Texas A&M
42-16
Texas
43-15
Aggies Down No. 5 Texas, 7-3
May 24, 2007 | Baseball
May 24, 2007
Kirkland Rivers turned in his longest and best outing of the year and Craig Stinson belted a third-inning grand slam on Thursday to lead No. 11 Texas A&M past No. 5 Texas, 7-3, in second-day action of the Big 12 Tournament at Bricktown Ballpark.
Rivers (2-3), making just his second start of the year, dazzled the Longhorns for 6 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits. His previous long outing was two innings. He struck out three and walked five.
?I was not surprised that Kirkland got us out to a good start and he was able to maintain it,? A&M head coach Rob Childress said. ?Every time you get to the postseason, someone steps into a role that maybe they have not filled all season. Today it was Kirkland because he got us into the seventh inning and was sharp on the mound.?
All-Big 12 pitcher Kyle Nicholson retired all seven hitters he faced after replacing Rivers to nail down the win.
With the win, Texas A&M improved to 42-16 overall and to 1-1 in the Big 12 Tournament, while Texas dropped to 43-15 and 1-1. The Aggies need to beat K-State Saturday at 10:00 a.m., coupled with Nebraska losses on Thursday night to K-State and on Saturday afternoon to Texas to advance to Sunday?™s championship game.
The Aggies took the early lead in the bottom of the first with an unearned run off Texas starting pitcher James Russell. Dane Carter drew a lead-off walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Ben Feltner. After stealing third with two outs, Carter scored when Texas second baseman Travis Tucker misplayed a slow chopper off the bat of Blake Stouffer.
Texas took the lead in the top of the third with a pair of runs. Nick Peoples singled to start the inning, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Tucker and scored on a single by Jordan Danks. With two outs, Danks stole second and scored on a shot to first by Chance Wheeless that caromed off Stouffer and into foul territory.
A&M responded in the bottom of the inning by scoring five runs to take a 6-2 lead. Three-straight singles by Brian Ruggiano, Brodie Greene and Carter loaded the bases with no outs. With one out, Brandon Hicks was hit by a pitch to tie the game at two. After Stouffer fouled out to third, Stinson belted a grand slam over the wall in left to earn the lead for A&M. It was his 11th homer of the year.
Stouffer hit his ninth home run of the year, a shot off the foul pole in left, in the bottom of the fifth to stretch the A&M lead to 7-2.
Texas cut the lead to 7-3 in the top of the seventh with three-straight singles by Kyle Russell, Wheeless and Bradley Suttle. After the Suttle single, Nicholson replaced Rivers on the mound.
James Russell (8-4) allowed seven runs on seven hits in six-complete innings on the mound.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Rivers, Kirkland (2-3)
L: Russell, J. (8-4)
Batting:
2B: Danks 1
RBI: Danks 1 ; Wheeless 1 ; Suttle 1
SH: Fuller 1 ; Tucker 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Danks 1 ; Russell, K. 1 ; Peoples 1
SB: Danks 1
Batting:
HR: Stouffer, Blake 1 ; Stinson, Craig 1
RBI: Hicks, Brandon 1 ; Stouffer, Blake 1 ; Stinson, Craig 4
SH: Feltner, Ben 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Carter, Dane 2 ; Hicks, Brandon 1 ; Stouffer, Blake 1 ; Stinson, Craig 1 ; Ruggiano, Brian 1 ; Greene, Brodie 1
SB: Carter, Dane 1 ; Colligan, Kyle 1
CS: Stouffer, Blake 1
HBP: Hicks, Brandon 1 ; Greene, Brodie 1
