GRANVILLE — Spotted a five-run lead before he ever threw a single pitch, Asa Lacy said he felt no pressure.
It showed.
The Texas A&M lefty opened with four no-hit innings and teammate Hunter Coleman blasted two home runs, including one that no one apparently saw land, and the Aggies eliminated Fordham from the NCAA tournament with an 11-2 victory Saturday at Monongalia County Ballpark.
Texas A&M (38-22-1) advances to play the loser of the West Virginia-Duke game at noon Sunday in another elimination game.
“I had good fastball command,” said Lacy, who improved to 8-4 and struck out seven over seven innings. “I only walked one, but I hit a couple. It’s always good to get deep into games when you only walk one guy. When you’ve got a five-run lead, you can pretty much pitch off your fastball.”
Lacy did just that. The 6-foot-4 sophomore didn’t allow a hit until there were two outs in the fifth inning.
“Lacy was very impressive,” Fordham coach Kevin Leighton said. “He had a no-hitter through six, I think. I’m not even sure. He had a no-hitter going and he was rolling.”
After being held to just one run until scoring four runs in the ninth inning against Duke, the Aggies got it going early with a solo home run from Bryce Blaum and a three-run homer from Coleman to build a 5-0 lead.
Coleman’s shot was a line drive that quickly made its way into the Mon County Ballpark bullpen in left field.
His two-run home run in the seventh — again to left field — was towering and disappeared into the afternoon air.
Coleman said he didn’t see it land. Few did.
“No, I didn’t see it and I was disappointed,” Lacy said. “I was getting Gatorade.”
Ty Coleman, Hunter’s younger brother, added a two-run home run in the fourth that extended the Aggies’ lead to 7-0.
Texas A&M had four runs and pounded out 13 hits against Fordham pitching.
“I just feel a little bit better about ourselves offensively,” Texas A&M coach Rob Childress said. “When you lose that first game in a regional, there’s that sense of, ‘Hey, this could be over really quick.’ One bad day you can recover from, two bad days, your season is over. But for us to start fast allows us to breathe, play a bit looser, and certainly Asa didn’t allow them back in the game.”
Pitching depth has been Texas A&M’s strength all season, but it will be tested the rest of the way with Lacy and fellow ace John Doxakis — the losing pitcher against Duke on Friday — now on the shelf.
Childress said the Aggies still have enough pitchers to stay alive in the regional.
“We have Chris Weber and Christian Roa who are rested and ready to go,” he said. “We didn’t use our end-of-the-game guys. They got a day off today. So, we feel like we are back in a good place going into [Sunday].
“We are going to do whatever we have to do to win one game at a time. We aren’t going to hold anybody back to try to get to the next game. It’s all hands on deck.”
