph Menefee retired all six batters he faced with four strikeouts.
Five Aggies had multiple hits on the night, including Bryce Blaum, who recorded his fifth multi-hit game of the season as he went 2-for-4 with two walks and two runs. Logan Foster, Braden Shewmake, Will Frizzell and Aaron Walters added two hits apiece.
Zach DeLoach earned four free passes, one shy of the single game school record set by Blake Kopetsky in 2015 against UT-Pan American.
UP NEXT
The Aggies return to action Wednesday as they face the Incarnate Word Cardinals with first pitch at 6:32 p.m.
SCORING SUMMARY
B1| Blaum got things started for the Aggies after drawing a lead-off walk and stealing second before touching home on a Braden Shewmake single. Frizzell reached base on a walk followed by a base hit from Walters, plating Shewmake. Frizzell added a run after taking advantage of a passed ball. A&M 3, HBU 0
T2| A solo shot from Brandon Bena to left, cut the Aggies’ lead to two. A&M 3, HBU 1
B4| Blaum singled up the middle before Logan Foster delivered a double to center to score him. Mikey Hoehner earned a four-pitch walk to land on first and Foster took advantage of a wild pitch by HBU’s pitcher to touch home. Frizzell laced a single through the left side, plating Hoehner to conclude scoring in the fourth. A&M 6, HBU 1
T5| Cal Clark singled to center, Chase Talbot produced an infield single and Johnny Gonzales reached base on catcher’s interference to load the bases for the Huskies. A throwing error by the Aggies’ defense allowed Clark and Talbot to score. A&M 6, HBU 3
B5| Zach Deloach and Logan Foster each earned a free pass before Shewmake singled up the middle to plate Deloach. Foster added a run on a wild pitch. A&M 8, HBU 3
B8| Frizzell delivered a base hit up the middle before Hunter Coleman earned a walk. Ty Coleman delivered a two-RBI double to left, plating Mason Corbett who pinch ran for Frizzell and Hunter Coleman. The Aggies’ final two runs of the game were recorded as Deloach reached on a fielding error and was plated, along with Ty Coleman, on a Foster single to left. A&M 12, HBU 3
T9| Matt Solomon blasted a pinch-hit homer over the left field wall. Talbot was hit by a pitch, advanced to third after a single and throwing error, before touching home on a wild pitch. A&M 12, HBU 5
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach Rob Childress
On today’s win…
“It was a long evening on Sunday, and a long day yesterday, we were very fortunate to get out there and play today. A lot of hard work by our grounds keeping staff, Nick and crew did a good job, and we needed to get out here to get that taste out of our mouth. I’m very proud of what we did offensively, Chandler Jozwiak battled his tail off and avoided a big inning, get away from us there in the third. We mix and matched late in the game, Joseph Menefee got extended for the first time this year and was really good. All in all, I’m very proud of our team.”
On Bryce Miller…
“A Couple of mistakes defensively, to create a higher pitch count of him, but his fastball is continuing to get better, a lot of 94’s and 95’s tonight. He was also really good for us on Saturday, so he is going to be a guy that we are going to look to early in games, when we have to go to the bullpen and try to get us five or six outs there in the sixth seventh inning.”
Freshman LHP Joseph Menefee
On today’s performance…
“We pride ourselves as a team on not walking people, so with a big lead, you just want to throw the ball over the plate and trust my defense to make plays. I just happened that my stuff was good enough to punch people out.”
On the bullpen as a whole…
“Coach Childress preaches on coming out of the bullpen, and If the other team has moment, just put a end to it. Our bullpen so far has been lights out, it’s just all the hard work we put in. Any one called out of the bullpen, we all have full faith that they are going to get their job done. ”
Junior OF Logan Foster
On bouncing back from the loss on Sunday…
“You know that speaks a lot about this team. Other teams could still be focused on what happened Sunday. We could’ve, but we put it to bed Sunday night. A lot of our guys came out here Monday to put in some work, and got us ready to rock ‘n roll.”
On getting the early lead in the first inning…
“That definitely sets the tone; we were surely on our toes from the very beginning.”
On Zack DeLoach’s four walks…
“You know that was huge for Zack. A lot of us have been struggling at the plate, and that shows a lot of maturity out of him to be able to get those four walks, still being patient, and being ready to swing the bat in that last inning.”
Junior 2B Bryce Blaum
On bouncing back from loss on Sunday…
“We left Sunday with a bitter taste in our mouth, because we didn’t play the way we know we are capable of playing. Today in the hitters’ game, our coaches preached just play easy and free. We know we have the talent to do it, as you see we put up 12 runs. That’s the type of offense we know we have, and we just hope to build on that day in and day out.”
On taking advantage of the walks…
“We did a great job one through nine just passing the bat down. Zack DeLoach took four walks today, that’s the first time I’ve ever seen that in a game. Getting on base anyway, anyhow is what we preach, and we did a great job of that tonight.”
On producing offense in the bad weather…
“We just stuck to the approach tonight, and bought in to it. We dominated the fastball that were strikes, when they threw the spinner we stayed through the big part of the plate, and didn’t slow our bat down. We were just happy we could see what we could do and build on that.”
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics