Aggies Drop SEC Opener at Auburn, 4-1

Friday, March 16

Auburn, Ala.

7 p.m.

Texas A&M

16-3, 0

Auburn

18-1, 0

Texas A&M

Auburn

Photo by: Texas A&M Athletics

Mar 16, 2018 | Baseball

Box Score Box Score - Auburn 4, A&M 1

AUBURN, Alabama – The Aggies' defense was doomed by four errors and eight free passes as No. 6 Texas A&M dropped the league opener to the No. 14 Auburn Tigers, 4-1, Friday evening at Plainsman Park.

Texas A&M out-hit Auburn 6-2 for the game, but Aggie pitchers walked six batters and hit two Tigers with pitches. The free passes coupled with the four errors led to three unearned runs.

Chris Andritsos and Braden Shewmake both registered two hits for the Aggies. Andritsos went 2-for-4 with one double and one RBI. Shewmake was 2-for-4. Michael Helman extended his hit streak to 12 games with a single in the sixth inning.

Aggie starter Stephen Kolek (3-2) labored through 5.1 innings, allowing four runs, one earned, on two hits, five walks and two hit batsmen while striking out three. Jason Ruffcorn was solid in 2.2 innings of scoreless relief, allowing just one walk.

Texas A&M dropped to 16-3 overall and 0-1 in the SEC. Auburn improved to 18-1 overall and 1-0 in league action.

SCORING SUMMARY

B1 | Luke Jarvis started the home half of the first by driving a 2-0 pitch to the warning track down the rightfield line for a triple. Steven Williams pushed Jarvis across with a groundout to short. AUB 1, A&M 0.

B3 | Edouard Julien drew a four-pitch walk to start the frame and moved to second on a failed pickoff attempt as Kolek's throw sailed left of the bag. With one out, Jarvis put down a bunt single to put runners on the corners and Julien came home on a fielding error by George Janca on Williams' grounder to the hot corner. AUB 2, A&M 0.

B4 | With one out, Jay Estes drew a six-pitch walk. With two outs, he stole second base and came around to score on a fielding error by Janca on Will Holland's grounder to third. AUB 3, A&M 0.

B6 | Josh Anthony reached on an error by Shewmake at shortstop to start the frame. With one out, he moved to second on a balk and a pair of walks loaded the bases. Anthony came around to score when the Aggies' attempt to turn a 6-4-3 double play on Holland's grounder came up a step short. AUB 4, A&M 0.

T7 | Logan Foster blasted a leadoff double down the rightfield line and came around to score wheh Andritsos gapped a single to left-center. AUB 4, A&M 1.

NEXT UP
The Aggies and Tigers return to action Saturday at 2 p.m.

TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach Rob Childress
On tonight's game…
The story of the game tonight was definitely Casey Mize. He was dominant early in the game and we had no opportunity to score. Give Stephen Kolek credit. He wasn't very sharp, but I thought he competed very well. If we play a little bit better defense it's a different game late. We give up three unearned runs and make four errors and we don't have a shot. If we play cleaner defense, we certainly have shot late. In a Friday night fight, you have to play at an extremely high level to even have a chance and we certainly didn't do that tonight."

On tomorrow...
"It's all about responding. Casey Mize is a guy who can screw up your whole weekend if you're unable to put it to bed and focus on the game tomorrow. We're certainly going to come out tomorrow and do everything we can to even the series."