Friday, May 4
College Station
6:30 p.m.
Texas A&M
33-13, 11-11
0
vs
9
Florida
37-10, 17-5
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Florida
1
0
0
0
0
4
0
2
2
9
14
0
Texas A&M
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
6
1
Photo by: Sam Craft/Texas A&M Athletics
Aggies Drop Series Opener versus Florida
May 04, 2018 | Baseball
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 18 Texas A&M Aggies dropped the opening game of their series against the No. 1 Florida Gators, 9-0, Friday evening on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.
The loss dropped Texas A&M to 33-13 overall and 11-11 in the SEC. Florida improved to 37-10 overall and 17-5 in league play.
Aggie starter Mitchell Kilkenny (8-2) fought hard through for 5.2 innings, allowing three runs on six hits while striking out seven. The best effort out of the bullpen was Christian Roa, retiring three of the four batters he faced in the ninth.
Chandler Morris led Texas A&M at the plate, going 2-for-3 and he added two stellar defensive plays in rightfield.
UP NEXT
The Aggies and Gators return for game two of the series Saturday at 4:02 p.m.
SCORING SUMMARY
T1 | Deacon Liput rattled a 2-2 offering into the corner down the rightfield line to start the game and Nelson Maldonado followed it up with a single on a blooper that came out of the glove when diving second baseman Michael Helman hit the ground, putting runners on the corners. Kilkenny got Jonathan India to pop up to the first baseman and fanned Wil Dalton on four pitches, but he couldn't get out of the inning unscathed as J.J. Schwarz reached on an infield single. UF 1, A&M 0.
T6 | Florida got things going with a two-out rally. Dalton singled up the middle and scored when Schwarz tight-roped a triple down the rightfield line and George Janca was unable to hang on to the tag at third, driving Kilkenny from the contest. Austin Langowrthy greeted Kaylor Chafin with an RBI single and Blake Reese followed with a gapper to left-center for an RBI double. The final run of the frame scored on a bloop single by Keenan Bell. UF 5, A&M 0.
T8 | An RBI single by Reese and a sacrifice fly by Smith gave Florida two insurance runs. UF 7, A&M 0.
T9 | The Gators tacked on two runs in the ninth with a two-run double by Schwarz. UF 9, A&M 0.
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach Rob Childress
On Kilkenny's pitching and battling it out during the first inning…
"First and third, nobody out. For him to be able to almost wiggle through that was huge to keep the game close. I think given the opportunity again, Mitchell would've given the ball up to the first baseman there and then we'd get off the field at 0 when we do the 5-3 move and pick them off first. But, again, Mitchell was very, very good. I'm very proud of him. But, Brady Singer was that much better."
On Kilkenny's gritty and tough pitching performance against Florida's best hitters…
"They have a very mature, older lineup and they took a lot of pitches from Mitchell. But, he was incredibly competitive, as well. He threw four pitches for a strike. Give Florida hitters credit for sucking all those pitches out of him and making us go to the bullpen maybe a little bit earlier than we wanted to."
Junior RHP Mitchell Kilkenny
On personal performance…
"As far as having all my stuff and putting it where I wanted, it was probably one of my best in college but that is how baseball works sometimes. You have your best and you lose. But the fact of the matter is that I couldn't get it done for my team."
On Florida's approach…
"They have a great approach, they are team with great players but so are we. You have to commend them for what they did, they ate a lot of pitches. But just as a team we have to be better, we can't let that get to us"
Junior OF Chandler Morris
On tonight's performance…
"Just trying to do whatever we can for the team, just really trying to grind out wins right now. We are in conference so we are doing whatever we can to get some wins."
On Brady Singer…
"He is obviously a top-notch guy, just has really good stuff and really good command. We were getting some good swings, Wally had some really good balls off of him that just weren't paying off. That is just how baseball goes sometimes. We are getting ready to come back tomorrow."
The loss dropped Texas A&M to 33-13 overall and 11-11 in the SEC. Florida improved to 37-10 overall and 17-5 in league play.
