Home Run Derby Favors Aggies in Baseball’s 11-5 Loss at Texas A&M

Friday, May 12

Bryan-College Station, Texas

6 p.m.

Alabama

33-17, 11-14

Texas A&M

30-20, 12-13

Alabama

Texas A&M

Home Run Derby Favors Aggies in Baseball’s 11-5 Loss at Texas A&M

5/12/2023 9:40:00 PM | Baseball

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The two teams combined for nine home runs on the night with A&M hitting six

BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Alabama baseball fell, 11-5, to Texas A&M on Friday night at Blue Bell Park. The Crimson Tide is now 33-17 on the season and 11-14 in Southeastern Conference play.

On a night where the ball was flying, the two teams combined for nine home runs. The Aggies registered six of those longballs, four of which were two-run home runs. Alabama had three homers on the night with Colby Shelton providing two solo homers and Bryce Eblin adding a two-run shot.

Texas A&M led 4-1 after three innings of play but the Tide was able to even things up at four apiece with a three-run top of the fifth. The Aggies came right back with two in the home half of the fifth and added one in the sixth along with a pair of two-run frames in the seventh and eighth. Alabama was able to cross one in the eighth but would get no closer for the 11-5 final.

Luke Holman (6-3) was handed the loss after allowing six runs in 4.1 innings of work. He walked three and struck out four while giving up just four hits, three of which were two-run homers. The win went to Evan Aschenbeck (7-1) who worked 3.0 relief frames for A&M.

From Interim Head Coach Jason Jackson

"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."

How It Happened

B1 | Brett Minnich sent a fly ball to left that snuck over the wall for a two-run homer. (2-0, Texas A&M)
T2 | Colby Shelton cut the lead in half with a solo home run. (2-1, Texas A&M)
B3 | Trevor Werner homered to left-center to add a pair. (4-1, Texas A&M)
T5 | Shelton started the rally with a solo homer, his second of the night. After an out was recorded, Ed Johnson doubled to left-center and would come home in the next at-bat thanks to a two-run homer from Bryce Eblin. (4-4)
B5 | Werner hit his second homer of the night – another two-run shot – to move the Aggies back in front. (6-4, Texas A&M)
B6 | A solo home run by Jace LaViolette added to the A&M lead. (7-4, Texas A&M)
B7 | The Aggies widened the gap with another two-run homer by Werner. (9-4, Texas A&M)
T8 | Back-to-back two-out singles from Tommy Seidl and Drew Williamson put two on with two down. Andrew Pinckney followed with a single up the middle that resulted in an error at second, allowing Seidl to cross. (9-5, Texas A&M)
B8 | LaViolette added one more with a solo homer, his second of the day. (10-5, Texas A&M)

Postgame Notes

Hagan Banks struck out a career-high six batters in his relief outing. Banks' previous high was five at Arkansas on March 31 of this season.
Alabama has hit a home run in 41 of 50 games this season and produced multiple homers 28 times. The Tide has also hit two-or-more homers in 14 SEC contests.
Colby Shelton hit his team-leading 17^th and 18^th home runs of the season. Shelton's 18 homers are the most since Kent Matthes hit 28 in 2009.
The multi-homer game was Shelton's fifth of the season. It is also the Crimson Tide's seventh two-homer game as a team with Shelton owning the last instance on April 22 at Missouri.

Alabama and Texas A&M return to the diamond on Saturday for a 12 p.m. CT first pitch at Blue Bell Park. The game was originally scheduled for a 2 p.m. start but was moved up due to the threat of inclement weather later in the day. The Tide will send senior righty Garrett McMillan to the hill while the Aggies call on sophomore Troy Wansing, a lefty. Fans can catch game two on SEC Network+.

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