New Mexico 9, (#3) Texas A&M 6

Wednesday, March 18

College Station

6:35 PM

Texas A&M

13-7

New Mexico

18-3

New Mexico

Texas A&M

Mar 18, 2009 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Texas A&M Athletics

March 18, 2009

Final Stats

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - New Mexico built a 7-0 lead and held off a late Texas A&M charge as the Lobos defeated the third-ranked Aggies, 9-6, Wednesday evening before 3,293 fans at Olsen Field.

UNM led 9-3 entering the bottom of the ninth, but A&M was able to score three times and bring the tying run to the plate before the Lobos got the final out. A&M suffered its third loss in a row and fell to 13-7, while New Mexico won its fifth straight and moved to 18-3.

True freshman Brooks Raley went 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles and an RBI. In addition, senior Kyle Thebeau became the Aggies' all-time leader in appearances on Tuesday with the 87th of his career, passing A&M All-American and current graduate assistant Chris Russ.

The Lobos batted around in the second, scoring four runs off Aggie starter Scott Migl. New Mexico began the frame with four straight hits, pushing two runs home, then added two more on an error and a sacrifice fly.

Brian Cavazos-Galvez made the score 5-0 in the third with a one-out single up the middle that scored Rafael Neda from second.

A Daniel Gonzalez RBI single with two outs in the fifth gave UNM a six-run lead. After swiping second base, Gonzalez would come home after the throw in to the infield on a Mike Brownstein single was mishandled, making the score 7-0.

A&M sent nine to the plate in the seventh, pushing three runs home off the New Mexico bullpen. Dylan Petrich began the scoring with a leadoff home run to right center field, his third of the year. Two outs later, Raley lined a double into left center field, scoring Kevin Gonzalez with the Aggies' second run. After a pitching change, a hit batter loaded the bases, and Luke Anders' ensuing ground ball to first was booted, bringing in Scott Arthur and making the score 7-3.

UNM added a pair of unearned runs in the ninth to go back up by six, and those would prove to be crucial as A&M mounted a comeback.

A bases-loaded RBI groundout by Joe Patterson accounted for the Aggies' first run of the ninth but also was the second out of the inning. After Petrich was hit by a pitch to once again load the bases, pinch-hitter Brett Parsons stepped to the plate and laced a two-run single down the line in left. Raley and Luke Anders scored to cut the Lobo lead to 9-6. Kevin Gonzalez then stepped to the plate as the tying run, and fouled off four pitches before his hard groundout to short ended the game.

True freshman Scott Arthur had a career-high three hits on the night to pace the A&M offense.

Four Aggie relievers--Thebeau, Hank Robertson and Nick Fleece--combined for 6 2/3 strong innings of work, giving up just two earned runs and striking out nine.

Migl (0-1) suffered the loss, giving up four hits, three earned runs and one walk in 1 1/3 innings of work.

Lobo junior Edwin Carl, making the first start of his career, was very strong but did not pitch long enough to earn the victory. He lasted 4 1/3 innings and gave up two hits, no runs and one walk while striking out two. Jason Oatman (3-1) would earn the win in relief.

Texas A&M will now travel to Columbia and open a Big 12 series at Missouri Friday night. First pitch at Taylor Stadium on the MU campus is set for 6:35 p.m. Fans can listen to the game on WTAW-AM 1620, or online at aggieathletics.com or radioaggieland.com.

POSTGAME QUOTES

HEAD COACH Kyle Thebeau found his slider tonight, and Hank Robertson had really good outings. We were playing a very good team in New Mexico, and their record is very indicative of how good a team they are, and I don't care who they've played and who's on their schedule."

"We're not playing very well right now, but we are competing hard, and that's good to see. We had a much better approach tonight offensively. We've played five games in five days, and we're 2-3 (on that stretch). I'd much rather be 5-0, but we're not. That's the way it is. And we don't have much time to dwell on it, and that's the great thing about baseball. We get on a plane tomorrow and play a very talented Missouri team in conference."