Ehlert Tosses Aggies to 7-0 Win over Penn State

Wednesday, March 10

College Station

6:35 PM

Texas A&M

11-2

Penn State

4-5

Penn State

Texas A&M

Mar 10, 2010 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Texas A&M Athletics

March 10, 2010

Final Stats

Rob Childress [mp3]

Clayton Ehlert [mp3]

Caleb Shofner [mp3]

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Clayton Ehlert struck out a career-high 10 batters over seven innings and Texas A&M scored all of its runs with two outs as the Aggies downed Penn State, 7-0, for their eighth consecutive win Wednesday night before 2,911 fans at Olsen Field.

Ehlert (Orange, Texas) allowed three first-inning hits and then settled in in a big way, with just one Nittany Lion hitter reaching base the rest of his outing. On the evening, the senior retired the final 15 batters he faced, and 19 of his final 20, while not issuing a walk and tossing just 75 pitches. With the win, A&M moved its record to 11-2. Penn State, meanwhile, fell to 4-5.

"That was an outstanding pitching performance," A&M coach Clayton Ehlert throw in a while, and I've seen him throw that well before. I'm very proud of him. He had a shaky first inning, but settled in after that and was dominant. I'm really proud of his performance."

In that three-hit top of the first, a great defensive play by Aggie right fielder Scott Arthur pushed the momentum into the Aggie dugout. After Sean Deegan singled on the first pitch of the game, Heath Johnson followed with a hard single to Arthur in right. Deegan rounded the bag, and Arthur came up firing, hitting third baseman Kenny Jackson on the fly with the throw. Jackson applied the tag and got Deggan at third for the game's first out, and PSU never threatened again.

The Aggie offense used that momentum to pounce on Penn State starter Mike Wanamaker for a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning. With two outs and a man at first, Joe Patterson singled to center to put runners at the corners for Caleb Shofner. On the third pitch of the at-bat, the Aggie first baseman doubled deep into the gap in left center, scoring Patterson and Brodie Greene easily to stake the home team to a 2-0 lead.

Joaquin Hinojosa made the score 3-0 with a two-out, two-strike single in the third, and Shofner and Jackson added back-to-back RBI hits in the fourth to bump the Aggie advantage to 5-0.

Scott Arthur would add a two-out single in the sixth and Matt Juengel an RBI triple in the seventh to close out the scoring.

"We got big hits with two outs tonight," Childress said. "All seven runs were driven home with two outs, and we had four RBIs with an 0-2, 2-out count. That's coming up big when it mattered the most."

Shofner guided the offense with a 2-for-3 effort and a game-high three RBIs, while Greene added a pair of hits.

Ehlert improved to 1-1 with the victory, while Jake Feckley, Estevan Uriegas and John Stilson combined for two innings of shutout relief.

Wanamaker (0-1) suffered the loss in his first mound outing since 2008, giving up three hits and three runs (two earned) over four innings. He walked one and struck out four.

"I'm proud of our guys," Childress said. "We are playing hard, having fun out here and tonight might have been the most complete game we've played this season."

Texas A&M returns to action on Friday when the Aggies open a three-game series against No. 25 Washington State (9-1). First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. at Olsen Field. Check aggieathletics.com for broadcast information.

"Coach (Donnie) Marbut has done a great job up there," Childress said. "They were in a regional last year in Norman, and played very well. They're off to a great start at 9-1 and they are confident. I think they mirror us offensively in that they run a pressure offense, are hitting .350 as a team and they have very, very good arms. We're going to have to do a great job this weekend and it's going to be a good test, very similar to what we'll see week in and week out in the Big 12."

NOTES: Clayton Ehlert 10 strikeouts were a career high ... he had fanned nine twice previously, most recently against UTSA on March 31, 2009 ... Ehlert's seven innings of work matched his career high, also done twice previously ... all seven of Texas A&M's RBIs on the night came with two outs ... with a first-inning single, Joe Patterson has now reached safely in all 13 games this season ... Patterson has also hit safely in 12 of the first 13 games of 2010 ... Brodie Greene extended his hit streak to nine games with a fifth-inning single ... Kenny Jackson's fifth-inning hit upped his hit streak to eight games ... A&M now leads the all-time series with Penn State, 7-1, and has won six in a row.