Credit to Ben Rikard | Associate Director, Athletics Communications
BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M Aggies scored early and often in an 11-1 win over UTRGV in seven innings on Tuesday night on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.
The Aggies (29-20) closed out its 2023 midweek slate with its third win in a row, swiping a season-high nine bases and collecting nine hits in the win over the Vaqueros (26-21). The nine stolen bases are the most in a single game by an A&M squad since 2006 when it the Aggies set the program record with a dozen swipes against Northwestern State.
Justin Lamkin turned in his second consecutive outstanding midweek start, and this time walked away with the victory after allowing just two harmless singles and striking out seven with no walks in 5.1 innings of work.
His victory is the first win by an Aggie starting pitcher since March 11, snapping a streak of 33 consecutive games.
Hunter Haas reached base and scored in each of his first three plate appearances, including a solo home run in the fourth inning that put the Aggies up 5-0 at the time. Jace LaViolette finished 3-for-4 with three RBI and Jack Moss scored three times after reaching twice on hits and once on a walk.
TOP AGGIE PERFORMERS
Justin Lamkin – (W, 2-3) 5.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K
Hunter Haas – 1-for-2, HR, 3 R, BB, SB
Jack Moss – 2-for-4, 3 R, BB
Jace LaViolette – 3-for-4, 3 RBI, 2 SB, SF
UP NEXT
The Aggies return to SEC play this weekend with a three-game series against Alabama on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park. They are scheduled to kick off the series against the Crimson Tide on Friday night beginning at 6 p.m. The game will be aired on SEC Network+ and can be heard locally on 1150 AM / 93.7 FM The Zone with Andrew Monaco and JB Moss in the booth.
GAME SUMMARY
B1 | A&M 2, UTRGV 0
The Aggies jumped all over Vaquero starter and losing pitcher JC Ariza for a pair of runs in the first inning. Hunter Haas walked to open the inning and Jack Moss followed with a sure single to put runners on the corners. A grounder from Trevor Werner plated the first Aggie run and Jace LaViolette brought in a run as well when he lined an RBI single into center field.
B3 | A&M 4, UTRGV 0
Things started very similar in the third when Haas and Moss each reached base to start the inning. A stolen base by Haas had him quickly in scoring position and the Aggies caught a break when UTRGV left fielder Adrian Torres dropped a sacrifice fly off the bat of LaViolette for what would be the second out of the inning. It cost the Vaqueros a run two batters later when Ryan Targac hit a sac fly of his own to center field to score Moss and up the lead to 4-0.
B4 | A&M 5, UTRGV 0
The Vaqueros nearly made it out of the fourth unscathed, until Haas made his third plate appearance of the game. The Aggie shortstop got another run on the board when he blasted his eighth home run of the season out to left-center field with two outs in the inning to push it to a 5-0 A&M lead.
B5 | A&M 6, UTRGV 0
Ryan Targac led off the home half of the fifth inning and after a wild pitch and a walk to Austin Bost came home to score on a ground ball off the bat of Kasen Wells.
T7 | A&M 6, UTRGV 1
UTRGV got on the board in the top of the seventh with a two-out rally that started with a walk to Montclair Cain. Steven Lancia followed with a single to left field and Adrian Torres then shot a single to center field to bring home the first orange-clad score of the contest.
B7 | A&M 11, UTRGV 1
The Aggies put things to bed with its first big inning of the night in seventh, scoring five times and walking off winners on a two-run single by Jordan Thompson. Three straight walks by UTRGV pitchers quickly loaded the bases with nobody out and Jack Moss picked up an RBI with a ground ball before a wild pitch plated another run. A fourth walk of the inning, this one to Trevor Werner, put another runner on base and LaViolette brought home his third run of the game with a sure single through the right side of the infield. The Aggies stayed aggressive, double stealing to get two runners into scoring position and Thompson delivered on the next pitch to end the game.
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach Jim Schlossnagle
On the game overall…
“I thought Lamkin did a nice job of throwing strikes. He was better with his off-speed pitches tonight than he was last week against Tarleton. He probably could’ve gone further, but we had some guys we wanted to get in the game. He gave us 5.1 innings, so I think he did an awesome job.”
Freshman Pitcher Justin Lamkin
On what has been working…
“I think the presence of a breaking ball. That’s what I’ve been really working on these past few weeks. Also, the fast-ball change-up, but the presence of that third pitch is what really helps you get deeper in the games.”
Freshman Outfielder Jace Laviolette
On the offense manufacturing runs early…
“It just goes to show that what coach says, works. We just have to trust the process and believe that whatever he says works for us. We need to trust to swing at the strikes, not the balls. Sometimes you’ll have a perfect at-bat with three balls, and then he’ll throw you a strike and you swing at the next strike to line out… oh well. It’s all part of the game and we have to trust the process and trust what we do, and it’ll all turn out okay.”