Story by Thomas Dick, Texas A&M Athletics Communications
BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M Aggies erased a 4-1 deficit en route to victory over the Incarnate Word Cardinals, 6-4, Wednesday evening on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.
After a four-run second inning by UIW, Texas A&M scored five unanswered, including two each in the fifth and eighth frames. The final rally was highlighted Ray Alejo’s two-run single to leftfield to take the lead. Logan Britt knocked in two with a single in the fifth to tie the game, 4-4.
The Maroon & White struck first with one run in the first. The Cardinals quickly answered back with four in the second.
Chris Weber labored through 5.0 innings, yielding four runs on four hits and three walks, while fanning eight. Alex Magers and Joseph Menefee were lights-out in relief. Magers came in the sixth and worked two perfect frames with one strikeout, while Menefee (2-1) earned the win, striking out the final six batters of the ballgame.
Texas A&M retired the final 14 batters of the game, and combined for 15 strikeouts on the day, marking their ninth double-digit strikeout performance in 10 games. The pitchers held Cardinals’ batters to 1-for-9 at the plate with two outs.
Offensively, the Aggies were able muster up six runs on the day, taking advantage of 12 walks and four occasions of loaded bases. Texas A&M had seven players record at least one base on balls, while seven Aggies added at least one hit.
Will Frizzell and Zane Schmidt led the Aggie bats. Frizzell went 2-for-3 with two runs, one double and two walks, while Schmidt was 2-for-2 with one run and three walks.
The Aggies improve to 6-4, while the Cardinals fall to 3-1.
TOP PLAYERS
Will Frizzell – 2-for-3, 2 R, 1 2B, 2 BB
Zane Schmidt – 2-for-2, 1 R, 3 BB
Alex Magers – 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 K
Joseph Menefee – 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 6 K
SCORING SUMMARY
B1 | Bryce Blaum lined the first pitch he saw down the leftfield line for a double, before stealing third with one out. Austin Bost broke the ice with a sacrifice fly to rightfield. A&M 1, UIW 0.
T2 | Noah Brewer and Lee Thomas drew back-to-back walks to start the inning. With one out, two runs scored on singles through the left side by Ridge Rogers and Zach Limas. Trent Koerner moved runners into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt, before two scored on a blooped single to left field by Wilson Ehrhardt. UIW 4, A&M 1.
B3 | Will Frizzell laced a double in the left-centerfield gap and advance to third via a groundout. Zane Schmidt and Bryan Sturges drew consecutive base on balls to load the bags with Ags. One run scored on a Taylor Smith walk. UIW 4, A&M 2.
B5 | Frizzell led off with a single to leftfield and advanced to second on a Bost walk. Schmidt bunted a single down the third baseline to load the bags with Ags once again. With two outs, Logan Britt tied things up with a lined single to leftfield. A&M 4, UIW 4.
B8 | Three consecutive two-out walks by Bost, Schmidt and Mikey Hoehner loaded the bases. Ray Alejo lined a single to leftfield, plating the two go-ahead runs. A&M 6, UIW 4.
UP NEXT
The Aggie host the New Mexico State Aggies with three-game weekend series, beginning Friday with first pitch slated for 6:32 p.m.
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach Rob Childress
On his team’s performance…
“When you think about what has gone on across the country with the COVID returnees and older guys, meanwhile throwing in the fact that the major league draft only had five rounds, everyone has good players. There aren’t going to be any layups out there, every time we take the field it will be a fight. They’ll have a veteran arm on the mound and have good hitters up and down the opponent’s lineup. Our guys understand that. Are we happy with where we’re at right now? Certainly not, we have to play better and be better offensively. We are much more capable offensively than we have shown. We have to get guys rolling in the right direction like what we saw the entire fall. Our hitters have faced good pitching during that time with our staff, so we know they will get going.”
Junior LHP Joseph Menefee
On coming out of the bullpen…
“It adds a lot of adrenalin coming out of the bullpen. It’s important for the team and important for me to do my job. If I can do my job to help my team get a win, that is all that matters.”
On the importance of every outing…
“The slider was working well. I was getting it down low to lay it in for strikes early in the count. Whether it be a midweek or conference play, you can’t take an outing for granted. I always have to get my work in and lock in to do my job.”
Senior OF Ray Alejo
On his game winning a- bat…
“I was looking for something to put a barrel on. Especially going up there with a full count and two outs. I knew my job was to put the ball in play to make something happen. The guys told me the zone was tight, so I was looking for a pitch that I could handle and I did that.”
Senior 1B Will Frizzell
On the offense just getting started…
“We won, so we can’t be too frustrated. We’re going to start knocking them down. We strung together a lot of great at-bats late. We hit hard balls, just right at guys. It’s all of us trying to get the bat to the next guy, they’ll start getting knocked down pretty soon.”