Texas A&M
11-3
Utah
6-6
(#4) Texas A&M 12, Utah 11
Mar 08, 2009 | Baseball
March 8, 2009
Final Stats
Post Game Audio [mp3]:
Head Coach Childress
LHP Raley
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Brooks Raley and Dylan Petrich drew back-to-back bases-loaded walks in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift No. 4 Texas A&M to a 12-11 win over Utah Sunday afternoon before 3,550 fans at Olsen Field.
The Aggies (11-3) needed every one of the six runs they scored in the final three innings, as the Utes (6-6) scored three in the eighth and five more in the ninth to take a one-run lead into A&M's final at-bat.
Brett Parsons began the rally off Utah closer Robert Chimpky with a single to left field. Scott Migl to second. After a perfect sacrifice bunt by Brodie Greene was intentionally walked to load the bases.
One out later, Raley stepped to the plate, worked a 3-1 count and then took a full-count fastball outside to force in the tying run. Petrich then saw four pitches, all balls, as Smith came in with the game winner.
Utah batted around in the ninth to take the lead with a five spot, despite recording only one hit--a two-run single by catcher C.J. Cron--as A&M walked three in the frame and committed two errors.
The Aggies' fourth pitcher of the inning, freshman Ross Stripling, entered the game with runners at the corners, no outs, and A&M clinging to a 10-9 lead. The first batter Stripling faced, Austin Jones, reached on a misplayed grounder to short that scored Corey Shimada from third to tie the game. After Stripling got Utah's top hitter, third baseman Nick Kuroczko, to pop out to second, an RBI groundout by Cooper Blanc would bring home pinch-runner Josh Reed with the go-ahead run.
Stripling then retired the final batter on a come-backer to set the stage for the A&M rally.
Overshadowed in the come-from-behind victory was a strong start by sophomore Barret Loux, who set a new career high with 10 strikeouts on the afternoon. He lasted five complete and scattered three hits while allowing two runs (one earned). Loux did not walk a batter.
Utah picked up an unearned run in the first off Loux to grab the early lead, but Dylan Petrich tied the game in the bottom of the inning with his second home run of the year--a two-out, solo shot to left.
Caleb Shofner and Nick Anders hit solo home runs in the second to up the Aggie lead to 3-1 and, one inning later, A&M would add two more runs on RBI singles by Nick Fleece and Kevin Gonzalez.
Cron launched his third home run of the season with one out in the fourth to pull the Utes within three. The score would remain the same until the sixth, when Jones doubled down the left-field line off A&M reliever Kyle Thebeau, scoring Shimada to make the score 5-3.
Greene would get the run back with a solo home run to right, second of the year, in the bottom half of the inning, and the Aggies took a 6-3 lead into the seventh.
Junior Joe Patterson came off the bench in the inning and hit the first pitch he saw from Utah's Greg Krause over the fence in left center field for his first career home run, a two-run shot that made the score 8-3.
After the Utes scored three in the eighth, including a two-run home run by Blanc that cut the lead to 8-6, Luke Anders answered with a two-run home run of his own to right field in the last of the frame. The long ball was Anders' third of the season and made him the seventh player in school history to hit 30 career home runs. It also gave A&M the 10-6 lead heading into the top of the ninth.
Loux allowed just five balls in play on the afternoon, including the home run, three groundouts and one fly ball out.
Stripling (1-0) picked up the first win of his career, as he got the final three outs in the Utah ninth and did not allow a hit or walk a batter.
Chimpky (0-1) was saddled with the loss after allowing the two runs, two hits and three walks in the ninth.
Texas A&M returns to the diamond Tuesday night when the Aggies battle No. 7 Cal State Fullerton in a mid-week showdown at Olsen Field. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. and the game will be televised by COX Sports TV. Tickets are still available and can be purchased at the gate or online at aggieathletics.com.
POSTGAME NOTES
• A&M's six home runs was the most since a six-HR performance against Houston on May 31, 2008...the school record for home runs in a game is seven, set twice (last in 1998 at Kansas).
• A&M's 17 hits was a season high and the most since recording 22 in a 13-9 win at Sam Houston State on May 6, 2008.
• Barret Loux struck out a career-high 10 batters on the afternoon, topping his previous best of nine (set twice last year--Feb. 23 vs Northern Colorado, in his debut, and April 12 vs Oklahoma).
• Loux's strikeout of Austin Jones in the fourth inning was the 100th of his career.
• Kyle Thebeau made his 85th career appearance on the mound and is now one shy of the all-time A&M leader, Chris Russ (86).
