Texas A&M wins series vs. No. 2 Arkansas

(@AggieBaseball photo)

By Shelbie Warr

Texas A&M continues its uphill climb after starting SEC play 1-8 with a series loss to Kentucky and a sweep by Alabama and Vanderbilt. They hit rock bottom on Friday, April 4th, when they were no-hit, shut out, and run-ruled at then No.1 Tennessee, 10-0.

However, since then, the Aggies have been on a hot streak. They came back and won the series over the Volunteers in a big way, winning the next two games by 6 and 11 runs. They then used some late-game heroics to sweep South Carolina before heading out on the road to take on an Arkansas team that just doesn't lose at home. It was a battle between history and a team on a roll, and the Aggies came out on top in this series, 2-1.

The first game of the weekend began Thursday night, and the Aggies were ready to go, jumping out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning. However, the Razorbacks weren't going away quietly, doubling the Aggies up in the home half to take a 2-1 lead.

The Aggies would add three in the top of the 2nd and Arkansas two of their own in the bottom of the 3rd to put the game at a 4-4 tie. Texas A&M would added three in the top of the 5th, and then with one on and no one out in the bottom half, lifted Ryan Prager for Weston Moss, who put up zero after zero to preserve the lead.

Jace LaViolette hit a homer in the top of the 9th as the absolute nail in the coffin, sending the Aggies to a 7-4 win to open the series.

Friday brought with it a doubleheader as bad weather was moving into the area late that night and into Saturday. The first game of the day didn't go A&M's way, as they fell 11-5 to Arkansas. LaViolette did homer again in this game, as did Henseler and Binderup, but it wasn't enough to move past the Razorbacks.

The second game of the doubleheader was for all the marbles, and Texas A&M wasn't going away quietly. LaViolette added two homers to his already strong weekend, and the Aggies took a 3-2 lead into the late innings before weather caused a quick delay. However, Luke Jackson, who was pitching before the delay, came back in and was absolute nails for the Aggies, while the offense around LaViolette also woke up. Ben Royo homered, pulling himself out of a slump, and the Aggies won game 3 of the series, 9-2, improving to 8-10 in conference.

Now, next weekend brings the series everyone has had circled on their calendar since last June. The Aggies head to Austin to take on the top-ranked Longhorns and the former Texas A&M head man, Jim Schlossnagle. This series means a lot to both sides, especially being an in-state rival that goes back for decades. However, first Texas A&M hosts Sam Houston on Tuesday night, and overlooking that to get to the weekend would be the worst thing that the Aggies could do. It is going to be an exciting week for the Maroon and White; that much is for sure.

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