Aggie starter Mitchell Kilkenny (8-2) fought hard through for 5.2 innings, allowing three runs on six hits while striking out seven. The best effort out of the bullpen was Christian Roa, retiring three of the four batters he faced in the ninth.
Chandler Morris led Texas A&M at the plate, going 2-for-3 and he added two stellar defensive plays in rightfield.
UP NEXT
The Aggies and Gators return for game two of the series Saturday at 4:02 p.m.
SCORING SUMMARY
T1 | Deacon Liput rattled a 2-2 offering into the corner down the rightfield line to start the game and Nelson Maldonado followed it up with a single on a blooper that came out of the glove when diving second baseman Michael Helman hit the ground, putting runners on the corners. Kilkenny got Jonathan India to pop up to the first baseman and fanned Wil Dalton on four pitches, but he couldn't get out of the inning unscathed as J.J. Schwarz reached on an infield single. UF 1, A&M 0.
T6 | Florida got things going with a two-out rally. Dalton singled up the middle and scored when Schwarz tight-roped a triple down the rightfield line and George Janca was unable to hang on to the tag at third, driving Kilkenny from the contest. Austin Langowrthy greeted Kaylor Chafin with an RBI single and Blake Reese followed with a gapper to left-center for an RBI double. The final run of the frame scored on a bloop single by Keenan Bell. UF 5, A&M 0.
T8 | An RBI single by Reese and a sacrifice fly by Smith gave Florida two insurance runs. UF 7, A&M 0.
T9 | The Gators tacked on two runs in the ninth with a two-run double by Schwarz. UF 9, A&M 0.
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach Rob Childress
On Kilkenny's pitching and battling it out during the first inning…
"First and third, nobody out. For him to be able to almost wiggle through that was huge to keep the game close. I think given the opportunity again, Mitchell would've given the ball up to the first baseman there and then we'd get off the field at 0 when we do the 5-3 move and pick them off first. But, again, Mitchell was very, very good. I'm very proud of him. But, Brady Singer was that much better."
On Kilkenny's gritty and tough pitching performance against Florida's best hitters…
"They have a very mature, older lineup and they took a lot of pitches from Mitchell. But, he was incredibly competitive, as well. He threw four pitches for a strike. Give Florida hitters credit for sucking all those pitches out of him and making us go to the bullpen maybe a little bit earlier than we wanted to."
Junior RHP Mitchell Kilkenny
On personal performance…
"As far as having all my stuff and putting it where I wanted, it was probably one of my best in college but that is how baseball works sometimes. You have your best and you lose. But the fact of the matter is that I couldn't get it done for my team."
On Florida's approach…
"They have a great approach, they are team with great players but so are we. You have to commend them for what they did, they ate a lot of pitches. But just as a team we have to be better, we can't let that get to us"
Junior OF Chandler Morris
On tonight's performance…
"Just trying to do whatever we can for the team, just really trying to grind out wins right now. We are in conference so we are doing whatever we can to get some wins."
On Brady Singer…
"He is obviously a top-notch guy, just has really good stuff and really good command. We were getting some good swings, Wally had some really good balls off of him that just weren't paying off. That is just how baseball goes sometimes. We are getting ready to come back tomorrow."
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Singer, Brady (10-1)
L: Kilkenny, Mitchell (8-2)
Batting:
2B: Liput, Deacon 1 ; Schwarz, JJ 1 ; Reese, Blake 1
3B: Schwarz, JJ 1
RBI: Schwarz, JJ 3 ; Langworthy, Austin 1 ; Reese, Blake 2 ; Bell, Keenan 1 ; Smith, Brady 1
SF: Smith, Brady 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Liput, Deacon 2 ; Maldonado, Nelson 1 ; Dalton, Wil 2 ; Schwarz, JJ 2 ; Langworthy, Austin 1 ; Reese, Blake 1
SB: Reese, Blake 1
HBP: Dalton, Wil 1
Base Running:
HBP: Helman, Michael 1 ; Coleman, Hunter 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
3
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
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