(#11) Texas A&M 6, Kansas 5

Sunday, March 29

College Station

12:05 PM

Texas A&M

18-9, 6-3

Kansas

15-10, 3-3

Kansas

Texas A&M

Mar 29, 2009 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Texas A&M Athletics

March 29, 2009

Final Stats

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Barret Loux struck out a career-high 11 batters and Nick Fleece picked up his second save of the weekend as No. 11 Texas A&M held off a late Kansas rally to win, 6-5, and earn a series sweep on a sunny Sunday afternoon before 3,380 fans at Olsen Field.

The Aggies (18-9, 6-3 Big 12) matched their longest win streak of the year with their fifth victory in a row, while Kansas fell to 15-10 and 3-3.

Joe Patterson put the Aggies on the board in the second, as the junior hit his third home run of the year--a two-run, opposite-field shot to left--that gave A&M an early 2-0 lead.

The Aggies would extend the lead to 6-0 with a four-run fourth, getting two big hits and taking advantage of a couple of free passes and Jayhawk miscues along the way.

Joe Patterson was hit by a pitch and Brodie Greene sent a fly ball to left field that was dropped by Casey Lytle. Anders scored easily on the sacrifice fly and Greene moved to second on the miscue.

The next batter, Brett Parsons, poked the first pitch into right field to score Patterson and Greene and bump the Aggie lead to six.

Kansas would begin its comeback in the sixth as a walk, base hit and wild pitch put the first two batters in scoring position. One out later, Buck Afenir would ground out to third base to drive in the Jayhawks' first run of the afternoon, but Loux would punch out Tony Thompson to end the threat.

In the seventh, a two-out, two-run single by David Narodowski pulled KU within three runs and chased Loux from the game. Ross Hales entered in relief and got a groundout to put the Aggies back in the dugout.

KU would begin the eighth with three well-placed hits--the last a two-run bouncer up the middle--that made the score 6-5. Fleece then entered the game with the tying run at first and threw two pitches, getting a fielder's choice and a pop out, to end the inning. The Jayhawks went down in order in the ninth.

A&M was held to four hits on the afternoon, but made the most of them when they did come. Patterson and Parsons each drove in a pair of runs on the day. Narodowski went 2-for-4 with two RBIs to lead an eight-hit Kansas attack.

Loux (1-0) earned his first decision of the year, lasting 6 2/3 and allowing five hits, three runs and three walks to go along with the 11 strikeouts. Hales picked up his second hold of the weekend, while Fleece sat down the five batters he faced in order to earn his second save of the series. On the week, the sophomore went 2-0 with two saves and held opposing hitters to an .053 average.

Kansas freshman Lee Ridenhour (3-2) suffered the loss, allowing four hits and six runs (five earned) over four innings. He walked three and did not strike out a batter. Jayhawk reliever Brett Bochy fanned seven over three shutout innings of relief.

Texas A&M concludes a five-game homestand on Tuesday when the Aggies host two-time defending Southland Conference champion UTSA at Olsen Field. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. and junior Chad Sherman (0-0, 5.62 ERA) will get the start for A&M.

POSTGAME NOTES

• Texas A&M now leads the series with Kansas, 43-14, and has won seven straight...the Aggies swept the series for the second straight year and have won 12 of the 13 Big 12 series against KU.

• Sunday's win marked the 12th time in the last 21 meetings between A&M and KU where the game was decided by two runs or less, or went to extra innings.

• Sunday's crowd of 3,380 brought the weekend total to 11,021 and bumped the Aggies' season total to 75,004.

• A&M pitching has struck out 10 or more batters in 17 of the team's 27 games...the Aggies fanned 12 Jayhawks on Sunday, and 40 KU batters in the three-game series.

• Barret Loux set a new career high with 11 strikeouts on the afternoon...his previous best was 10 earlier this season against Utah (March 8).

• Kyle Colligan's leadoff single in the first inning pushed his hit streak to a season-high seven games...Colligan also became the fourth player in school history to record a hit in 16 straight Big 12 games...Steven Truitt (20, 1998) holds the school record in that category, followed by Cliff Pennington (18, 2003-04), Colligan (16, 2008-09) and Eric Scheidt (16, 2003-04).

• Brooks Raley has now reached base safely (hit or walk) in all 24 games he has appeared in this year. • Game-time temperature was 60 degrees with clear skies and light winds. POSTGAME QUOTES

HEAD COACH Rob Childress: "Sweeps don't come along very often in the Big 12, and it was big for us to win today. It was a tale of two games today. We did everything right for the first four innings and then the momentum shifted. (Brett) Bochy came in and did everything Barret Loux had been doing, and they did a great job of putting the ball in play and making things happen. But we didn't panic and fall apart, and we were able to hold on.

(on Nick Fleece) "Nick Fleece has done an incredible job finishing games. He said he felt good and that's the guy I want in there at the end of the game. He didn't let them have a chance. I felt like he was a little bit tired but I thought it made his sinker better."

(on Barret Loux) "I can't say enough about Barret's start. It was incredible. He got his first win of the year and first decision of the year, but we're glad he got the win. It may be his first decision but we're 5-1 in the games he's started so far, and he's done a great job on Sundays for us."

(on the win streak) "I'm proud of what we've done this week. It was a big week for us, and it says a lot about who we are. We find out more and more about ourselves the more we play. I'm glad it (the losing streak) happened early in the year than late in the year--and who's to say it's not going to happen again--but I think we understand much more about ourselves having gone through it."