Texas A&M 6, Wright State 4

Saturday, May 30

Fort Worth, Texas

2:00 PM

Texas A&M

37-23

Wright State

33-30

Texas A&M

Wright State

May 30, 2009 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Texas A&M Athletics

May 30, 2009

Post Game Audio:
Head Coach Childress, C. Shofner,
J. Patterson, & K. Thebeau

Final Stats

FORT WORTH, Texas - Junior Joe Patterson hit a two-out, two-run home run in the top of the 11th inning to lift No. 18 Texas A&M to a 6-4, come-from-behind win over Wright State to remain alive in NCAA Regional action Saturday afternoon before 2,201 fans at Lupton Stadium.

Patterson stepped to the plate with pinch runner Nick Anders at first base and one out. He squared up on the first pitch of the at-bat from Raider closer Michael Schum and drove it high over the fence in dead center field to put the Aggies on top for the first time on the day.

Senior Kyle Thebeau then capped off the longest relief outing of his career by striking out the side around a pair of hits to not only end A&M's longest NCAA game in 20 years, but put the Aggies (37-23) into a 2 p.m. game on Sunday afternoon against either TCU or Oregon State. WSU concluded its season at 33-30.

Patterson's dinger was his second clutch hit in as many at-bats. Trailing 4-3 in the top of the ninth, and down to their final two outs of the season and their careers, seniors Luke Anders and Kyle Colligan delivered back-to-back base hits to put the tying run in scoring position. Patterson then stepped to the plate and, after swinging and missing at Schum's first offering, laced a ground ball just to the right of the bag at second and just over the glove of a diving Aaron Fields to score pinch-runner Scott Arthur and tie the game at four.

The game remained deadlocked into the 11th where, with one out, Brett Parsons drove a 3-1 pitch back through the box. One out later, Patterson stepped to the plate and delivered the eventual game-winner.

Thebeau (3-1) was brilliant in relief of Aggie starter Ross Hales, shutting out the Raiders over the final 6.2 innings of the game. He gave up five hits, two coming in the 11th, and did not walk a batter while punching out eight. The senior's performance was critical, as A&M erased a two-run deficit with single runs in the fifth and ninth to force extras.

The Raiders took an early lead with four first-inning hits, two of the infield variety, off Hales. Jeff Mercer drove home R.J. Gundolff with the game's first tally on a one-out RBI single to right field. After moving to second on an infield single, Mercer scored on a base hit to right by Quentin Cate to put Wright State up 2-0.

The Aggies tied the game with two runs in the third off Wright State's Alex Kaminsky. With one out, Luke Anders that was lost in the sun and dropped in front of Ryan Ashe in center. After an out, a hit batter loaded the bases for Kevin Gonzalez. The A&M catcher hit a hard grounder to the left of Fields at second, but the ball scooted under his glove and into right field. The error brought home Raley and Anders to even the score at two.

Gundolff led off the third with a single on the right side of the infield, and moved to second when the throw to try to get him at first by Brodie Greene sailed wide of Hales, who came over to cover the bag. He would score two outs later on a single by Mercer, putting Wright State back on top at 3-2.

WSU manufactured a run in the fourth to regain a two-run lead on a lead infield single, sacrifice bunt and two-out, two-strike RBI single by Ogrinc.

Thebeau would enter in the fifth with two on and one out, and gave up a lead single to load the bases. He coaxed the next batter into an inning-ending double play and then would sit down 15 of the next 18 batters to carry the game into the 11th.

Caleb Shofner began the comeback by launching his second home run in as many days in the sixth, touching Kaminsky for a solo shot to center to pull the Aggies back within one at 4-3.

A&M would threaten in the seventh but would not be able to push across the tying run, setting the stage for the late-inning heroics.

Patterson finished the afternoon 2-for-4 with the three RBIs, while Luke Anders had a team-high three hits. Raley, Colligan and Shofner each had a pair of hits as well, with the Aggies totaling 13 in the game.

Gundolff, McGrew and Cate had three hits each for Wright State.

Hales gave up 10 hits and four runs (three earned) over 4.1 innings. He struck out two and did not walk a batter.

Schum (5-7) suffered the loss, giving up six hits and three runs over 4.1 innings. He fanned two and did not walk a batter. Kaminsky threw a strong 6.2 innings, allowing seven hits, three runs (one earned) and a walk while punching out three.

