Texas A&M
13-5, 2-1
Baylor
11-4, 1-2
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Runs R | Hits H | Errors E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas A&M | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 12 | 1 |
| Baylor | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 11 | 1 |
(#9) Baylor 8, (#3) Texas A&M 7
Mar 16, 2009 | Baseball
March 16, 2009
Post Game Audio [mp3]:
Head Coach Childress
INF Greene
C Patterson
WACO, Texas - Landis Ware's bases-loaded single through the infield in the bottom of the 10th inning lifted No. 9 Baylor to a wild 8-7 win over third-ranked Texas A&M Monday evening before a season-high 4,224 fans at Baylor Ballpark.
The loss by the Aggies (13-5, 2-1 Big 12) came despite a valiant rally in the final two innings. A&M trailed 7-3 entering the eighth before a scoring once in that frame and three more times in the ninth to force extra innings.
The Bears (11-4, 1-2) got a lead single in the last of the ninth and, after a wild pitch and an infield groundout, had the potential winning run at third base. The Aggies intentionally walked two batters to load the bases, then went to Hank Robertson in relief.
A&M brought Kyle Colligan. The strategy paid off thanks to some gutsy pitching by Robertson, who got Adam Hornung to fly out to Smith, who was stationed in shallow left center, then a fly ball into center off the bat of Josh Ludy to end the threat and force extra innings.
Caleb Shofner and Joe Patterson tallied back-to-back singles to begin the 10th and, after a Nick Anders to load the bases. Bear reliever Logan Verrett, however, was able to get a strikeout and a groundout to push the game to the last of the 10th.
The Bears would load the bases with no outs in the 10th without the benefit of a hit, as an error, hit batsmen, a balk and intentional walk brought Ware to the plate, who delivered the game-winner on a 3-2 pitch just past a diving Brodie Greene at shortstop.
Robertson (0-1) suffered the loss in relief, despite allowing just one hit. He worked two-thirds of an inning and gave up the 10th-inning unearned run and one walk.
Verrett improved to 5-0 with a career-high 6 1/3 innings of work, all out of the bullpen. He allowed nine hits, four earned runs and two walks while striking out 10.
Patterson's three hits on the night led the Aggies and was a career high, while Petrich and Luke Anders drove in two runs apiece. Shaver Hansen and Joey Hainsfurther had three hits each to lead Baylor.
A&M took advantage of back-to-back walks by Baylor starter Shawn Tolleson to start the game and grabbed a 1-0 lead. Greene would move Kyle Colligan and Brooks Raley into scoring position with his team-leading fifth sacrifice of the year. Five pitches later, Luke Anders' ensuing groundout to first would plate Colligan with the game's first run.
In the Aggie second, Gonzalez blooped a two-out single into center field and moved into scoring position on a wild pitch. The next batter, Nick Anders, smashed a hard ground ball at Hansen at third, who made a diving stop but skipped the throw past first baseman Dustin Dickerson. The throwing error on Anders' infield single scored Gonzalez and made the score 2-0.
Baylor responded with four two-out hits in the third, but were able to score just one run thanks in large part to the arm of Raley. With two on, Aaron Miller laced a single to right, where Raley picked the ball up and threw a perfect strike to home to retire Dickerson, who was trying to score from second. Dickerson had singled on the infield two batters earlier, driving in Hainsfurther with the Bears' first run.
Colligan extended the A&M lead in the top of the fourth. With two on and two outs, the Aggie center fielder greeted Verrett with a single back through the box that plated Joe Patterson, making the score 3-1.
The Bears took their first lead of the night in the sixth inning on a two-out grand slam by Brooks Pinckard off A&M reliever Ross Hales.
A one-out walk to Hornung started the rally. After Ben Booker singled up the middle, both runners moved up on a passed ball to place the tying run in scoring position. Aggie starter Barret Loux got a big strikeout of Gregg Glime, but walked the next batter, Raynor Campbell, on four pitches, to bring Pinckard to the plate and end his outing.
The Bears would add two more in the seventh to bump the lead to 7-3. Dickerson drew a lead walk and scored on a first-pitch double to deep right center by Hansen, who moved to third on the throw home. One out later, Hansen would score on a balk by Hales.
Joe Patterson got a run back for A&M in the eighth, launching his second home run of the year over the fence in left field.
Trailing by three runs, the Aggies came out swinging off Verrett in the ninth, as Nick Anders singled to left center on the first pitch of the inning. One out later, Raley drilled the first pitch he saw into left field and Greene followed with a first-pitch single to left to load the bases.
Luke Anders then drove his brother, Nick, in from third on an RBI groundout to second and pushed the tying run into scoring position. The next batter, Dylan Petrich, delivered in the clutch, as he pushed an 0-1 pitch through the left side of the infield to score two and tie the game and the stage for the late-game dramatics.
