No. 4 Texas A&M baseball team suffers first overall loss in SEC opener at No. 8 Florida
All good things eventually come to an end, as was the case for the Texas A&M baseball team’s unbeaten streak.
The No. 4 Aggies (17-1, 0-1 SEC) lost their first overall game of the season on Friday night in Gainesville, which was also the conference opener, by a final score of 8-6 against No. 8 Florida (11-6, 1-0).
The Gators scored twice in the bottom of the first inning at Condron Ballpark, ending redshirt sophomore left-handed pitcher Ryan Prager’s scoreless inning streak at 24, which was the longest by a Texas A&M pitcher since at least 2000. Prager was pulled after 2.1 innings as he allowed 7 hits, 6 runs and 1 hit by pitch with 1 strikeout on 54 pitches.
Junior right-handed pitcher Chris Cortez (2-1) took over in relief and struck out 7 consecutive batters from the third to fifth frames, totaling 4.0 innings, 2 runs and 2 walks with 8 Ks on 60 pitches. Despite pitching well, Cortez earned the loss.
Sophomore LHP Cade Fisher (2-1) earned the win for Florida and junior RHP Brandon Neely (1) picked up the save. Sophomore outfielder Jace LaViolette went 1-for-4 and extended his on base streak to 18 games. Meanwhile, junior OF Braden Montgomery failed to reach base safely Friday and had his run snapped at 45 contests.
The Aggies will attempt to tie the series against the Gators tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. CST.
Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes and opinions. Follow Shaun on Twitter: @Shaun_Holkko.
