Sdao's struggles persist as pitching falters in 14-8 defeat

Game #29: Vanderbilt 14, No. 20 Texas A&M 8
Records: Texas A&M (23-6, 5-5), Vanderbilt (19-12, 6-4)
WP: Brennan Seiber (5-1)
LP: Shane Sdao (3-2)
Box Score

The pitching is the pitching, but it’s pretty clear the pitching isn’t good enough.

That has defined each of Shane Sdao’s SEC starts, and it didn’t get any better in a 14-8 Thursday night loss to Vanderbilt at Blue Bell Park.

“Not good,” Texas A&M head coach Michael Earley said. “You can’t give up 18 hits, and I don’t know how many errors we had, but we had a play that should have been made that wasn’t in there to keep a ball in to give us a chance. Not good enough, for sure. Definitely not on the mound.”

In five innings, Sdao allowed six runs (two of which were unearned) on eight hits as four of them left the ballpark. His conference ERA is an ugly 9.47, and another abbreviated start as No. 20 A&M and its thin bullpen are now handcuffed for the rest of the weekend.

It has become apparent that the Aggies are without an ace atop their rotation, which they might seriously consider shuffling before next week.

“You just can’t leave balls over the middle of the plate. It’s as simple as that,” Earley lamented. “He’s leaving too many balls over the heart of the plate against teams that can run the ball out of the yard.”

Similar to the last home series, A&M again played from behind as Colin Barczi and Tommy Goodin hit a pair of first-inning solo home runs. Mike Mancini led off the third with a homer, and Barczi added another solo shot an inning later. Facing Gavin Lyons in the sixth, Barczi’s third home run plated a pair as Vanderbilt’s lead swelled to 6-2.

Of course, Sdao isn’t the only one to blame. A&M needed six relievers behind him. Only Ethan Darden, Clayton Freshcorn and Cooper Powell did not allow a run, though they all allowed inherited runners to come across.

As a group, Aggie pitching surrendered 18 hits and issued 10 walks. Sure, a third-inning error hurt the cause, but the issues began, persisted and still haven’t ended on the mound.

“For sure, reassessing, but it’s personnel, man,” Earley said of his staff. “You put one guy in there, then another guy goes to the pen. We’re definitely evaluating it, for sure, and we’re gonna do whatever we think’s best to win, obviously, but we’re thin.

“The margin for error is basically none. That’s fine. You can do that. We’re good enough to handle that. We got a good offense. We've got good enough guys. We have to limit the extra-base hits. They’re a lot.”

Danny Grant, TexAgs

In 19.0 innings, Shane Sdao has allowed 22 runs, 20 earned runs on 34 hits and seven walks. Sdao’s SEC WHIP is 2.16.

Scoring eight runs should be enough with serviceable pitching. Not even elite pitching, just average pitching. A&M was far from that on Thursday, but the offense did its part.

Bear Harrison and Caden Sorrell both homered twice as the Aggies equaled Vanderbilt’s five round-trippers.

Sorrell’s second, a two-run blast in the fifth, trimmed the deficit to 6-5.

Harrison’s second, a three-run bomb that cleared the left-field scoreboard, cut it to 9-8 in the sixth.

Yet the bullpen coughed up two in the eighth and three more in the ninth.

“Offensively, I thought we did a great job battling back,” Earley said. “You can only come back so many times against a good team.”

To add insult to injury — and not making light of a scary moment when Juan Vargas rolled an ankle in the penultimate frame — the Aggies and Commodores will now play a Friday doubleheader due to impending weather on Saturday.

That’s likely the last thing an already thin pitching staff needs. Regardless, they’ll need to respond.

“This group is fine,” Earley said. “They’re disappointed, for sure. We got whipped, but we’re gonna be ready to go. I have no doubt about that with these guys. No doubt in my mind. We’ll come out and be ready to go tomorrow.”

The series resumes at 2:02 p.m. CT on Friday.