Alabama fell 12-6 to No. 19 Texas A&M on Thursday.  The loss drops Alabama to 21-14 and 5-8 in the SEC.

“I thought our guys competed about as well as we can for the first six innings of tonight’s game,” coach Brad Bohannon said in a press release. “Unfortunately, things really sped up on us in the seventh and eighth innings, and A&M did a good job of capitalizing on our mistakes. Hopefully, we can learn from tonight’s game and play a complete nine innings tomorrow.” 

Alabama scored first in the third inning. Matt Malkin knocked in his seventh RBI of the week by grounding out to shortstop with outfielder Keith Holcombe on third. Alabama scored its final two runs of the frame when Hunter Alexander singled to left with the bases loaded. 

Texas A&M answered in the bottom half of the inning with a two-run home run, cutting the lead to one. The Aggies took the lead in the fourth. They started off with a ground-rule double to right field. After a line out, the Aggies hit another double driving in the tying run. They took the lead on an infield single with a runner on third. 

Alabama retook the lead by putting up three runs in the sixth. Malkin did most of the damage with a two-run home run to left. By the end of the inning, Alabama led 6-4. Texas A&M’s leadoff hitter in the bottom of the sixth saw one pitch before hitting a monster home run against Alabama starter Sam Finnerty. 

The Aggies scored seven runs between the seventh and eighth innings, with most of the damage coming in the eighth inning.

Finnerty went six innings and allowed five runs off nine hits. Dylan Duarte took the loss. He allowed three runs, but only one earned, over 1 1/3 innings pitched. 

 Cason Sherrod finished with the win for Texas A&M, while  Nolan Hoffman finished with his seventh save of the year.

Jake Walters starts for Alabama on Friday. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.