Aggies Fall to No. 23 K-State in 10, 8-7

Friday, May 21

College Station

6:35 PM

Texas A&M

34-19-1, 12-12-1

Kansas State

35-16, 14-10

Kansas State

Texas A&M

May 21, 2010 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Texas A&M Athletics

May 21, 2010

Final Stats

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Daniel Dellasega's two-out, two-strike single lifted 23rd-ranked Kansas State to an 8-7 win over Texas A&M in 10 innings Friday evening before 3,281 fans at Olsen Field.

The Wildcats (35-16, 14-10 Big 12) rallied from a 6-1 deficit to force extra innings before delivering the eventual game-winner. K-State closer James Allen allowed only a walk in two shutout innings to secure the win and snap a six-game win streak for the Aggies (34-19-1, 12-12-1).

"It's hard to swallow," A&M coach Rob Childress said. "We had a 6-1 lead with our guys going on a Friday night, and it's our inability to finish on the mound. We walked eight, three of which were intentional, and three of those walks score, and of the eight runs we gave up six came with two outs. We didn't finish an inning tonight. But give those guys credit, their bullpen did a great job. We did not score from the fifth inning on."

Home runs by Kevin Gonzalez and Andrew Collazo, along with a couple more key hits, had the Aggies up by five runs heading into the fifth inning. It was there that KSU began its comeback off starter Barret Loux with a two-run Adam Muenster home run. Gonzalez followed in the Aggie half, hitting his second long ball of the game to give A&M a four-run lead.

Loux was lifted for closer John Stilson in the sixth with the bases loaded and two outs, but Muenster delivered a first-pitch single that plated two and made the score 7-5. An ensuing ground-rule double by Carter Jurica pulled K-State within one, but Stilson fanned Dellasega looking to end the rally.

K-State eventually tied the game with two outs in the eighth when, with a runner at second, Nic Martini chopped a ball up the first base line. Aggie closer John Stilson's throw hit Martini in the back, allowing Muenster to come home and deadlock the score at 7-7.

In the 10th, the Wildcats got a lead single and a sacrifice to move the go-ahead run into scoring position. Following an intentional walk, Jurica singled to left, but Joaquin Hinojosa and Gonzalez teamed up to cut down the runner at the plate and protect the tie. Following another intentional walk to load the bases, pitcher Nick Fleece quickly got ahead of Dellasega, but the cleanup hitter poked a 1-2 offering into shallow right field for the eventual game winner.

"I have to give the K-State hitters credit," Childress said. "They fought and scratched and clawed. Barret's pitch count was up, and we had to go to Stilson in the sixth inning, and the guys that are supposed to get hits for them got big hits."

Gonzalez (2-for-5, 2 HR, 2 RBI) paced the Aggie offense, and Collazo and Juengel added two hits apiece. Muenster finished the game with four hits for KSU and a career-high four RBIs, while Jurica had three hits and an RBI.

Fleece (1-2) took the loss, allowing three hits, a run and two intentional walks in one inning of work. Allen (5-0) picked up the win with two innings of no-hit relief.

Neither starter factored in the decision. Loux went 5 2/3 innings and allowed six hits, six runs and five walks while punching out eight. Bahramzadeh allowed five runs and six hits over three-plus frames of work.

The series continues on Saturday with first pitch set for 2:05 p.m. A&M will send sophomore Ross Stripling (5-3, 4.11 ERA) to the mound to face K-State sophomore Kyle Hunter (8-1, 3.86). Fans can tune in locally on WTAW-AM 1620 or watch free live video worldwide on aggieathletics.com.

"Ross needs to give us a good outing," Childress said. "Their best guy is going from a statistical standpoint, and what you saw tonight from K-State is what they want to do. They want to get the ball in the hands of those three guys at the end and they did a good job. But we've got a pretty good one going tomorrow too. It ought to be a good game."

POSTGAME NOTES: The extra-inning game was A&M's sixth of the season and fifth in conference play, tying for the most in a single season by an Aggie team in Big 12 action (5 in 2005) ... the Aggies are now 1-4-1 in extra innings in 2010 ... Barret Loux fanned eight Wildcat batters to run his career total to 262 and move into fifth place on the school's all-time list ... Loux passed Kyle Thebeau (259, 2006-09) and Jason Meyer (260, 2004-07) on Friday ... Loux's 119 punchouts on the year ranks 10th on the all-time single-season charts ... Brodie Greene vs Washington State, March 14) ... Gonzalez and Brodie Greene extended his hit streak to 11 games with a fourth-inning double ... Matt Juengel (7) and Gonzalez (5) also extended hit streaks ... the blown save for the Aggie bullpen was just the second in 12 chances this spring, and the first in nine by John Stilson ... Kansas State won for the first time in nine tries at Olsen Field ... Friday was the Wildcats' first win in College Station since May 14, 2004 ... the 94 degree first-pitch temperature matched a season high (May 7 vs Dallas Baptist).