Texas A&M now awaits the result of Saturday night's TCU/Oregon State game, and the Aggies will face the loser of that contest on Sunday at 2 p.m. Junior Clayton Ehlert (5-1, 5.96 ERA) will get the nod on the mound. Fans can listen to the game on WTAW-AM 1620 and inside the stadium on 89.9 FM. 2009 FORT WORTH REGIONAL SCHEDULE/RESULTS (all times CT) FRIDAY, MAY 29 GAME 2: Oregon State 9, Texas A&M 8 GAME 1: TCU 6, Wright State 3 SATURDAY, MAY 30 GAME 3: Texas A&M 6, Wright State 4 - 11 innings (Wright State eliminated) GAME 4: TCU vs Oregon State, 7 p.m.

SUNDAY, MAY 31 GAME 5: Texas A&M vs TCU/Oregon State loser, 2 p.m. GAME 6: Winner Game 5 vs TCU/Oregon State winner, 7 p.m.

MONDAY, JUNE 1 GAME 7 (if necessary): same teams as in game 6, 7 p.m. POSTGAME NOTES

• Texas A&M's extra-inning victory was the school's first ever in NCAA tournament action...the Aggies had dropped their previous four...it was the first extra-inning game in NCAA play since June 8, 2007, a 3-2, 10-inning loss at Rice in the first game of the Houston Super Regional...it was the first extra-inning game for the Aggies in a regional since a 7-6, 10-inning loss to Houston on June 1, 2003 at Olsen Field.

• The 11-inning game ties for the longest by an A&M team in NCAA play...the Aggies have seen one other NCAA tourney game go 11 innings, a 5-4 loss to LSU on May 28, 1989.

• The Aggies have won their last six elimination games in NCAA Regional play...not including Saturday's game, A&M staved off elimination once in 2004, three times in 2007 and once last season...the last setback for the Aggies in a must-win NCAA Regional game was a 10-inning loss to Houston on June 1, 2003.

• A&M is 55-53 all-time in NCAA Tournament games and 44-34 all-time in NCAA Regional play...the Aggies' overall record in the four-team regional era (1999-present) is 17-7.

• A&M now leads the all-time series with Wright State, 5-0.

• Saturday's win was the first for the Aggies this year when trailing after eight innings (now 1-19).

• A&M is 2-2 in '09 in extra-inning contests.

• Texas A&M has registered 10 or more hits in four straight games for just the second time this season...the Aggies did so as well from March 31-April 5.

• Kyle Colligan seventh-inning double was the 43rd of his career, tying him for 10th on the school's all-time list with Robert Bonner (1975-78).

• Kyle Thebeau made the longest relief outing of his career on Saturday (6.2 innings)...his previous high was a six-inning stint out of the pen against Ohio State on Feb. 29, 2008.

• Game-time temperature was 91 degrees with clear skies and light winds blowing in from left field.

POSTGAME QUOTES

HEAD COACH Rob Childress: "It was just a great game. There was a whole lot of toughness shown on our part. We found ourselves down 2-0 before we knew what hit us against a very good offensive team. To battle and fight our way back, even though we hit about 25 balls hard and didn't have much to show for it...it would have been easy for us to say that today's not our day. I can't say enough about the toughness of our group. I'm glad we live to play another day."

(on Kyle Thebeau) "Kyle Thebeau was definitely the reason we had the opportunity to win it late. I've been with him for four years, and if I'm going to turn the stuff in tomorrow I'm going to do it with a guy I've been with for four years and the trust I have in him. His senior year didn't start the way any of us has anticipated, but it sure has finished the right way. His changeup was outstanding, and if we were going to lose we would with him on the mound. And he didn't allow that to happen."

(on the seniors stepping up in the ninth) "I thought it was special. That's what seniors are supposed to do this time of year. Obviously Patty got the hit that tied the game, but the seniors gave him the opportunity to get that big hit for us.

(on having to play two on Sunday) "We talked to our team today about it. This was the toughest game, the truly tough one...being able to shake off the disappointment of losing game one of a regional. And if we could get through today, tomorrow we'd have the opportunity to face somebody who has extreme disappointment after not winning the Saturday night game. Then we'll hopefully face a team Sunday night who has a little pressure on them, trying to end the tournament then. We haven't gone through an awful lot of pitching, we feel like now's the time for our depth to step up and pitch like they're capable of doing. If we can get through tomorrow I like our chances."

JUNIOR DH Joe Patterson: (on the home run) "As a left-handed hitter, he keeps the ball down in the zone and that's where I like it a lot. I figured he would keep one down and I just put a good swing on it. Actually I thought it was going to go off the wall."

SENIOR P Kyle Thebeau: "I was kind of thinking that this could be my last college game to pitch in. Being a senior, I didn't want to lose the game. I want to keep playing baseball as long as I can. I think that fired us up more than anything."