Friday night’s Game 1 against the No. 9 Oklahoma Sooners was quite eventful for the Texas A&M Aggies, from their 4-0 first inning lead slowly shrinking and eventually evaporating to Michael Earley’s skirmish with the Oklahoma dugout after a game-tying home run.
But on top of the loss, one thing that also put a damper on Texas A&M’s first night in Norman was when relief pitcher Josh Stewart grabbed his arm in pain during his warmups, and was forced to leave the game.
No official word has been given on the graduate student’s condition, but with his appearance on the SEC injury report ahead of Saturday’s game, it doesn’t seem to be heading in an optimistic direction.
Who Can Take Josh Stewart’s Place?
Texas A&M pitcher Clayton Freshcorn | 12thMan.com
Though Stewart missed the entire 2025 season with injury and has been stellar in his 6.1 innings of work in the 2026 campaign thus far, another injury to the reliever will call for another Aggie to step up and be the go-to man when the going gets tough in the later innings.
And here are a few prime candidates.
Clayton Freshcorn
If there was any doubt of junior Clayton Freshcorn’s ability to shut a team down in the late innings, it was surely erased last night during Texas A&M’s second game against the Sooners.
Freshcorn came in with the bases loaded and no outs, and after two fielder’s choices and a strikeout, not a single run crossed the plate.
In the 12.2 innings he has pitched in the 2026 season, the flame-throwing Freshcorn has allowed eight hits and struck out 13 while racking up three saves, a 0.67 ERA, and a 2-1 win-loss record.
It took Freshcorn some time to settle into his new environment in College Station last year, but there doesn’t seem to be a slow start from the reliever this year.
Juan Vargas
The junior transfer out of Panama, Vargas didn’t even allow an earned run until that first game Friday night against Oklahoma.
In his 10.1 innings pitched, the former Tennessee Tech pitcher has struck out six and only allowed five hits, and started a midweek contest earlier this month, a three-inning gem against Incarnate Word that saw him not allow a single baserunner in the 11-1 mercy rule-shortened victory.
Expect one of these two guys to show up in the later innings again during the series finale against the Sooners Sunday when the game gets going at 2:00 PM.