Maroon Weekly

Baseball wins series against Tigers

By Turner Dawson

The Texas A&M baseball team did not have as much fanfare heading into this season as last year’s team that started the year ranked number 1 did. But despite the teams lack of star power that last year’s group had, the Aggies have started off the season strong and have climbed their way into the national rankings.

This past weekend, the Aggies played host to the Missouri Tigers and won 2 out of 3. Barrett Loux took the hill in game one and was dominant as he pitched 7 innings, gave up 1 run on just three hits and struck out 11. Loux has really put it all together this season. He now has a 4-1 record on the year with a sparkling ERA of just 1.29. He has also struck out 58 batters in just 35 innings of work. He has been absolutely dominant this season.

In the second game against Missouri, Ross Stripling got the start but only lasted four and two-thirds. But he only gave up one unearned run. Michael Wacha and John Stilson, who have been studs in the bullpen this season, came in got the Aggies through the rest of the game and gave up two more earned runs and one unearned.

The story of this game was Adam Smith. Smith is an excellent defensive short stop but he has really struggled at the plate this season batting just .217 on the year. However, Smith came into the game at 1st base and proceeded to go 2-for-2 on the night including a walk-off two run double in the bottom of the ninth to win the game. Smith’s defense is a valuable asset to this team. If he can get something going at the plate, it could be huge.

In the third game, the Missouri Tigers finally got things going and really lit up the Aggie starter, Clayton Ehlert. Ehlert only managed to go two and two-thirds and gave up 8 earned runs. Ehlert now has a 1-3 record on the year with a 7.77 record on the year. If the Aggies are going to make some noise as they go later into the season, they are going to need Ehlert to step up his play and start pitching like he has shown he is capable of in past years.

The Aggies are now 17-6 on the year and 4-2 in the Big 12. They are also ranked as the number 21 team in the country. The Aggies have been more balanced this year than they were last year. Last season’s pitching staff was flat out dominant as a group at times and set a school record for strikeouts. But a number of the big name position players really struggled most of the year to get the bats going.

This season the pitching has been really good, especially from the top guys. Loux has been terrific. John Stilson has been almost unhittable. He has been coming out of the bullpen and has a record of 5-0 with an ERA of 1.16. He also has an incredible strikeout rate as he has 49 strikeouts in just 31 innings of work. Freshman Michael Wacha has also done very well. He has started twice but has mostly come out of the bullpen. He has a 3-1 record with a 1.30 ERA and he has struck out 42 batters in 34 and two-thirds.

The rest of the pitching staff has been average. Nick Fleece, who was the closer last season, has had an adequate year with 1-0 record and 3.92 ERA. But he doesn’t have the dominant stuff that the other the top pitchers have as he has just 11 strikeouts in 23 and two-thirds.

But the hitting has been better this season, especially by the bigger name players. Brodie Greene has led the way with a .407 batting average with 4 home runs and 20 RBI’s. He is not just the Aggie’s best hitter but he is also perhaps the most versatile defender. He has played all over the infield and outfield and is a valuable asset to this team.

Caleb Shofner was a relative unknown coming into last year before having a huge season. He has continued his excellent hitting with a .395 batting average and is leading the team in both home runs with 5, and RBI’s with 24. He has started every game this season at third base.

Joe Patterson is another player that has hit the ball very well with a .387 batting average with 3 home runs and 18 RBI’s. As a team the Aggies are batting .319 this season compared to just .298 last season.

In the next week the Aggies will travel to Texas State on Tuesday for one game before traveling to Kansas to take on the Jayhawks in a three game series.