The Texas A&M baseball team (16-0) completed the sweep against the visiting Rhode Island Rams on Sunday afternoon, as it took extra innings to remain just one of two undefeated teams in the country, keeping pace with undefeated Florida State.
In one of the more exciting games of the year thus far, Hayden Schott delivered the final comeback blow in extra innings to propel the Aggies to a 12-11 extra-innings win against a Rams team who held an 11-9 lead heading into the 9th.
The Aggies were in control of the game early, plating six runs in the fourth to extend the lead to 6-0, but due to a poor showing by the Aggies bullpen, the Rams, who went scoreless in the first two games, began to find their sixth with two home runs to trim to lead to 7-3.
However, the visitors weren’t finished. They owned the seventh inning as the Rams’ bats were on fire, scoring eight runs to take an 11-8 lead, which, by all accounts, looked to be the nail in the coffin. Needing to rally, “Olson magic” took over as Jace LaViolette drew a bases-loaded walk, sending the run home to slowly creep back toward tying things up.
As he’s done all season, Braden Montgomery came through in the 9th, scoring off a Hayden Schott groundout, earning another run to tighten things up to 11-10, which all led to freshman Caden Sorrell coming to the plate for one final shot at staying perfect on the year, and with based loaded no less.
OLSEN MAGIC 🫧#GigEm x @SchottHayden pic.twitter.com/yFmHBeEMDJ
— Texas A&M Baseball (@AggieBaseball) March 10, 2024
Ahead of his time, Sorrell was stoic at the plate, reading every pitch with ease; the freshman took a ball 4 to walk in a runner and tie the game at 11-all. Heading into the 10th, veteran pitcher Evan Aschenbeck, one of the bright spots on the day, struck out three batters to send the Aggies back to the plate in the bottom of the 10th, leading to Schott’s walk-off single to earn the 12-11 victory outright.
Pitching:
- Justin Lamkin: 5.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 11 SO
- Evan Aschenbeck: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO
- Texas A&M matched their season-high in strikeouts on the year with 17
Hitting:
- LF Hayden Schott: 4 hits, 2 RBI
- RF Braden Montgomery: 2 hits, 3 runs, 1 RBI
- RF Jace LaViolette: 2 runs, 1 RBI
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