Texas A&M
9-2
Stephen F. Austin
3-6
(#4) Texas A&M 8, Stephen F. Austin 3
Mar 04, 2009 | Baseball
March 4, 2009
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Freshman Ross Hales struck out a season-high nine batters in six innings of work and three Aggies drove in two runs apiece as No. 4 Texas A&M completed a sweep of Stephen F. Austin with an 8-3 win Wednesday afternoon before 3,143 fans at Olsen Field.
Hales (3-0), making his second start of the year, allowed only three hits, one run and one walk on the afternoon. He was backed by a 10-hit attack that included a double, triple and two home runs, along with two-RBI afternoons by Brooks Raley, Caleb Shofner and Brett Parsons.
With the win, A&M improved to 9-2 on the year while the Lumberjacks fell to 3-6.
Kyle Colligan led off the game for the Aggies with a hard single to left, but was erased one out later trying to get to third on a Raley single. Raley, who moved to second on the play, scored as Luke Anders followed him with a single to left to give A&M a 1-0 lead.
Parsons hit a long home run to right center with two outs in the second, the first of his Aggie career, to make the score 2-0.
Texas A&M would double its lead in the third. Colligan drew a full-count walk off SFA starter Jared West to start the frame. The next batter, Brodie Greene, attempted to bunt Colligan to second base but reached safely when Lumberjack catcher Ryan Sinclair misplayed the ball. Raley followed by lacing a double just inside the line in left, scoring both Aggie runners and pushing the advantage to four.
SFA would respond in the fourth, as Tanner Hines led off with a triple off the fence in left and scored one out later on a Sean Meyers sacrifice fly.
A four-run sixth would provide A&M with some much-needed insurance. Luke Anders led off the inning with an infield single to third and moved to second when the attempt to retire him at first went wide of the bag. After a fielder's choice off the bat of Dylan Petrich retired Anders at third base, Joe Patterson followed with a single to center and Shofner, in a pinch-hitting role, tripled into the right field corner to score two and make the score 6-1.
An infield groundout by Parsons would drive in Shofner, and the next batter, Adam Smith, launched his third home run of '09 over the fence in right, upping the lead to 8-1.
The `Jacks would add solo home runs in the seventh and ninth innings to close out the scoring.
Luke Anders had a game-high three hits for the Aggies, while SFA was led by Coffman's 2-for-4 afternoon.
Highlighting the bullpen effort was a scoreless inning by junior Shane Minks and a three-strikeout ninth by true freshman Ross Stripling.
West (0-1) would be saddled with the loss for SFA, allowing eight hits and seven runs (six earned) over 5 1/3 innings of work. He walked one and fanned six.
Texas A&M continues its homestand Friday when the Aggies open a weekend series with the University of Utah (4-4 entering a Thursday game at Sam Houston State). First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. with Raley (2-0, 2.25 ERA) set to take the hill for A&M against Ute junior Andrew Wilding (0-1, 3.00). The series continues Saturday evening at 6:35 p.m. and concludes Sunday afternoon at 1:05 p.m. Tickets for all games are available at the gate or online at aggieathletics.com.
POSTGAME NOTES
• With 13 strikeouts on the night, A&M pitching has fanned 10 or more opposing batters in four straight games and in eight of 11 overall. • Texas A&M has committed one error or less in five straight ballgames and nine of 11 overall. • The Aggies are 3-1 on the year in mid-week contests, and are 28-5 in those games dating back to the start of the 2007 season. • Texas A&M now leads the all-time series with SFA, 18-0. • Gametime temperature was 79 degrees with mostly sunny skies and winds blowing out to left center field at 16 miles per hour.
POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH Shane Minks came in and had a really good eighth, and I was really excited with what I saw at the end of the game with Ross Stripling. It was a dominant performance." (on the offensive output) "Well, we scored early in the first three innings, then Caleb Shofner comes off the bench and kind of puts a knife in their heart with that big triple that scored two runs. I was proud of our effort yesterday and again today." FRESHMAN P Ross Hales: (on his start to the year) "Yeah, so far I'm having a pretty good start. Everyone's playing well, the defense is playing well. Joe (Patterson) did a fantastic job today, helping his pitcher out. The catchers we have definitely help me out and help me control my game." (on the approach against the SFA hitters) "We felt like they had a lot of free swingers so we mixed in a lot of changeups and off-speed pitches. It gets them on their front foot and they were missing the ball some. It also helps when you are able to locate." (on feeling more comfortable on the mound) "Yeah. I feel a lot more comfortable. I was a little nervous the first time, as a freshman. It was kind of overwhelming a little bit."
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Hales, Ross (3-0)
L: West, Jared (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Garcia-Serrano, Gabr 1
3B: Hines, Tanner 1
HR: Coffman, Bo 1 ; Sinclair, Ryan 1
RBI: Meyers, Sean 1 ; Coffman, Bo 1 ; Sinclair, Ryan 1
SF: Meyers, Sean 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Hines, Tanner 1 ; Coffman, Bo 1 ; Sinclair, Ryan 1
SB: Ferguson, Brian 1 ; Coffman, Bo 1
Batting:
2B: Raley, Brooks 1
3B: Shofner, Caleb 1
HR: Parsons, Brett 1 ; Smith, Adam 1
RBI: Raley, Brooks 2 ; Anders, Luke 1 ; Shofner, Caleb 2 ; Parsons, Brett 2 ; Smith, Adam 1
SH: Greene, Brodie 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Colligan, Kyle 1 ; Greene, Brodie 1 ; Raley, Brooks 1 ; Petrich, Dylan 1 ; Arthur, Scott 1 ; Shofner, Caleb 1 ; Parsons, Brett 1 ; Smith, Adam 1
