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COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M Aggies finished the series sweep of the Brown Bears with a 5-1 win Sunday afternoon on Blue Bell Park at Olsen Field.
Mitchell Kilkenny (2-0) kept the Bears in check over his seven innings of work. The sophomore fanned five and allowed just the one Brown run in his second straight seven-inning outing. Landon Miner and Turner Larkinsworked the final two frames to secure the A&M victory.
The Bears (0-6) were first on the board with a one-run third inning. Willy Hozma doubled for his second hit of the ball game to lead off the frame. Sam Grigo drove in Hozma with a single to left but was cut down trying to stretch in into a double.
Texas A&M (14-3) strung together three hits in the fourth to even up the score off Bear starter Max Ritchie (0-2). Braden Shewmake led off with a single and advanced to third on a bloop hit off the bat ofCole Bedford. Jorge Gutierrez got credit for the RBI in the next at-bat as he singled through the left side of the infield, plating his fellow freshman Shewmake.
The Aggies took the lead for good with a two-run fifth. Homan led off the inning with his second hit of the ballgame. Blake Kopetsky moved him to third on a single of his own. Logan Foster‘s flew out for the first out of the frame not quite deep enough to score Homan, but an error allowed Kopetsky to make it two Aggies in scoring position. Shewmake plated the pair on his subsequent single up the gut, giving A&M a 3-1 lead after five.
The bats added a couple insurance runs in the eighth which began with George Janca‘s two-out single.Walker Pennington got hit by a pitch setting up Nick Choruby for the two-run RBI double.
The A&M staff took care of the rest of the ball game not allowing Brown to reach second after the 5th. They combined on seven Ks and eight hits allowed.
On the other side of things, Shewmake finished the series hitting 6-for-13 with one walk. Homan also reached twice on a 2-for-4 day with a double and a run scored.
Next up, the Aggies travel to Austin for the first time since 2013 on Tuesday for a 6:30 tilt with the Texas Longhorns. They return to College Station to open up SEC play next Friday with a three-game series against Kentucky.
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
HEAD COACH CHILDRESS
On Mitchell Kilkenny‘s start…
“I thought he got better as the game went along. He struggled with it in the first inning and had some traffic on the bases the first few innings. But I think his last three innings he was pretty special.”
SOPHOMORE RHP MITCHELL KILKENNY
On today’s outing…
“We got off to a slow start, but we picked it up. We got a lot of momentum from the defense. I felt a lot better as the game went on. All I could really do was ride the momentum from my teammates.”
JUNIOR RHP TURNER LARKINS
On returning to the mound…
“It felt really good, honestly. I pulled my lat a couple of weeks ago so I was out for the first couple of weeks. By the grace of God, I was able to heal quick and I’m glad to get back out there and help my team again. I think I’m 100%. I’m ready to keep going forward, keep making steps.”
FRESHMAN 2B BRADEN SHEWMAKE
On sweeping the series…
“They are a very good club. They have great arms and they can swing the bat and have a great approach at the plate. We had to bring our best game to be able to take all three games this weekend. We were able to swing it well with the wind blowing in, you are not going to be able to hit it out of here. You have to stay hard and flat up the middle. We were able to do that better than they did and we got the win.”
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics