Sitting in last in the SEC West, Alabama baseball is in the midst of a huge home series this weekend. It fell short to the Texas A&M Aggies (16-9, 4-3) by a score of 3-2 on Friday night at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.

The Crimson Tide (15-12, 2-5) have now been part of 12 games that were decided by one run, which is the most in the entire country. Alabama is 5-7 in those games.

“We’ve just got to put it all together,” Alabama head coach Brad Bohannon said. “We’ve got to be consistent in every area, or we’re going to continue to lose close games. We could be 5-2 in league play, but we’re not. We’re 2-5. We’re playing just good enough to get beat by a run.”

Similar to earlier in the season, the Crimson Tide struggled to hit the baseball when it mattered, coming up empty on scoring opportunities. Seven batters got a hit for Alabama. But the Crimson Tide went 3-for-8 with runners in scoring position, 3-for-14 with runners on, and 2-for-11 with two outs. Shortstop Jim Jarvis and right fielder Andrew Pinckney recorded RBIs for Alabama.

“That was a really good college baseball game,” Bohannon said. “They hit a home run in the sixth inning, and we had our chances in the seventh and eighth and just couldn’t get a big hit when it mattered. That’s the difference in the game.”

Starting pitcher Garrett McMillan was phenomenal for 5.1 innings, but allowed a key two-run home run in the sixth that ended up sealing the deal for the Aggies. McMillan threw the rest of the sixth frame and finished the game, allowing six hits and three earned runs. He also struck out nine Texas A&M batters and only walked one. 

Right-hander Hunter Hoopes did all he could out of the bullpen, throwing two full scoreless innings and striking out three. Lefty Brock Guffey also pitched for Alabama, striking out two in one inning of work.

“G-Mac [McMillan] has been awesome,” Bohannon said. “He’s been a real pleasant surprise for us. He’s somebody we’re really confident in, and that’s why we let him start the weekend series for us. He did a great job. You need that Friday starter to pitch deep into the game, and he’s done that every time. I can’t say enough good things about Garrett. We just didn’t do enough offensively.”

The guy opposite McMillan starred. Aggies right-hander Nathan Dettmer threw 102 pitches in 6.1 innings pitched, allowing just five hits and one earned run. Dettmer sat down seven Crimson Tide hitters via the punch-out. Right-handed pitcher Brad Rudis got the save for Texas A&M.

Right fielder Brett Minnich carried the Aggies’ offense. Minnich went 2-for-4 with a home run, a double, and all three RBIs.

William Hamiter, who has missed the last 19 games with a broken foot, pinch hit for Alabama in the ninth. He struck out.

“That was probably a little unfair to William,” Bohannon said. “I would’ve liked to get him some more practice, but he wanted the at-bat, and we felt like even not being so sharp he was our best option to get a leadoff runner on.”

The Crimson Tide and Aggies will be back at it on Saturday, with first pitch coming at 4 p.m. CT on the SEC Network. Jacob McNairy (3.33 ERA) will get the start.