The Louisiana Ragin Cajuns advanced to the Regional Final of the Bryan-College Station Regional but were faced with the daunting task of defeating the Aggies twice in 24 hours.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
After a fairly quiet first two innings, Travis Chesnut got on base for Texas A&M to start the third inning before he advanced to third on two wild pitches. Braden Montgomery then singled to right field to put the first run on the board for the Aggies. Then, Trey LaFleur doubled for the Cajuns in the bottom of the third followed by an RBI double from Kyle DeBarge that tied the game up at 1-1.
In the fourth, A&M made some noise with a solo home run from Caden Sorrell before a pair of singles allowed Montgomery to cap off a four spot in the fourth to put the Aggies ahead 5-1 in College Station.
In the fifth, Hayden Schott hit a home run off of the batter’s eye in center field to add to the Texas A&M lead in the Regional Final against the Ragin Cajuns.
The Aggies further extended the lead via the long ball as Ali Camarillo sent one to left field to make it a 7-1 game. This home run made it 129 for the season, which was a new single-season record for the program.
In the ninth, Gavin Grahovac added to the tally with a two-run shot to right center that made the score 9-1 in favor of the Aggies. It was the 22nd homer of the season for the SEC Freshman of the Year, setting the freshman home run record at A&M.
Louisiana got a walk from Lee Amedee before a single from Caleb Stelly rolled all the way to the corner in left field as pinch-runner Ben Robichaux tried to cut into the Aggie lead but was thrown out at the plate. John Taylor was then hit by a pitch to put runners at the corners with just one out. Duncan Pastore grounded to second base, which scored Stelly from third to make it 9-2 and put runners at first and second with still one out. A wild pitch scored Taylor and made it a 9-3 score before LaFleur got his third hit of the game, scoring Connor Cuff from second and cutting into the lead at 9-4. The Aggies got the third out despite the late Cajuns rally to advance to the Super Regionals with a 9-4 final score.
BIG NUMBER: 8
After tying the game at 1-1, the Aggies used five home runs to score eight unanswered runs to jump ahead 9-1 and control the game as the #3 overall seed advances to the Super Regional.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Braden Montgomery
Montgomery, one of the top prospects in the country, led Texas A&M into the Super Regionals as he had an RBI single and a three-run homer in the contest.