Late rally from Tigers upsets top-ranked Texas A&M in series opener
Game #46: Louisiana State 6, No. 1 Texas A&M 4
Records: Texas A&M (39-7, 15-7), Louisiana State (30-17, 8-14 SEC)
WP: Fidel Ulloa (1-1)
LP: Ryan Prager (8-1)
Save: Griffin Herring (4)
Box Score
BATON ROUGE, La. — In the shadow of Death Valley, the Bayou Bengals refused to roll over.
With LSU playing for its postseason life down the stretch, No. 1 Texas A&M dropped Friday night's Southeastern Conference series opener at Alex Box Stadium, 6-4.
For the nation's top-ranked club, an uncharacteristic night led to a rather disappointing result.
"The game itself, we gave up 14 free bases," A&M head coach Jim Schlossnagle lamented. "The two runs we just gave away in the third inning played a role.
"We didn't handle the baseball... There were five errors in the game. They played better defense at the right moments than we did."
Of the five, A&M committed three errors — two by Gavin Grahovac and another charged to Braden Montgomery. That allowed two unearned runs.
Of course, that would be the difference in the game.
A&M pitching walked two and hit another.
Despite those blemishes, the Aggies still had multiple changes to tie the game late.
Trailing 6-4 in the eighth, Ali Camarillo grounded into a 5-4-3 inning-ending double play.
With A&M down to its final out and Caden Sorrell and Jace LaViolette at the corners, All-American Montgomery searched for a night-altering swing.
Instead, Griffin Herring punched him out, looking to end the ballgame to send 11,007 Purple & Gold-clad fans into a frenzy.
"If it would have had an impact on us, we wouldn't have had the go-ahead run at home plate with Braden Montgomery in the ninth inning," Schlossnagle said of Friday's hostile environment. "The crowd had no impact on us."
If the noise didn't have an impact, A&M's poor defense certainly did.
A wild third-inning throw by Grahovac turned a possible twin killing into a two-run mistake.
In the sixth, starter Ryan Prager got the hook after Ashton Larson singled, and Tommy White reached via a fielder's choice that included another Grahovac error.
"I thought I definitely had more there, but I passed it on to [Josh Stewart] and was fully confident in what he was going to do," Prager said. "It just didn't work out."
Stewart faced one batter as Jared Jones singled to load the bases.
After another pitching change, the ballpark erupted when Josh Pearson's two-run double off Kaiden Wilson put LSU ahead.
The Bayou Bengals never relinquished the lead as Prager sank to a hard-luck loss — his first of the season.
A&M's ace scattered four hits and issued two walks, but the Tigers parlayed them into four runs, only two of which were earned.
"I thought early, like in the first couple of innings, I had everything working," Prager said. "In the third, I got out of the zone a little bit. Just can't happen, especially to start the inning off."
Eventually requiring Brad Rudis' services, the Aggies finally escaped a four-run sixth.
And while the right-hander from Madisonville kept the Tigers at six runs, the timely hit eluded A&M.
Still, as they have so often, the Aggies displayed their power again on Friday.
This time, a trio of big swings each came with the bases.
LaViolette homered in the first. Camarillo jumped the Left Field Landing in the second and fourth.
"I just took advantage of my pitches, and I didn't miss them," Camarillo said. "It led to two homers."
Beyond the three longballs, the Aggies' only other extra-base hit was LaViolette's two-out, seventh-inning double.
The round-trippers accounted for A&M's only runs until Hayden Schott's RBI single in the eighth as the Aggies finished just 3-for-17 with men on base.
"You can't give up 14 free bases on the road and win a baseball game," Schlossnagle said. "I was proud of how hard we competed. We stayed in the game, and we out-hit 'em. They made the plays, and we didn't make the plays."
Indeed, LSU's defense took away a couple of A&M's chances.
And while he went 0-for-4, White shined at the hot corner on multiple occasions, including an over-the-should grab and a leaping snare to take away base hits.
White’s defensive prowess might have even been the deciding factor.
"It is what it is. There is stuff to learn from it, personally and as a team," Prager said of the loss. "We stay true to who we are. This team is still really good, and we're going to go be really good."
Behind Justin Lamkin, A&M looks to rebound on Saturday night as the series continues at 6:30 p.m. CT.
Don't expect these Aggies to roll over, either.