• With 10 strikeouts on Sunday, the Aggie pitching staff has now fanned 10 or more batters in seven straight games and 11 of 14 overall.
• On the weekend, A&M pitching walked only six batters and struck out 36, with three of those walks coming in the final frame of Sunday's game...on the season, the Aggie staff has fanned 145 batters while walking only 37, or a K/BB ratio of 3.92.
• Sunday's crowd of 3,550 brought the weekend total to 13,948...A&M's season total is now 42,457 (average of 3,860).
• A&M improved to 9-2 at home on the year.
• The Aggies now lead the all-time series with Utah, 4-3.
• Gametime temperature was 79 degrees with cloudy skies and winds blowing out to center field at nine miles per hour (gusting to 18).
POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH Rob Childress: "I'm proud of our performance today. I'm proud of the way we competed, and our approach at the plate, and us showing up ready to play. I think it was important that we played a game like that. I'm very proud of our team, and had we lost today 10-9 I still would have said that at the end of the day.
(on the pitching effort) "Barret Loux had a great start, and the guys that have been great for us out of the bullpen weren't today. And if they are going to go four out of five and be shaky every fifth time out, I'll take that every time. I'm proud of what we did today as a group."
(on Ross Stripling) "He's earned all that confidence (that I have in him) by what he's gone and done. He's got a breaking ball and a firm enough fast ball to help us out."
(on having to fight out a win) "I'm glad it went that way. I'm glad there was some stress, and there was some fight, and that our team showed some toughness. That to me is more important than winning 10-1."
(on the dugout attitude entering the last of the ninth) "There was no doubt, no question that we were going to come back and win the game. There wasn't any panic. I told them after the game that you can't be hoping, you have to expect that you're going to come back and win this game. I was proud of us."
(on bringing in Cal State Fullerton on Tuesday) "It's going to be a great challenge for us. They're a traditional powerhouse. They had a great weekend over at Southern Miss and they're coming in here feeling pretty good about themselves. The last two weeks they've played really well. It should be a great crowd, great night and it ought to be a lot of fun."
SOPHOMORE Brooks Raley: (on his ninth-inning at bat) "At 3-2, I try to keep the pressure off me and put it on (the pitcher) and make him throw me a good pitch. Today was a lot of fun."
(on the offensive effort) "I thought we came out and hit the ball well. In batting practice we were trying to hit nothing but ground balls, then we come out and hit six home runs. That was a big jump for our offense today, and we needed that. To come out and win today was obviously a big deal but losing it we'd have been okay with if the offense did what it did. And we have to build off of that, that's step one."
SOPHOMORE BARRET LOUX: (on his start) "I felt good today. We needed a good start. Our hitters have been struggling, but everyone knows they are going to come around like they did today. That's just what we needed."
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Stripling, Ross (1-0)
L: Chimpky, Robert (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Jones, Austin 1
HR: Cron, C.J. 1 ; Blanc, Cooper 1
RBI: Shimada, Corey 1 ; Cron, C.J. 3 ; Jones, Austin 3 ; Blanc, Cooper 3
Base Running:
RUNS: Beltran, Michael 1 ; Yagi, Tyler 1 ; Shimada, Corey 4 ; Cron, C.J. 1 ; Reed, Josh 1 ; Jones, Austin 1 ; Blanc, Cooper 1 ; Jones, Zach 1
SB: Beltran, Michael 1 ; Jones, Zach 1
CS: Cron, C.J. 1
Batting:
2B: Greene, Brodie 1
3B: Gonzalez, Kevin 1
HR: Petrich, Dylan 1 ; Anders, Luke 1 ; Shofner, Caleb 1 ; Anders, Nick 1 ; Patterson, Joe 1 ; Greene, Brodie 1
RBI: Raley, Brooks 1 ; Petrich, Dylan 2 ; Anders, Luke 2 ; Shofner, Caleb 1 ; Fleece, Nick 1 ; Anders, Nick 1 ; Patterson, Joe 2 ; Gonzalez, Kevin 1 ; Greene, Brodie 1
SH: Gonzalez, Kevin 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Raley, Brooks 1 ; Petrich, Dylan 2 ; Anders, Luke 1 ; Shofner, Caleb 1 ; Fleece, Nick 1 ; Parsons, Brett 1 ; Migl, Scott 1 ; Anders, Nick 1 ; Patterson, Joe 1 ; Smith, Adam 1 ; Greene, Brodie 1
SB: Raley, Brooks 2 ; Anders, Nick 1 ; Greene, Brodie 1
CS: Shofner, Caleb 1
HBP: Parsons, Brett 1 ; Anders, Nick 1
PO: Shofner, Caleb 1
