Texas A&M Left-Hander Justin Lamkin Named SEC Pitcher Of The Week

The Texas A&M Aggies southpaw has dominated the mound since taking over as the No. 3 arm in the weekend rotation.

Texas A&M baseball was back on track in front of the home crowd last week, securing a midweek win over Prarie View A&M, plus a series victory against No. 21 Mississippi State.

Once again, pitching has been the storyline surrounding the No. 4 Aggies entering April. Earlier this month, ace Ryan Prager garnered honors from Perfect Game as Pitcher of the Week.

He's not the only Aggie player receiving hardware.

Aggies' left-hander Justin Lamkin was the SEC Co-Pitcher of the Week following his 12-strikeout performance against the Bulldogs in Saturday's win, the league office Monday. Lamkin the victory marked a career-high for the sophomore southpaw and helped ease the offense in a 6-1 victory.

The lefty shared the award with Arkansas’ Hagen Smith. It also marked the first time a Texas A&M player was given the award this season from the conference.

Lamkin allowed one run on two hits over a career-best 7.1 innings at Blue Bell Park. He carried a perfect game heading into the fifth and retired 21 of the first 22 batters. His lone blemish came on a leadoff double to Hunter Hines.

“Coach Max (Weiner) told us not to try and go out there and strike everybody out,” Lamkin said postgame on Saturday. “Just go out there and make your pitches, dominate the zone and stick to our plan, and that’s what the goal is, and we did it.”

Justin Lamkin

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Lamkin regained his composure after the double and retired six straight before giving up a leadoff single in the eighth. Connor Hujsak would come around to score, but it'd be the lone run issued on the afternoon.

“It was great getting the support from my teammates and all of the 12th Man,” Lamkin said. “It was surreal and just really cool to experience that.”

With the performance, Lamkin improved to 2-0 on the year and lowered his ERA to 1.48. The Corpus Christi native currently ranks third in the SEC and 17th nationally in ERA. Lamkin's WHIP of 0.82, also is good for fifth in the SEC and 18th nationally.

In 30.1 innings pitched, Lamkin has struck out 44 batters and walked eight. Currently, opposing batters are hitting just .160 against him.

The Aggies return to Blue Bell Park for a 6 p.m. first pitch against Houston Christian. A&M will then welcome Auburn in for a three-game series beginning Friday evening.