Alabama’s pitching couldn’t slow down the Aggies one bit, as the Tide lost 11-5 in the opening game of the weekend series.
Texas A&M third baseman Trever Werner had a career night against Alabama, restoring Aggie control of the game three separate times over the course of the night. The junior blasted three two-run homers, earning himself six RBIs while going 3-4 at the plate.
With the game tied 4-4 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning, Werner hit the second of his three home runs, giving the Aggies a 6-4 lead that they wouldn’t surrender again.
“The park was playing pretty offensive, especially early on. (Texas A&M) did a good job of taking advantage of some of our mistakes. Our hitters did a good job of keeping the game tight, and we answered with some home runs of our own, but in the end, we just couldn’t slow them down,” said interim head coach Jason Jackson.
Texas A&M hit six home runs on the night – with three of them coming off Alabama starting pitcher Luke Holman.
Holman struggled out the gate, giving up a two-run shot to Aggies outfielder Brett Minnich in the first inning. He was taken out of the game after just 4.1 innings pitched. He gave up just four hits, but allowed three home runs and six earned runs.
One of the few bright lights for the Tide on the evening was infielder Colby Shelton. Shelton continued his historic freshman season by breaking his own freshman home run record – recording his 17th and 18th homeruns against the Aggies. The freshman first broke the record during the Tide’s 13-6 win over Samford in April.
Alabama put four different pitchers on the mound, but none could shut down the Aggies home run party. The Tide gave up a total of 10 hits on the night, 6 of which went deep.
With the loss tonight, Alabama falls to 33-17 (11-14 SEC) while Texas A&M improves to 30-20 (12-13 SEC).
Up Next
The Crimson Tide continue their Mother’s Day weekend series verse the Aggies mid-day on Saturday at 12 p.m. CT. The series finale on Sunday is scheduled for a 3 p.m. first pitch.
Following this series, the Tide will return home to The Joe to finish off the regular season against the Ole Miss Rebels. That series will start on Thursday, May 18.
Follow Alex Chasen on Twitter @_AlexChasen.