March 16, 2007
Kyle Nicholson threw five innings of scoreless relief Friday night to lead the No. 8 Texas A&M baseball team past Kansas, 9-3, at Olsen Field.
Nicholson (5-1) allowed just two base runners and one hit. He struck out five and walked just one.
?Kyle came in and settled things down,? A&M head coach Rob Childress said. ?It says a lot about our team that we can continue to find ways to win games. We had production up and down the lineup and a lot of different guys made big plays and got big hits for us.?
With the win, the Aggies improved to 19-2 overall and 1-0 in Big 12 play. Kansas dropped to 12-10 and 0-1. The series resumes Saturday at 6:30 p.m.
The Aggies jumped on Kansas starter Nick Czyz for a pair of runs in the bottom of the first. Ben Feltner singled up the middle with one out, stole second, and advanced to third when catcher Buck Afenir?â„¢s throw went into center. Feltner scored on a bunt single by Blake Stouffer, who was later picked off second. With two outs and nobody on, Craig Stinson singled to left, moved up a station when Darby Brown was hit by a pitch, and scored on a single to right by Kyle Colligan.
Kansas answered with two runs of its own in the top of the second to tie the game. A&M starter David Newmann walked Brock Simpson to start the inning and Ryne Price drove him in with a one-out triple down the line in right. Price later scored on a groundout by Afenir.
Stouffer delivered his second and third RBIs of the game with a single to score Parker Dalton and Brandon Hicks in the bottom of the fourth to regain the lead for A&M, 4-2. Stouffer chopped the single through the left side on a 0-2 pitch from Czyz.
Newmann struggled with his command and was pulled after issuing his fourth walk of the game and allowing a single to Kyle Murphy. Nicholson entered and after a sacrifice bunt moved both runners into scoring position, John Allman drove in a run with a groundout. After Simpson walked, Nicholson fanned Erik Morrison to end the inning and preserve a 4-3 for A&M.
Brown yanked a lead-off home run over the wall in right to increase the A&M lead to 5-3 in the bottom of the fifth. It was Brown?â„¢s first long ball of the year.
A&M blew the game open in the bottom of the seventh with four runs off Jayhawks?â„¢ reliever Andres Esguibel. Colligan drove in a run with a single, Josh Stinson and Hicks each drove in runs with doubles and Parker Dalton perfectly executed a squeeze bunt to score the other run in the inning.
Czyz (2-3) lasted six-complete innings and allowed five runs on nine hits. He struck out eight and walked three.