COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M Aggies rode solid pitching and a couple of UIC fielding gaffes to take the series opener against the Flames, 3-1, Friday evening on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.
John Doxakis (2-0) earned the win, throwing 6.0 inning, yielding one unearned run on three hits while sitting down eight batters. Chandler Jozwiak got the relief call in the seventh and threw 1.2 scoreless frames, allowing one hit while fanning three. Kasey Kalich recorded his third save of the season, retiring all four batters he faced, including two strikeouts.
The Aggies’ pitching staff tabbed their fifth double-digit strikeout performance. Texas A&M’s pitching staff shut down the Flames’ offense with runners in scoring position at 0-for-6.
For the Aggies, Aaron Walters went 1-for-3 with one run and a huge insurance RBI in the fourth.
UP NEXT
The Aggies and Flames return to action Saturday with first pitch at 2:02 p.m.
SCORING SUMMARY
T3 | The Flames got things started in the top of the third. Dominic Smith singled up the middle and advanced to second on a throwing error to second by Mikey Hoehner, on a bunt Sean Dee. Both runners moved into scoring position after Doxakis sailed a wild pitch over the catcher. Scott Ota plated Smith on a groundout to the second baseman. UIC 1, A&M 0.
B3 | The Aggies quickly retaliated, plating two runs on four mishaps by the Flames. Walters led off the inning with a lined single to centerfield. Ty Coleman hit a shot to third, but while attempting to turn a double play, throwing errors by both the third baseman and second baseman resulted in no outs and runners on the corners. Zach DeLoach reached base on a fielding error by the first baseman, plating Walters. On the play, Coleman wheeled around to third on a throwing error by the UIC’s first baseman. Bryce Blaum knocked in the leading run, Coleman, on a RBI groundout to third. A&M 2, UIC 1.
B4 | Logan Foster led off the inning with an infield single and advanced to second on a balk by UIC pitcher Jacob Key. Allonte Wingate dribbled a one-out single through the left side, to put runners on first and third. Walters added an insurance run, plating Foster on a fielder’s choice grounder to first base. A&M 3, UIC 1.
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Texas A&M Head Coach Rob Childress
On the importance of good defense…
“When you bring your glove to the field every day, and you can throw it over the plate with good pitches, you’re going to have a chance in every game. We’re certainly proving that through the first six games of the year. Our pitching and defense has been outstanding. Tonight in a Friday night fight, that was the difference in the game. We took care of the baseball a little bit better than they did, but give Illinois-Chicago credit, their pitchers did a wonderful job tonight, mixing and matching, and attacking the strike zone with three or four pitches, and that is what it was. It was a Friday night fight, we made fewer mistakes and ended up coming out on top.”
On the success of the off-speed stuff by John Doxakis…
“His competitiveness is as good as there is in the country. The defining moment, there in the third inning, when they had runners at second, third and no outs and he keeps it at one, we come back in and answer with two, and were able to extend it with our bullpen making it stand.”
Junior LHP John Doxakis
On his off-speed pitches…
“Honestly, I didn’t feel my best today. You have those days when you’re a pitcher, and that’s when you lean on your defense. They did a great job tonight. Ty Coleman probably made one of the best plays we’ll see all year, and then [Bryce] Blaum was very short of probably making an ESPN Top 10 play. When you know your defense is going to make plays like that and you’re not feeling your best, you still feel like you’re capable of competing and giving your team a chance to win just because of the guys behind you.”
On what he felt wasn’t working for him…
“Just command of all pitches. They were moving and had good movement, but it just wasn’t going where I wanted it to go. Sometimes I got it there, but other times it just didn’t get where I needed it to go.”
On how rare it is for a defense to play this well this early in the season…
“Honestly, I’m not surprised by that out of our team. That’s what we hang our hat on is pitching and defense, and we know that if we come to the field every day with a shot to pitch well and play defense well, we’re going to have a chance to every game. We really focus on that, so I’m not surprised out of our guys at all. They do a great job everyday of working hard and making sure we play like this on the weekends.”
Sophomore INF Aaron Walters
On the success of the defense this season…
“We were strong on defense. I know our hitting will come around. It’s just going to take time. We’re going to have big, key, hitters at the front of our lineup that are just going to go off, but it’s going to take time.”
On the effectiveness of UIC’s pitchers…
“I know the first time through the lineup, the pitcher started off with fastballs the first pitch, and as the game went on he started mixing and going first-pitch breaking balls, changeups, and he just mixes really well.”
