The No. 22 Texas A&M Aggies wrapped up the regular season with an 8-0 loss to the No. 16 Arkansas Razorbacks on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park on Saturday afternoon.
Arkansas (39-15, 18-11 SEC) drew first blood in the third with RBI singles by Eric Cole and Luke Bonfield.
The Razorbacks would go on to score a run in the fourth, two both the fifth and sixth and one in the seventh.
Chad Spanberger hit two solo home runs for Arkansas. Dominic Fletcher batted 3-for-4 with two runs and one RBI.
Nick Choruby led the Aggies at the plate, going 2-for-4.
Blaine Knight (7-4) earned the win for Arkansas, scattering three hits while striking out two in 6.0 innings. Kevin Kopps blanked the Aggies over three frames to earn his second save of the season.
Stephen Kolek (3-4) was saddled with the loss. He allowed five runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out three in 4.0 innings of work. Kaylor Chafin worked 2.0 innings of relief to lower his ERA to 1.93.
Texas A&M (36-20,16-14 SEC) returns to action Tuesday with first round action at the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Alabama with opponent and game time yet to be determined.
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach Rob Childress
On the end of the regular season…
“56 are down and gone. Now we move on into the postseason and looking forward to the opportunity to play for a championship next week.”
On Texas A&M’s offensive performance…
“(Blaine) Knight was very good. Hit some balls hard but never had any opportunities. Give him all the credit. He did to us what Corbin (Martin) did to them yesterday.”
Senior LHP Kaylor Chafin
On the end of the regular season…
“It hurts, but we’re starting a whole new season, tournament’s starting. Whole new ballgames, win the one that’s in front of us.”
On entering the SEC Tournament as defending champions…
“We definitely know what it takes to get there and what it takes to win it. Just be ready to go, get a good day of practice in and start winning some baseball games.”
Senior OF Nick Choruby
On last regular season game…
“It’s definitely rough. It’s a tough loss. I thought we played pretty well in first two games of the series and I guess today was kind of disappointing but there’s a lot of baseball left to be played for us. We are going to the SEC Tournament next week and a regional after that. So still a lot left.”
On Arkansas Starter Blaine Knight…
“I really don’t know what made the difference. I would just say that we have to a better job on our end of staying committed to our approach one through nine. If we get away from that we can really tell. I think we went away from it today. We hit some balls hard today but we have to be doing it all game.”
