Aggies Clinch Series From Mizzou with 13-1 Win

Friday, April 14

Bryan-College Station

6:00 PM

Texas A&M

22-13, 7-7

Missouri

21-13, 4-10

Missouri

Texas A&M

Photo by: Craig Bisacre

Apr 14, 2023 | Baseball

Box Score Photo Gallery

BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – It wasn't déjà vu all over again for the Texas A&M Aggies, but it certainly was close.

The Aggies (22-13, 7-7 SEC) exploded for a nine-run fifth inning, their second nine-run frame in as many nights and hit three home runs in a 13-1 win in seven innings over Missouri (21-13, 4-10 SEC) in the second game of the series on Friday night at Blue Bell Park.

Texas A&M got home runs from Brett Minnich and Jace LaViolette in the nine-run fifth, but it was a three-run blast from Travis Chestnut in the bottom of the sixth that got the Aggies in position to close out the game in abbreviated fashion.

Evan Aschenbeck had enough in the tank to make sure that happened, throwing 5.0 innings of one-run relief with eight strikeouts and no walks to earn his fifth victory of the year. That effort came after Josh Stewart served as an opener and shut the Tigers out in 2.0 innings of work, his third straight shutout outing of multiple innings.

The win gets the Aggies back to .500 in SEC play for the first time this year and is the first-ever run-rule victory for Texas A&M in SEC play after the rule was implemented for this year.

TOP AGGIE PERFORMERS
Josh Stewart – 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K
Evan Aschenbeck – (W, 5-0) 5.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K
Jack Moss – 4-for-4, BB, 4 H, 1 R
Hunter Haas – 3-for-5, 3 R, RBI
Brett Minnich – 1-for-4, HR, 3 RBI, BB
Jace LaViolette – 1-for-3, HR, 2 RBI, BB, 2 R
Travis Chestnut – 1-for-1, HR, 3 RBI

UP NEXT
The Aggies will close out the series with Missouri on Saturday afternoon with a noon start in the finale. The game will be streamed on SEC Network+.

GAME SUMMARY
B3 | A&M 1, MIZZOU 0
The Aggies pushed across a run to play from in front in the bottom of the third against Maltrud. One-out singles by Hunter Haas and Jack Moss put runners on the corners and Trevor Werner picked up his first RBI of the night with a sacrifice fly to center field that scored Haas from third.

B5 | A&M 10, MIZZOU 0
For the second straight game the Aggies were able to put together a massive, nine-run inning, this time in the fifth. Each of the first three A&M hitters of the inning made their way onto the basepaths, starting with a leadoff double by catcher Hank Bard. Haas followed with an RBI single and moved up a base on the first of two Tiger errors of the frame. Moss then singled to keep the threat going and two batters later Brett Minnich delivered a huge swing, blasting a three-run homer off the center field batter's eye to open it up to a 5-0 lead.

The offensive onslaught did not stop there, however, as Jace LaViolette followed an Austin Bost single with a massive opposite-field homer of his own to up the lead to 7-0. Two of the next three Aggies managed to reach base as well and Haas took advantage with his second RBI single of the inning to make it an 8-0 Aggie lead. Two batters later Werner shot a two-run single into the left-field corner to cap the scoring.

T6 | A&M 10, MIZZOU 1
Mizzou was able to get a run back after the long bottom of the fifth, using a sure double by Trevor Austin to open up the inning and set the table. A grounder by Dalton Bargo moved him to third and Hank Zeisler picked up the RBI with a sacrifice fly to left field.

B6 | A&M 13, MIZZOU 1
The Aggies needed a run to get the run-rule back into play after the Tigers scored in the top half of the inning, and got consecutive one-out walks to LaViolette and Ryan Targac to get a threat going. Mizzou then went to the pen for Kyle Potthoff and in his first at-bat of the game Travis Chestnut attacked the first pitch he saw from Potthoff and did not miss, connecting on a three-run homer to left field to push the Aggie lead back to a dozen runs.
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Head Coach Jim Schlossnagle
Thoughts on tonight's game...
"We wanted to get Josh Stewart a start and he did exactly what we wanted him to. Evan did a really excellent job in a tough pitching environment as well. We got the big hits and the home runs that took a lot of pressure off, and we know that our offense can do great things."

Senior OF Brett Minnich
On how the offense has gotten hot…
"I mean the wind blows out when it gets hotter, but a lot of those balls are going out without the wind. I think what we do as an offense, we see pitches and get the pitchers in high-leverage counts so they have to go to the bullpen. I think when you see as many pitches as Jace LaViolette has, he has started every game this year, so he is starting to see the pitches. It is great, I love playing with these guys."

Jr. LHP Evan Aschenbeck
How did you like the setup today...
"Whatever gives our team the best chance to win, I'm all for it. However I can help this team win, is what I want to do. I knew Stewy [Josh Stewart] was going to go out there and produce a couple of good innings and then I had to come in and fill up the zone and learn from what they did yesterday."

Jr. Utl Travis Chestnut
What factors do you credit to the home run boom in the last ten games...
"The long ball plays a big role and when we have a lot of our guys hitting the ball hard and getting around the bases, so when we have that as well as guys to get on the base to allow RBIs then we are in good shape to win."