Texas A&M
10-2
Penn State
4-4
Wacha Fans 11, Aggies Roll to 17-3 Win over Nittany Lions
Mar 09, 2010 | Baseball
March 9, 2010
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - True freshman Michael Wacha struck out 11 and allowed three hits over six-plus shutout innings in his first collegiate start, and got the backing of a season-high offensive attack, as Texas A&M blasted its way to a 17-3 win over Penn State Tuesday evening before 2,861 fans at Olsen Field.
Wacha allowed a fourth-inning double and back-to-back hits to start the seventh before he was lifted. The only other runners that reached base off the Texarkana native were via errors in the second and sixth, as he did not walk a batter on the night.
"I'm very proud of Michael's performance, and not surprised by it in the least," A&M coach Rob Childress said. "It was a pretty good pitcher's duel for four innings, and Michael Wacha matched their guy pitch for pitch and allowed us to score first. That's what our starters have done for the most part all year long."
The offense did more than its fair share to secure the victory, opening up a scoreless game with four-spots in the fourth and sixth and six more in the seventh. On the evening, the Aggies (10-2) pounded out a season-high 16 hits and three home runs, and scored a season-best 17 runs en route to their seventh straight win. The Nittany Lions, meanwhile, dropped their third in a row and fell to 4-4.
"We were able to have some big innings, starting with Caleb Shofner getting a big hit in the fourth," Childress said. "We came right back in the sixth and scored four with two outs, and then we had the big inning in the seventh. I think most of those runs were with two outs. I'm very proud of our team tonight."
Shofner did get the ball rolling for the Aggies in a big way in the fourth inning. After Brodie Greene started the frame off with bunt singles and Joe Patterson loaded the bases with a line single to left, Shofner pounced on an 0-1 offering from Penn State starter John Walter and sent it to the wall in right center to clear the bases. He would score two batters later on a Joaquin Hinojosa RBI groundout to make the score 4-0.
A&M would score four more two-out runs in the sixth courtesy an RBI single by Kenny Jackson and a long three-run home run to left by Kevin Gonzalez that cleared the video board.
Wacha was lifted in the next half inning after giving up a single and double to begin things. Senior Shane Minks entered the game and promptly struck out the side to keep the shutout intact.
"I told Shane, `Hey, here's your challenge. Keep it at one run,'" Childress said. "I told him to make the defense make some routine plays behind him and keep it at one run, but he got a little bit better than that. I was proud of him."
That momentum propelled the Aggies to a six-spot in the seventh. Key blows in the outburst were a long three-run homer to right off the bat of Patterson, an RBI single by Gregg Alcazar and a two-run single to left by Adam Smith.
A&M would extend the lead to 17-0 in the eighth courtesy an RBI double by Patterson and Matt Juengel's first career home run, a two-run shot to left.
Penn State would finally get on the board in the ninth with a three-spot to close out the scoring.
Offensively, the Aggies were paced by Patterson, who went 3-for-5, matched a career high with four RBIs and set a new career best with three runs scored. Shofner went 2-for-5 with three RBIs, Juengel was 2-for-2 with two RBIs off the bench, Smith went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and Greene finished 2-for-4 with a career-high four runs scored.
Wacha improved to 2-0 with the victory and has now nailed down a win or a save in three of his last four outings.
Walter (0-2) suffered the loss, giving up five hits and four runs over four innings.
The series is set to conclude Wednesday with first pitch scheduled for 6:35 p.m. Senior Clayton Ehlert (0-1) will be matched up against Penn State senior Mike Wanamaker (0-0).
NOTES: Brodie Greene extended his hit streak to eight games with a fourth-inning single ... Greene's four runs scored are a new career high ... with his fourth-inning base hit, Joe Patterson has now hit safely in 11 of the first 12 games of the year and 16 of his last 17 dating back to the end of the 2009 campaign ... Patterson tied a career high with four RBIs ... Kevin Gonzalez matched a career high by extending his hit streak to seven games ... Kenny Jackson has now hit safely in seven straight as well ... the Aggie bullpen's streak of consecutive innings without allowing an earned run came to an end in the ninth at 37 1/3 innings.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Wacha, Michael (2-0)
L: Walter, John (0-2)
Batting:
2B: Heath, Ben 1 ; Eramo, Mario 1
RBI: Montesinos, Luis 1 ; Searer, Elliot 1
SH: Picconi, Louie 1
Base Running:
RUNS: DeBernardis, Joey 1 ; Eramo, Mario 1 ; Montesinos, Luis 1
Batting:
2B: Patterson, Joe 1 ; Shofner, Caleb 1
HR: Patterson, Joe 1 ; Juengel, Matt 1 ; Gonzalez, Kevin 1
RBI: Patterson, Joe 4 ; Shofner, Caleb 3 ; Jackson, Kenny 1 ; Juengel, Matt 2 ; Hinojosa, Joaquin 1 ; Gonzalez, Kevin 3 ; Alcazar, Gregg 1 ; Smith, Adam 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Arthur, Scott 2 ; Greene, Brodie 4 ; Patterson, Joe 3 ; Shofner, Caleb 2 ; Jackson, Kenny 1 ; Juengel, Matt 2 ; Wood, Brandon 1 ; Gonzalez, Kevin 1 ; Alcazar, Gregg 1
SB: Greene, Brodie 1
CS: Smith, Adam 1
HBP: Greene, Brodie 1
