Texas A&M
40-19-1
Baylor
34-22
Aggies Claim Big 12 Title in Walk-Off Fashion
May 30, 2010 | Baseball
May 30, 2010
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Brodie Greene, Joe Patterson, & John Stilson [mp3] |
OKLAHOMA CITY - Senior Brodie Greene's two-out, walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th inning gave Texas A&M the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship and a 5-3 win over Baylor Sunday afternoon before 5,277 fans at AT&T Bricktown Ballpark.
Down three entering the last of the eighth, A&M scratched across its first run of the afternoon and then tied the game with a furious ninth-inning rally. In the 10th, Brandon Wood delivered a one-out single to put the winning run on base. After Tyler Naquin beat out a potential double-play ball to keep the inning alive, Greene stepped to the plate. He quickly fell behind 0-2 to Bear closer Brooks Pinckard, but sent the next offering into the bleachers in left for the game-winner, setting off a wild celebration at the plate.
"I was down in the count, and he threw a hanging slider, middle-away," Greene said. "I just got enough of it. I guess maybe the wind may have carried it a bit too but luckily it found its way into the bleachers."
The win gave the Aggies (40-19-1) their third Big 12 title in the last four seasons and extended their win streak to six. Baylor, meanwhile, fell to 34-22.
"I don't think you could ask anything more from a championship game," A&M coach Rob Childress said. "Both teams played about as good as you can play and both starters did an outstanding job. I'm just very proud of our players, for what they've gone through and the way they've played this week. I'm looking forward to next week."
A&M could not solve Bear starter Willie Kempf, who tossed a shutout until being lifted with the tying run at the plate in the eighth. Two hits around a stolen base in the eighth would end Kempf's day, as Logan Verrett came in out of the bullpen. He got a check-swing grounder to first off the bat of Andrew Collazo to score Adam Smith, but a line drive to deep center off the bat of Wood ended the threat.
Naquin began the ninth with a single to right and Greene surprised the Baylor defense with a bunt single to third. Joe Patterson then delivered an 0-2 pitch up the middle, scoring Naquin and moving Greene--the tying run--all the way to third. Verrett was lifted for Pinckard, who gave up a game-tying single to Matt Juengel. Following a sacrifice bunt to put the winning run at third, Pinckard got a double play to force extra innings.
The game's first run came in the top of the second on back-to-back doubles by Max Muncy and Raynor Campbell. The score would remain the same until the sixth, when the Bears cashed in a Logan Vick lead single with a sacrifice followed by a Joey Hainsfurther single to center.
Baylor scored a gift run in the eighth, as Landis Ware reached and moved to third when a pop to right fell to the ground and the ensuing throw in from the outfield sailed into the dugout, allowing Ware to head to third base. Vick drove him home four pitches later with a single to right.
A&M starter Ross Stripling pitched well but did not factor in the decision. He went six complete and allowed six hits, two runs and no walks while fanning eight. John Stilson (8-1) earned the win, allowing the lone unearned run over four innings of work.
Kempf allowed five hits and a run over 7.1 shutout innings, not walking a batter while fanning five. Pinckard suffered the loss and fell to 2-4.
Greene finished the day 4-for-5 with the home run and two RBIs, while seven other Aggies had a hit. On the day, A&M out-hit Baylor, 11-10.
Texas A&M earned the league's automatic bid to the field of 64, which will be announced on Monday. The selection committee will reveal the 16 regionals live on ESPN beginning at 11:30 a.m. (CDT). The bid will be the fourth straight under Childress.
"Whether we're driving or flying, it doesn't matter," Childress said. "We're looking forward to next week's tournament. All four teams in that regional will present a big challenge, but I don't see the field being any tougher than the one we faced in the round robin of this tournament."
POSTGAME NOTES: The victory was A&M's 40th of the season, making the 2010 team the 18th in school history to reach the 40-win plateau ... with the auto bid to the NCAA tourney, it will mark just the third time in the storied history of Aggie baseball that a team has advanced to four straight NCAA tournaments (Brodie Greene's walk-off home run was the first of the season for A&M and the first of Greene's career ... the Aggies improved to 22-19 all-time at the Big 12 Championship and 20-13 at AT&T Bricktown Ballpark ... Kevin Gonzalez extended his hit streak to nine games, tying a season and career high ... total attendance for the four-day event was 68,275 ... the Aggies won the season series against Baylor, 3-2 ... A&M is now 4-0 all-time as a No. 4 seed, 3-0 all-time against No. 6 seeds and 2-2 in tourney championship games ... Sunday's game was the first extra-inning affair for the Aggies in 41 games at the Big 12 Tourney ... A&M is now 2-4-1 in extra-inning games.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
1B - Barrett Barnes, Texas Tech
2B - Raynor Campbell, Baylor
SS - Brodie Greene's, Texas A&M
3B - Garrett Buechele, Oklahoma
C - Daniel Dellasega, Kansas State
OF - Logan Vick, Baylor
OF - Ryan Gebhart, Missouri
OF - Connor Rowe, Texas
DH - Matt Juengel, Texas A&M
SP - Willie Kempf, Baylor
SP - Chad Bettis, Texas Tech
RP - John Stilson, Texas A&M
MOST OUTSTANDING PLAYER - Brodie Greene's, Texas A&M
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Stilson, John (8-1)
L: Pinckard, Brooks (2-4)
Batting:
2B: Muncy, Max 1 ; Campbell, Raynor 1
3B: Pinckard, Brooks 1
RBI: Vick, Logan 1 ; Hainsfurther, Joey 1 ; Campbell, Raynor 1
SH: Pinckard, Brooks 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Vick, Logan 1 ; Muncy, Max 1 ; Ware, Landis 1
SB: Vick, Logan 1
Batting:
2B: Gonzalez, Kevin 1
HR: Greene, Brodie 1
RBI: Greene, Brodie 2 ; Patterson, Joe 1 ; Juengel, Matt 1 ; Collazo, Andrew 1
SH: Smith, Adam 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Naquin, Tyler 2 ; Greene, Brodie 2 ; Smith, Adam 1
SB: Smith, Adam 1
