Aggies Sweep Bears in Twinbill

Friday, February 17

College Station

4:00 PM

Texas A&M

5-0

Northern Colorado

2-3

Northern Colorado

Texas A&M

Feb 17, 2006 | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Texas A&M Athletics

February 17, 2006

Texas A&M defeated Northern Colorado, 6-3 and 5-0, to win both ends of a double header on Friday before 4,157 fans at Olsen Field.

With the pair of wins, Texas A&M improved to 6-0 while Northern Colorado dropped to 2-4.

Matt Ueckert (1-0) pitched 3 2/3 solid innings in relief to earn the win in the first game and true freshman Kyle Thebeau (1-0) fanned nine in six innings of work to earn the win in the second game.

?I told the team before the games today that this was going to be a character check,? said head coach Rob Childress. ?It is tough to be hooked up for 18 innings. If you take a couple of innings off, all of a sudden you go 1-1 on the day instead of 2-0. We did a godd job of staying into it all 18 innings today.?

A&M got out to an early lead in the first game. In the bottom of the first with two outs, Austin Boggs singled and moved to second on a walk to Spencer Jackson. Ryan Hill then doubled to plate Boggs and move Jackson to third. Northern Colorado starter Adam Johns balked home Jackson to make the score 2-0.

The Aggies stretched their lead to 6-0 with four runs in the bottom of the second. Jess Buenger singled to left and Craig Stinson doubled to right center. Johns was called for his second balk in as many innings, allowing Buenger to score, and Parker Dalton lifted a sacrifice to center to score Stinson. With two outs and nobody on, Blake Stouffer was hit by a pitch and raced to third on a single by Boggs. Boggs reached second on an error before a two-RBI single by Jackson.

The Bears cut the A&M lead to 6-2 in the top of the third with a pair of runs off Aggie starter Kyle Nicholson. Kevin Sandberg had an RBI double and Adam Symons followed with an RBI single.

Ueckert bailed Nicholson out of a jam in the fifth. After one run had crossed to make the score 6-3, Ueckert entered the game with runners on first and third and no outs. Two harmless pop-ups to the infield and a strikeout later, Ueckert and A&M escaped the inning with no further damage.

Nicholson allowed three runs on six hits in four-plus innings on the mound. He struck out four and did not walk a man.

Ueckert (1-0) tossed 3 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing just three hits and striking out two.

Hart Hering struck out three in 1 1/3 innings of work to earn his second save of the season.

In the second game, A&M took stake to a 2-0 lead with a pair of runs off UNC starter Eric Mayden. Dalton started the inning with a single, moved to second on a passed ball and to third on a bunt single by Infante. Jose Salazar drove in Dalton with a sacrifice fly to center and Infante later scored when Adam Hale reached on an error.

The Aggies added two more runs in the bottom of the fourth to stretch their lead to 4-0. A sacrifice fly by Josh Stinson scored Jake Vasquez, who singled to start the inning. And Parker Dalton perfectly executed a squeeze bunt to score Stouffer, who reached on a bunt single.

A&M scratched again in the bottom of the fifth to run its lead to 5-0. With two outs and nobody on, Adam Hale singled and stole second. Jackson laced a single off the leg of Mayden that caromed into shallow left to score Hale.

The trio of Anthony Vasquez, Max Simon and Jordan Chambless combined to provide three innings of one-hit relief.

The series is scheduled to conclude on Saturday at 2 p.m.