(#11) Texas A&M 7, Kansas 6

Saturday, March 28

College Station

2:05 PM

Texas A&M

17-9, 5-3

Kansas

15-9, 3-2

Kansas

Texas A&M

Mar 28, 2009 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Texas A&M Athletics

March 28, 2009

Final Stats

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Caleb Shofner's walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth lifted No. 11 Texas A&M to its fourth straight victory with a 7-6 win over Kansas on Saturday afternoon before 4,232 fans at Olsen Field.

With one out and nobody on, Kyle Colligan reached after he was hit by a 2-0 pitch from Jayhawk closer Paul Smyth. The next batter, Brooks Raley, hit a grounder in the hole on the right side of the infield. Second baseman Robby Price picked the ball up and shoveled it to Smyth, who dropped the ball as he was covering first. Raley reached safely on the play and Colligan moved to third, bringing Shofner to the plate.

The Aggie second baseman fouled off the first two pitches, took a ball and then laced the game-winning single to left field to give A&M (17-9, 5-3 Big 12) its third walk-off win of the year. KU fell to 15-9 and 3-2 in league play with the loss.

The Aggies pounded out 12 hits on the afternoon, six of which came with runners in scoring position. Shofner (3-for-5, 2 RBIs) and Luke Anders (2-for-4, 2B, HR, 2 RBI) paced the offense, while Brodie Greene also added a pair of hits.

Back-to-back two-out RBI doubles by Buck Afenir and Tony Thompson staked the Jayhawks to a 2-0 first-inning lead.

The Aggies would get their first baserunner of the afternoon off KU starter T.J. Walz in the fourth, and would capitalize by scoring three times to take the lead. Colligan began the rally with a walk and moved to third one out later on a single by Shofner. Luke Anders then drove the next pitch into the right-field corner for a double, pushing home A&M's first run and putting the tying one at third base.

One batter later and with two outs, Gonzalez poked a 2-2 pitch into right center field to drive home both Shofner and Anders and making the score 3-2.

Kansas would tie the game in the sixth on a throwing error, but A&M got the run right back in the bottom half of the frame on Luke Anders' fourth home run of the year--a solo shot to right center--that made the score 4-3.

The Jayhawks threatened in the seventh, loading the bases with one out, but reliever Shane Minks got a double-play ball on his first pitch of the afternoon to put the Aggies back in the dugout. A&M would ride that momentum with a pair of big two-out RBI singles by Raley and Shofner to extend the lead to 6-3. Four hits sandwiched around a strikeout to start the Kansas eighth brought a run in and loaded the bases, chasing Minks from the game, and the Jayhawks would then proceed to tie the contest with back-to-back bases-loaded walks that made the score 6-6. Nick Fleece was called out of the bullpen and got a three-pitch strikeout of Afenir, then a ground-ball to shortstop, to keep the game tied.

KU did get a man on in the ninth when Preston Land was hit by a pitch, but Gonzalez picked him off first and Fleece then registered a fly-ball out to send the game to the ninth.

Fleece (3-0) earned the victory, fanning one in 1 2/3 innings of no-hit relief. A&M starter Alex Wilson struck out nine over 5 1/3 innings and allowed five hits, three runs (two earned) and two walks.

Smyth fell to 0-4 with the loss, giving up the Shofner game-winning hit. Walz went 5 1/3 and gave up six hits, four runs (all earned) and two walks while matching a career high with seven strikeouts.

The series concludes on Sunday with first pitch set for 12:05 p.m. The pitching matchup will feature Aggie sophomore Barret Loux (0-0, 5.04 ERA) against KU freshman Lee Ridenhour (3-1, 1.82). Fans can listen to the game locally on WTAW-AM 1620 or worldwide on radioaggieland.com, and free live video will also be available on aggieathletics.com.

POSTGAME NOTES

• Texas A&M now leads the series with Kansas, 42-14, and has won six straight...the Aggies have now won the series for the third straight season and the 12th time in 13 tries in Big 12 play.

• Saturday's win marked the 11th time in the last 20 meetings between A&M and KU where the game was decided by two runs or less, or went to extra innings.

• Kyle Colligan extended his hit streak in Big 12 games to 15 with a fifth-inning single...the senior has now also hit safely in six straight games.

• A&M pitching has struck out 10 or more batters in 16 of the team's 26 games...the Aggies fanned 12 Jayhawks on Saturday.

• Brooks Raley has now reached base safely (hit or walk) in all 23 games he has appeared in this year.

• Game-time temperature was 58 degrees with clear skies and winds blowing in from left center at 22 miles per hour (gusting to 31).

POSTGAME QUOTES

HEAD COACH Rob Childress: "I think we won in spite of ourselves today. There were a couple of plays we feel should have been made out there, and on the pitching side of things, we didn't make them earn everything they got. We need to do a better job of that."

(on the offensive approach) "I'm really proud of our offense and the way we adjusted after our first time through the lineup against (KU starter T.J.) Walz. He punched us out six of the first nine hitters and I think we only struck out twice the rest of the game. That's a tribute to our hitters staying focused and being able to grind. There were a lot of heroes today, especially offensively."

SENIOR Luke Anders: (on the offensive attack) "Everyone's been working really hard. Coach Talbot has been working with all of us and it's all coming around for us now. We were struggling early, but everything is starting to click, and we're on a roll here."

SOPHOMORE Caleb Shofner's: (on his game-winning at bat against Paul Smyth) "He's a sidearm guy and a great pitcher. His two-seam fastball ran in on me on the first pitch, and he threw a pretty good slider that second pitch. I just choked up, scooted up in the box and was trying to grind. He left a fastball up in the zone that I was able to turn on and put a good swing on it. K.C. did a great job of going right back to the bag with the ball being in the air, and he has to make sure he doesn't get doubled up. He did a great job on the bases there."