Baseball Drops Second Straight to Texas A&M

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – For the second night in a row, a nine-run Texas A&M scoring rally led to Missouri’s downfall, as the Tigers dropped a 13-1 Southeastern Conference decision to the Aggies Friday evening at Blue Bell Park.

After the Aggies (22-13, 7-7 SEC) scored nine times in the third inning of Thursday’s series-opening 13-5 win, Texas A&M sent 14 batters to the plate in the fifth inning of game two, plating nine runs on eight hits to turn a one-run game into a 10-0 bulge.

The A&M duo of Hunter Haas and Jack Moss led the charge, combining for seven hits in the contest. Haas singled and scored twice in the decisive rally, while Brett Minnich launched a back-breaking three-run home run and Jace LaViolette followed with a two-run shot moments later.

The Aggies’ fifth-inning onslaught against three Mizzou hurlers sat in stark contrast to the first four innings of the contest. Tigers starter Rorik Maltrud was in control throughout the early stages, striking out eighth Aggies through four frames to match his Mizzou career high. A&M scored a third-inning run after back-to-back hits by Haas and Moss set up Trevor Werner’s sacrifice fly for a 1-0 Aggie lead.

Maltrud (1-1) avoided further damage in the third by striking out Minnich for the final out, then fanned two more batters in the fourth to keep it a one-run game.

The Tiger offense generated early opportunities, putting runners on base in each of the first four innings. But A&M starter Josh Stewart stranded a pair in the second, before lefty Evan Aschenbeck (5-0) worked out of jams in the third and fourth innings to extend Mizzou’s scoreless drought in the series.

Mizzou (21-13, 4-10 SEC) finally snapped a nine-inning dry spell in the sixth, cashing in on Trevor Austin’s leadoff double when Hank Zeisler drove a sac fly to deep center to make it a 10-1 contest.

Texas A&M homered three times, accounting for eight of its 13 runs on long balls. Travis Chestnut put the finishing touches on the victory with a three-run shot—his first of the season—in the bottom of the sixth.

Aschenbeck struck out eight while allowing just one run on four hits over the final 5.0 innings to earn the victory.

TIGER NOTEBOOK

• With the setback, the Tigers fell to 38-55-2 all-time vs. Texas A&M
• Maltrud matched his Mizzou career high with eighth strikeouts, while his 4 1/3 innings represented the second longest of the season
• The Tigers committed three errors on the night after recording a season-high four miscues in Thursday’s series opener
• MU dropped to 0-8 on the road in SEC play this season and suffered its 10th straight SEC road setback, dating back to last May
• Ty Wilmsmeyer led Mizzou with a 2-for-3 night, marking his team-leading 13^th multi-hit performance of the season

UP NEXT

The Tigers conclude their series with the Aggies Saturday (April 15) with a Noon (CDT) contest at Blue Bell Park.

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