TEXAS A&M VS. UMASS
Aggies look to end historic skid as UMASS comes to town
Nov 16, 2022, 1:00 pm
The Aggies have lost six straight games. Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images.
Jimbo Fisher
The downhill slide continued last Saturday night for Jimbo Fisher and the Texas A&M Aggies as they lost their sixth straight game to the lowly Auburn Tigers 13-10. It was an abysmal game on both sides of the ball for both squads. In all honesty, it was a very hard game to watch. Even with an interim coach, the battle of the 3-6 SEC West teams favored Auburn, and Aggieland fell even deeper into the abyss.
How did they get here? I seem to ask that question every week. The loss to App State in week two was a sign of things to come. When the Mountaineers from the Sun Belt came to Kyle Field and defeated the 6th-ranked Texas Aggies, the thought on many Aggie’s minds was, “maybe App State is just that good? The Ags can still win the SEC. It was just a non-conference game!” It turns out that App State was not that good. It turns out that the Aggies could not win the SEC. It turns out that the nightmare season that many Aggie faithful feared had come true.
So here we are, with Texas A&M missing their first bowl game due to their record since 2008. With UMASS and SEC West Champs LSU remaining on the schedule, Aggie fans and Alumni are legitimately questioning if they will finish 3-9. Let that sink in. You cannot confidently say Texas A&M can beat UMASS. The best-case scenario is the Maroon and White somehow win out and finish 5-7. I’m not in the crowd that is worried about UMASS, however. I think the Aggies will be able to finally get that winning feeling again against the Minutemen. But the next challenge comes to close out the season with LSU after thanksgiving. If Jimbo Fisher wants to build ANY momentum going into the offseason, a great place to start would be wrecking LSU’s playoff hopes.
The Aggies will need to take it one step at a time, however. If they focus on UMASS first and handle their business this coming Saturday, I believe they'll be able to end this historic skid for Texas A&M. A&M handles UMASS easily with a 34-10 victory to improve to 4-7.
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Oswald Peraza hit a two-run single in the ninth inning to help the Los Angeles Angels snap a three-game losing skid by beating the Houston Astros 4-1 on Saturday night.
Peraza entered the game as a defensive replacement in the seventh inning and hit a bases-loaded fly ball to deep right field that eluded the outstretched glove of Cam Smith. It was the fourth straight hit off Astros closer Bryan Abreu (3-4), who had not allowed a run in his previous 12 appearances.
The Angels third run of the ninth inning scored when Mike Trout walked with the bases loaded.
Kyle Hendricks allowed one run while scattering seven hits over six innings. He held the Astros to 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position, the one hit coming on Jesús Sánchez’s third-inning infield single that scored Jeremy Peña.
Reid Detmers worked around a leadoff walk to keep the Astros scoreless in the seventh, and José Fermin (3-2) retired the side in order in the eighth before Kenley Jansen worked a scoreless ninth to earn his 24th save.
Houston’s Spencer Arrighetti struck out a season-high eight batters over 6 1/3 innings. The only hit he allowed was Zach Neto’s third-inning solo home run.
Yordan Alvarez had two hits for the Astros, who remained three games ahead of Seattle for first place in the AL West.
Key moment
Peraza’s two-run single to deep right field that broke a 1-1 tie in the ninth.
Key Stat
Opponents were 5 for 44 against Abreu in August before he allowed four straight hits in the ninth.
Up next
Astros RHP Hunter Brown (10-6, 2.37 ERA) faces RHP José Soriano (9-9, 3.85) when the series continues Sunday.