Coach Mike Earley made a bold decision before Texas A&M’s Lonestar Showdown by promoting sophomore starting pitcher Aiden Sims to the Saturday slot, leaving Sunday to be announced. After dropping the first two SEC series, including a weekend to forget against an unranked Georgia team, the Aggies responded with a pair of dominant series victories against Missouri and Vanderbilt.
Texas A&M had struggled against elite competition before facing Texas, getting smacked 11-1 by #1 UCLA and losing a series against #9 Oklahoma. This left the Aggies with just a 1-3 record against ranked competition heading into the series against #2 Texas.
This gamble to elevate Sims paid off. After squeaking by the Longhorns in Game 1 with a 9-8 victory led by Friday starter Shane Sdao, Sims delivered a solid performance in Game 2. While an 8-run first inning and reliever Gavin Lyons stole the show by allowing just 3 hits and 1 earned run in 4.1 innings pitched, Sims still delivered the best starting pitching performance of the weekend.
Weston Moss was the pitcher demoted from the Saturday spot, and for the second week in a row, Moss is not listed as the Sunday pitcher either, as Earley copies his rotation from last week.
Sdao will retain his spot as the leader of the pitching rotation, while Sims will take Game 2. As with last week, Sunday is still to be announced. To add intrigue to Game 3, the Aggies did not play a third game against Texas after a series of rain delays, meaning the direction Earley will choose to take on Sunday is truly unknown.
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This article originally appeared on Aggies Wire: Texas A&M is riding with the pitching rotation that helped sweep Texas
Reporting by Sam Allred, Aggies Wire / Aggies Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
