Texas A&M 11, Seton Hall 2

Friday, February 19

College Station

6:35 PM

Texas A&M

1-0

Seton Hall

0-1

Seton Hall

Texas A&M

Feb 19, 2010 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Texas A&M Athletics

Feb. 19, 2010

Final Stats

Rob Childress [mp3]

Barret Loux [mp3]

Brodie Greene [mp3]

Scott Arthur [mp3]

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Barret Loux struck out eight over five strong innings and Brodie Greene drove in a career-high four runs to lead the Texas A&M baseball team to an 11-2 win over Seton Hall in the 2010 season opener Friday night before 5,284 fans at Olsen Field.

The Aggies took a 4-2 lead into the last of the seventh before touching up the Pirate bullpen for two in that frame and five more in the eighth. The story of the night for the A&M offense was clutch hitting, as nine of 11 runs, eight of 11 hits and six of seven RBIs came with two outs.

"It was a very good game," A&M coach Rob Childress said. "We got off to a very good start, and Barret allowed us to do that. Once we got rolling offensively, it was a lot of fun to watch. We scored nine of our 11 runs tonight with two outs, and that's just guys coming up with big hits. We played good defense behind our pitchers and were able to play a lot of guys late. Overall it was a great night."

Seton Hall took advantage of a miscue in the third and played that into an early 1-0 lead on a run-scoring single by leadoff hitter Will Walsh.

The Aggies responded quickly however against SHU starter Joe DiRocco, tagging him for three runs in the bottom of the frame to take the lead for good. Back-to-back singles by Kevin Gonzalez and Adam Smith to start the inning brought up leadoff man Scott Arthur, who dropped a bunt to the left side. DiRocco elected to go to third, but Gonzalez beat the throw to load the bases with no outs.

Greene responded by lacing a 1-1 pitch into left center field to tie the game. After A&M took the lead on a double-play ball, Joe Patterson singled to left to make the score 3-1.

Seton Hall used a one-out triple and RBI groundout in the fourth to cut the lead to one, but the Pirates would get no closer. Texas A&M got the run back in the fifth on a Greene single before blowing open the game late.

Still holding the two-run lead with two outs in the seventh, Andrew Collazo stepped to the plate with runners on the corners. With Arthur at third, Greene broke from first base as Collazo flared a ball behind the first base bag and into shallow right field. The ball dropped, scoring Arthur easily from third. Hustling all the way, Greene raced for home and slid past the tag to make the score 6-2. He would add a two-run single in the eighth, the big blow in the five-run frame, and finish the night 3-for-4.

Batting leadoff for the third time in his young career, Arthur reached base four times and scored a career-high four runs. Collazo was 2-for-5 with two RBIs and Patterson added a pair of hits.

Loux (1-0) was strong in his first-ever opening day start. The junior allowed just three hits, one earned run and one walk on the night in picking up the victory. Senior Shane Minks recorded a hold with two shutout innings of work, giving up just one hit. Sophomore Jake Feckley a scoreless ninth to lock down a very good outing by the Aggie bullpen.

DiRocco (0-1) took the loss, allowing seven hits and four earned runs over six innings of work. The junior walked two and struck out two. Bobby Migliazza and Chris Spagnuolo had two hits apiece offensively.

The series will conclude on Saturday with a 2:05 p.m. doubleheader. Sophomore Ross Stripling is scheduled to throw game one for Texas A&M, while junior Nick Fleece is slated for the second half of the twinbill.

One ticket will be good for both games and there will be 30 minutes between contests (both nine inning games). There will be no game on Sunday. Those holding tickets for Sunday's game will be able to redeem that ticket for admission to any regular-season game except the Baylor and Texas contests. Contact the Athletic Ticket Office or visit the Olsen Field box office on game days for more information.

POSTGAME NOTES: Texas A&M improves to 30-3 all-time in Olsen Field home openers and has won 10 straight ... Barret Loux's eight strikeouts were the most by an opening day starter since 2004 (Zach Jackson, 8) ... Friday's crowd of 5,284 was the fourth largest opening-day crowd in Olsen Field history ... Brodie Greene four RBIs were a career high, besting his previous high of three (set four previous times) ... Including the end of the 2009 season, Joe Patterson extended his hit streak to six games ... seven players made their debut in a Texas A&M uniform on Friday--juniors Jake Feckley, Tyler Naquin, Brandon Wood ... gametime temperature was 59 degrees with overcast skies and winds blowing out to left center at about 10 miles per hour.

POSTGAME QUOTES

HEAD COACH Rob Childress

More on Barret Loux... "It was nice for him to get us off to a great start. I would have liked to have gotten him through six, but they were pitch-counting him a little bit early there. But I thought he was very good."

On Joe Patterson) followed that with a couple of big hits. It was a lot of fun to watch."

SENIOR CF Brodie Greene

On his night... "I was pretty amped up in my first at bat, and took strike three looking, but I was able to overcome it and get some big hits for us tonight. I was feeling good up there. I got some pitches up, was able to square them up, found some holes and luckily we had some guys on base when that happened."

On the top of the order... "It creates havoc. We just try to get on base for the rest of the order."

JUNIOR P BARRET LOUX

On the start for the Aggies... "Tonight wasn't too bad. We got off to a good start, got a lead, the bullpen did a great job and the offense put it away."

On his night... "I felt fine. I only threw five innings, and would have liked to throw more than that, but was at too high of a pitch count. Our bullpen came in and did a good job."

SOPHOMORE RF Scott Arthur

On the team's start... "Yeah, it was a great night. It was great to finally get out here, we've been waiting forever for that. The pitching was great, we executed well offensively...it was a good night for us."

On the top of the order... "I think it's a great setup. Brodie can do everything when we have different situations going. Hopefully it will help us out this year."