April 04, 2004
Cliff Pennington went three-for-four and earned his second save of the season to lead No. 9 Texas A&M past Oklahoma State, 9-7, Sunday afternoon before 2,047 fans at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium.
OSU pulled to within two in the bottom of the eighth by scoring three runs before Pennington moved from short to the mound with two outs. After walking Keanon Simon to load the bases, Pennington got a groundball to end to inning before recording three outs in the ninth to end the game.
With the win the Aggies improved to 26-8 overall and to 4-5 in Big 12 play. Oklahoma State dropped to 20-11 and 3-3 in the league.
Erik Schindewolf, Pennington and Austin Boggs each singled to start the game and give the Aggies a 1-0 lead. Oklahoma State starting pitcher Daniel Rew retired the next three hitters to limit the damage to one run.
Justin Ruggiano belted a home run - his first of the season - over the wall in left center to give the Aggies a 2-0 lead in the top of the second.
Ruggiano delivered his second RBI of the game in the top of the third when he singled up the middle with two outs to chase Boggs home from second. Boggs singled to lead off the third and moved to second when Craig Stinson was hit by a pitch.
RBI singles by Jason Jaramillo and Mario Matulich in the bottom of the third cut the A&M lead to one run.
The Aggie nine answered the Cowboys' two runs in the third with three in the top of the fourth. Boggs drove in his second run with his third single of the game and Coby Mavroulis delivered a clutch two-out single with the bases jammed to plate the other two runs of the inning.
The Aggies escaped a huge jam in the bottom of the fifth. After A&M starter Kyle Marlatt walked Chris Gutierrez with the bases loaded to make the score 6-3, he was replaced by freshman left-hander Doug Frame. Frame coaxed Simon to ground in to a double play to preserve the A&M lead.
A&M escaped disaster for the second straight inning. With runners on second and third, one out and one run already in, Justin Moore replaced Frame and enticed Ty Wright to ground into a double play.
Moore (4-2) was awarded the win by pitching one scoreless inning in relief.
Blake Rampy pitched the Aggies out of a jam for the third inning in a row. Rampy replaced Moore with one out and runners on first and third. He forced a pop up and struck out leadoff hitter Rod Allen to keep the Aggies ahead 6-4.
The Aggies added what would prove to be three important runs in the top of the eighth to make the score 9-4.
Schindewolf finished the game with four hits, while Pennington, Boggs and Infante each had three.
Rew (4-3) lasted 3.1 innings and allowed six earned runs on 10 hits.
The Aggies return to action this Tuesday, April 6, when they host Sam Houston State. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. at Olsen Field.