Texas State 6, (#22) Texas A&M 5

Tuesday, March 30

San Marcos, Texas

6:35 PM

Texas A&M

17-7

Texas State

15-8

Texas A&M

Texas State

Mar 30, 2010 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Texas A&M Athletics

March 30, 2010

SAN MARCOS, Texas - Laurn Randell delivered a walk-off single in the bottom of the 11th inning to give Texas State a 6-5 win over No. 22 Texas A&M before a record crowd of 2,603 fans Tuesday evening at Bobcat Baseball Stadium.

The Aggies entered the last of the 11th up 5-4, but Kyle Kubitza's third home run of the year—off the scoreboard in right—tied the game leading off the inning. The next batter, Jeff McVaney, hit a high chopper to third that went off the glove of a leaping Caleb Shofner and into shallow left field, resulting in a double. Following a grounder to the right side that moved pinch runner Colton Burnett to third, Randell deposited the first pitch into right for the game winner.

With the loss A&M fell to 17-7, while the Bobcats improved to 15-8.

Texas A&M took the lead in the 11th with a combination of power, small ball and clutch hitting. Kevin Gonzalez began the inning with a double on a 1-2 pitch off the base of the wall in right. Scott Arthur followed with a perfect sacrifice bunt on the first pitch, moving Gonzalez to third base. Brandon Wood swung at the first pitch before lining the next offering from reliever Carson Smith deep to right field. Gonzalez beat the throw home with the go-ahead run.

A big story for Aggies fans was the return of sophomore lefty Ross Hales, who started the game and made his first appearance of the season after recovering from off-season shoulder surgery. He got the first five outs of the game, allowing only a solo home run while not walking a batter and striking out two.

Jason Martinson got the long ball off Hales leading off the second inning, his fourth round-tripper of the year.

The Aggies tied the game in the third on a two-out single to left by Brodie Greene from second base.

Texas State took advantage of three Aggie errors in the fourth to plate three runs and go up, 4-1. Kyle Livingstone reached on an error to lead off the inning and moved to second on a throwing error off a failed pickoff attempt. Following a walk, Kubitza flared a ball into right center field to score the inning's first run. One out later, an Andrew Stumph sacrifice fly pushed another run across and another infield error would follow to give the Bobcats their fourth run of the evening.

After a wild hop turned a potential inning-ending double play ball into a threat in the Texas State fifth, third baseman Caleb Shofner made a shoestring catch of a line drive off the bat of Kubitza and doubled off the runner at first to keep the Bobcat lead at three.

The Aggies got a run back in the seventh. After Scott Arthur reached on a one-out infield chopper to third, Brodie Greene to put the tying run on base, but then induced an inning-ending double play to get out of the jam.

Adam Smith delivered a game-tying, two-run homer off the bench in the eighth inning. One out after a leadoff single by Joe Patterson, Smith deposited a 1-2 offering from Morrow over the fence in left center to knot the score at 4-4.

Hales lasted 1 2/3 innings and allowed the one hit on the home run. He did not walk a batter and punched out two, both looking. The bullpen of Shane Minks, Jake Feckley (0-1) suffered the loss in relief, giving up three hits and two runs over 1 1/3 innings.

Fielding Pittman (1-0) earned the win after retiring the only batter he faced in the top half of the 11th. Borski pitched well but did not factor in the decision for Texas State, allowing eight hits and two runs over 6 1/3 innings. He walked two and punched out three.

Texas A&M returns to action Thursday evening when the Aggies open an Easter weekend series with Kansas in Lawrence. First pitch at Hoglund Ballpark is set for 6 p.m.

NOTES: Tuesday was Texas A&M's first extra-inning game of 2010 … the Aggies pounded out 12 hits, reaching double figures for the 14th time this year … Caleb Shofner extended his career-high hit streak to 13 games with a first-inning single … Adam Smith's two-run homer in the eighth was the first pinch-hit home run of the season for the Aggies and the first of his career … it was the first pinch-hit homer by an A&M hitter since Joe Patterson against Oklahoma State on April 25 of last season … Tuesday marked just the second true road game of the year—and fourth overall away from home—for A&M in 2010 … the crowd of 2,603 was a new stadium record, breaking the old mark of 2,593 against Texas (March 3, 2009) … the game also marked the first on the San Marcos campus between the two schools since February 15, 2000 … game-time temperature was 79 degrees with clear skies and winds blowing out to center at 10 miles per hour.

Texas A&M........... 001 000 120 01 - 5 12 3 (17-7)
Texas State......... 010 300 000 02 - 6 9 0 (15-8)

Pitchers: Texas A&M - Hales, Ross; Minks, Shane(2); Mendoza, Dylan(5); Wacha, Michael(6);
Stilson, John(8); Feckley, Jake(10) and Gonzalez, Kevin. Texas State - Borski, Brian;
Morrow, Covey(7); Carruth, Garret(8); McVaney, Jeff(10); Smith, Carson(11);
Pittman, Fielding(11) and Stumph, Andrew; Kopycinski, Jordan.
Win-Pittman, Fielding(1-0) Loss-Feckley, Jake(0-1) T-3:24 A-2603
HR TA - Smith, Adam (1).
HR TXST - Martinson, Jason (4); Kubitza, Kyle (3).
Weather: 79, clear, wind SE 10