Sorrell's Masters-ful, magical moment lifts A&M to extra-inning win

Game #33: Texas A&M 8, South Carolina 7 (10 innings)
Records: Texas A&M (18-15, 4-9), South Carolina (20-15, 2-11)
WP: Weston Moss (4-2)
LP: Brendan Sweeney (0-3)
Box Score

Left-handed swings often make headlines at Augusta.

In Aggieland, lefty Caden Sorrell's stroke is modeled more after Yelich and Harper than Mickelson.

Still, he used it to crush a 10th-inning bomb — a slice to left field instead of a stripe — and earned himself a moment in an iconic piece of clothing.

"I had the honor of being able to wear the green jacket," Sorrell said. "It's a fun thing we just started, and we've been hitting more homers since we introduced the golf stuff, so it's working."

Working is an understatement.

Sorrell's heroics on Thursday night lifted Texas A&M to an 8-7 walk-off victory over South Carolina at Blue Bell Park.

The Aggies have now won four straight, including three SEC games in a row. During that stretch, Sorrell has homered four times.

Facing right-handed reliever Brendan Sweeney in the 10th, the sophomore ambushed a heater to send what remained of the 5,927 patrons into a frenzy.

"He threw a middle-away fastball, and I was sitting that and was able to put a good swing off on it," Sorrell said. "It was an indescribable feeling, especially doing it here in front of the 12th Man."

Since saying “Hello, friends” in his return to A&M’s lineup on March 29, Sorrell is hitting .400 with five home runs and 10 RBIs in just 30 at-bats.

Regarding home run celebrations, the Aggies have added the familiar green jacket to their increasingly popular golden putter schtick.

Admittedly not much of a golfer, A&M head coach Michael Earley appreciates the Augusta vibes currently taking over his clubhouse.

"I love morale. I love team," the Aggie skipper said. "We preach 'team' all the time and anything that brings them together, and like I said yesterday, as many times as I can see that putter, that's a good thing, and I guess that jacket is part of it too now."

Another thing to love was the guts of Weston Moss.

Entering with A&M leading 7-6 and two outs in the seventh, the right-hander failed to record the save but ended up finishing the job.

After allowing three eighth-inning singles to tie the game, Moss pitched out of trouble in the ninth before striking out the side in a dominant extra frame.

"I love it," Earley said. "When you pitch with an edge like he does or you play with an edge, sometimes you might go over that edge a little bit, but I don't think he crosses the line. He's just an intense competitor, and he's consistent with it.

"I love how he competed out there."

Moss finished his 3.1 innings with eight strikeouts.

That set the stage for Sorrell's magical moment.

Yet it was only needed because South Carolina's bullpen held the Aggies down from the middle innings on.

Indeed, the walk-off blast snapped a streak of 14 straight retired by Gamecock pitching that dated back to Blake Binderups's two-out double in the fifth.

Two innings prior, Binderup became the first Aggie to wear green with a grand slam that staked A&M to a 6-3 lead.

"The season hasn't gone how I've wanted it to be, but I put my head down every day and go to work, and good things tend to happen," he said. "Put me in the game. I'm ready. I'll just keep doing that.

"It just felt awesome running around the bases and seeing everyone hyped up, and once I got home, seeing my boys over there, it's pretty special."

Debuting noticeable mechanical changes to his right-handed swing, the hometown kid finished 2-for-4 with five RBIs.

"I've widened out, kind of off-set now. Kind of like Giancarlo Stanton a little bit," Binderup explained. "We kind of implemented that yesterday in the cages, so we went out in the game today, and it seemed to work. I'll probably stick with it."

Good idea.

Zoe Kelton, TexAgs

Blake Binderup accumulated a career-high five RBIs on Thursday night. 

Big moments from Binderup and Sorrell helped A&M cover up another sub-par Ryan Prager outing that didn't receive any help from the defense.

The lefty allowed six runs across 6.2 innings and a trio of home runs.

One of those — Beau Hollins' leadoff homer in the second — was helped out of the ballpark by Jace LaViolette.

To make matters worse, a Ben Royo error in the fifth plated an unearned run as South Carolina pulled within 6-5.

Still, defense saved the day when left fielder Jamal George — recovering from a slow jump — brought back what could have been a fourth Gamecock round-tripper.

Instead, it was the first out of a scoreless ninth.

"That was huge," Earley said. "I always say to them and say it all the time: You never know what play. The walk-off was awesome, but Jamal making that catch — I think it was going to go over — and then Moss pitching like that got us to that point."

For a team still fighting for its postseason life, A&M needed every bit of Olsen Magic available on Thursday night.

After all, it’s a tradition unlike any other.