Loux allowed four earned runs, seven hits and four walks on the night while striking out seven.
Tolleson lasted 3 2/3 innings and gave up three hits and three runs (two earned). He walked four and struck out one.
Texas A&M continues its busy week Tuesday when the Aggies open a two-game series with New Mexico (16-3, 3-0 Mtn West). First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. at Olsen Field, and junior Chad Sherman will make his first career start for the Aggies. The series will conclude Wednesday evening at 6:35 p.m. Fans can listen locally on WTAW-AM 1620 and free live video will be available on aggieathletics.com.
POSTGAME NOTES
• Texas A&M now leads the all-time series, 175-128-4, and saw a six-game win streak against Baylor come to an end on Monday ...since the inception of Big 12 play in 1997, the Aggies are 20-22 all-time against the Bears...despite the loss, the Aggies still won the series, as A&M is 6-7 all-time in Big 12 series with Baylor and has won three straight for the first time since the end of the Southwest Conference (1994-96).
• Aggie pitching struck out 10 or more batters for the 13th time in 18 games (11 Monday night).
• Monday marked A&M's first extra-inning game of the season...the Aggies were 5-0 in those games in 2008.
• With a second-inning single, Kevin Gonzalez has now hit safely in seven straight games--tying a career high (May 3-16, 2008).
• Nick Anders' second-inning single extended his hit streak to five games, matching a season (and career) high...Anders has hit safely in 10 of his last 12 games with a plate appearance.
• Brooks Pinckard's grand slam was the first given up by Aggie pitching in 102 games...the last was hit by Dallas Baptist's Evan Bigley on May 3, 2007.
• Game-time temperature was 80 degrees with clear skies and winds blowing out to center at 11 miles per hour.
POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH Rob Childress: "That was just a great ballgame. This weekend was an incredible one for us as a team, I think this whole week was. This 2009 team found their identity. The effort, attitude and intensity that we showed this weekend from start to finish was exactly what we expect out of Texas A&M baseball. And I couldn't be more proud of this 2009 team than I am right now. For us to come back in the ninth inning against a guy (Logan Verrett) who is just outstanding, and putting together those quality at-bats, I was proud of our guys."
(on the effort of the pitching staff) "What we did a really good job of on Saturday and Sunday we didn't do tonight, and that was making Baylor earn everything they get. They came and took and, and got the hits, but we gave free baserunners there. That's something we didn't do on Saturday and Sunday, but we did tonight, and Baylor obviously took advantage of it."
(on New Mexico) "Ray Birmingham's done an incredible job in a short time. They are 16-3, hitting over .400 as a team with 35 stolen bases on the short season. We've got our hands full. We have a buzz saw coming to town. They scored a lot of runs against Air Force this last weekend and we better be ready to play tomorrow. But if we get the same kind of effort we got the last three days, we'll be okay."
JUNIOR Brodie Greene: (on the ninth-inning rally) "Coach (Jeremy) Talbot told us to flush our last at-bats, be competitive and take our last at-bat personally. We weren't going to sit back and wait on pitches, we got after the first pitch."
(on what the team learned this week) "Just that we have a no-quit attitude. Everyone in dugout is getting after it through nine innings, even down a few runs in the last inning. We aren't getting down on ourselves, playing every out and we know that it's not over until it's over."
JUNIOR Joe Patterson: (on his home run) "He was throwing a lot of first-pitch fastballs and I was able to put a good swing on it."
(on the ninth-inning rally) "The rally was unbelievable. I've never been a part of anything like that. We got them out in the last inning, but we just came up short at the end."
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Verrett, Logan (5-0)
L: Robertson, Hank (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Shofner, Caleb 1
HR: Patterson, Joe 1
RBI: Colligan, Kyle 1 ; Anders, Luke 2 ; Petrich, Dylan 2 ; Patterson, Joe 1
SH: Greene, Brodie 1 ; Gonzalez, Kevin 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Colligan, Kyle 1 ; Raley, Brooks 1 ; Greene, Brodie 1 ; Patterson, Joe 2 ; Gonzalez, Kevin 1 ; Anders, Nick 1
HBP: Anders, Nick 1
Batting:
2B: Hainsfurther, Joey 1 ; Hansen, Shaver 2
HR: Pinckard, Brooks 1
RBI: Pinckard, Brooks 4 ; Ware, Landis 1 ; Dickerson, Dustin 1 ; Hansen, Shaver 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Pinckard, Brooks 1 ; Hainsfurther, Joey 1 ; Dickerson, Dustin 1 ; Hansen, Shaver 1 ; Hornung, Adam 1 ; Booker, Ben 1 ; Kimmey, Brooks 1 ; Campbell, Raynor 1
SB: Campbell, Raynor 1
HBP: Campbell, Raynor 1
