Four Texas A&M pitchers combined to one-hit the Abilene Christian Wildcats en route to an 8-1 Aggie victory Tuesday evening on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.
It took until two outs in the ninth for Abilene Christian (9-20) to record their only hit of the ballgame.
Turner Larkins got it started with his first start of the season. Larkins worked 4.0 innings allowing the one Wildcat run to come around after a walk in the fourth.
John Doxakis came in for the next three frames and didn’t allow a Wildcat baserunner, striking out four of the nine batters he faced, on his way to his second win of the season.
Landon Miner was perfect in the eighth before Jason Ruffcorn worked the scoreless ninth, yielding the lone hit to Luis Trevino who singled up the middle with two outs.
On the offensive side of the ball, the Aggie (23-11) bats came alive with in a four-run fifth off reliever Drew Hanson (2-4). With two outs and two on, Foster singled through the left side, tying the game and setting the stage for Braden Shewmake. The freshman sent one out to rightfield for his fourth dinger of the season putting A&M up 4-1 with the three-run job.
The Aggies plated a pair of runs in both the sixth and seventh. George Janca and Austin Homan delivered RBI hits in the sixth with a double and triple, respectively. In the seventh, it was Hunter Coleman’s single and Joel Davis’ sac fly that gave the Maroon & White an 8-1 lead.
Shewmake highlighted the Aggie offense going 3-for-4 with two runs, three RBI and one stolen base. Coleman and Janca also contributed multi-hit nights. Six different hitters drove in the eight Aggie runs.
Next up, the Aggies hit the road for a three-game set with the Alabama Crimson Tide. First pitch on Thursday from Sewell-Thomas Field is set for 6:00 p.m.
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach Rob Childress…
On the game…
“I am just proud of our guys. We weren’t real sharp early, Turner Larkins made some big pitches and then we got some things going from a defensive standpoint and didn’t allow them to grab the lead. I felt like they had the momentum the first four or five innings and then just like that with two outs and nobody on we put the ball on the ground, throw it away, a walk, and off we go and score six runs. All-in-all very proud.”
On almost no-hitter…
“I mean they are hard to get. You can’t get any closer than we got tonight but all-in-all I'm proud of our team.”
Freshman LHP John Doxakis
On almost having a combined no-hitter…
“I know most of the guys didn’t realize it until the ninth and it made it a little better. There was no pressure. So and so said something in the dugout and we got mad him, then the next hit came.”
On the success of the pitching staff tonight…
“I just think because the game was going so smoothly. We were throwing a lot of strikes, only had one walk and that will make a game go fast and feel good.”
On winning eight out of the last 10 games…
“We definitely feel good, but we expect to do this. It’s not out of the ordinary around here. We have a winning tradition. It feels nice.”
Junior RHP Turner Larkins
On today’s start…
“It was good to get back out there. It’s kind of been a rocky season so far. I think I only threw four innings before tonight. It was definitely good to get back out there and compete with my teammates. Still have a lot of work to do, but this is a good building point.”
