Aggies Complete Sweep of Rhode Island with 10-2 Win

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 11 Texas A&M Aggies homered five times including two by Michael Helman to complete the sweep of the Rhode Island Rams, 10-2, Sunday on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.
 
After scratching eight runs in the first two games without the benefit of the long ball, the Aggie bats came to life with a handful of homers, including a pair of back-to-back jacks. Helman's two homers completed a 6-for-11 weekend for the transfer. DeLoach batted 3-for-5 for the day, including his seventh-inning homer, one day after going 4-for-5. Chris Andritsos and George Janca added dingers for the Maroon  & White.
 
On the mound, Texas A&M's (3-0) Mitchell Kilkenny (1-0) faced the minimum through five frames and finished with 6.1 innings to his record. The junior allowed four base hits and two runs while fanning seven. Kaylor Chafin came on for the second time in three days and pitched out the frame. Nolan Hoffman made his Aggie debut pitching the final two innings and securing the sweep.
 
The Aggies improved to 30-1 on opening weekend since 2009. The lone loss coming in A&M's season opener against Illinois-Chicago in 2013.
 

SCORING SUMMARY
B1 | DeLoach stayed hot after a 4-for-5 Saturday by ripping a leadoff single to left. With one down, Braden Shewmake put two Aggies in scoring position with a double followed up by a Hunter Coleman RBI groundout, scoring DeLoach. Shewmake would also cross the plate courtesy of a passed ball.  A&M 2, URI 0
 
B3 | With one on and one out, Helman connected on the first Aggie long ball of the season. Helman's two-run shot ricocheted high off the left-field scoreboard plating DeLoach.  A&M 4, URI 0.
 
B6 | Cole Bedford narrowly missed a solo homer to left settling for a leadoff double high off the wall in right. After Rhode Island pulled starter Vitaly Jangols (0-1) in favor of reliever Nick Robinson. Will Frizzell drove in the fifth Aggie run on a single before being an inning-ending double   A&M 5, URI 0.
 
T7 | Rhode Island (0-2) got the run right back with Jordan Powell connecting on a homer to left. After a Ram single, the Aggies called upon Chafin who got out of the inning after allowing an RBI single that put the lead at three.  A&M 5, URI 2.
 
B7 | With two down in the bottom half, Zach DeLoach ripped a bomb to right off new reliever Cam LaFleur. Helman made it back-to-back Aggie newcomer long balls connecting on his second of the game, again taking one out to left. A&M 7, URI 2
 
B8 | The fourth Aggie long ball of the game came from George Janca, who entered the game as defensive replacement in the 8th. The junior sent the first pitch he saw off the screen in left for a two-run dinger. Chris Andritsos bookended the second pair of back-to-back homers of the game, with a no-doubter to left-center. A&M 10, URI 2
 
 
NEXT UP
The Aggies play host to Stephen F. Austin on Tuesday with a 6:30 game at Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park before welcoming Cornell for a three-game series starting Friday. 

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TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Texas A&M Head Coach Rob Childress
On offense…
"I am proud of our team. We showed up ready to go today and you know we call Sunday 'Championship Sunday.' Everybody across the country is playing for something, whether it is a sweep to win the series or to avoid getting swept. For us, they show up in every aspect ready to go and I am really proud of the maturity of our group."
 
On if he could have asked for a greater start to this first weekend's result…
"No, we really couldn't. Like I said before, I am very proud of our team. They were very well prepared and played loose, free and extremely hard."
 
 
Texas A&M Junior INF/OF Michael Helman
On what it was like to get his first two home runs…
"It felt great. I mean I had two pretty bad at-bats also, but Coach [Will] Bolt came in there and told me to put my best swing on the ball and that is what I did."
 
On being able to get a comfortable lead today….
"[Mitchell] Kilkenny set a good tempo for the game. He came out and shoved and even Kaylor [Chafin] and [Nolan] Hoffman threw well on the mound. We started off a little slow at the plate, but those back few innings we got it clicking."
 
 
Junior RHP Mitchell Kilkenny
On his outing today…
"I just went out there to throw strikes. That's the pitching staff's motto. Our defense was really good. It was just really easy to get on the team mentality. Everyone came out to win the series and to fight and that's exactly what we did."
 
 
Freshman OF Zach DeLoach
On how it felt to get his first career home run…
"It felt really good. I mean I was just hitting fast ball right there. Just hitting high and inside and I was lucky enough to just stay flat with our approach and just hammer the ball."