Texas A&M
10-3
Centenary (LA)
2-4
No. 14 Texas A&M Baseball Blasts Centenary, 21-3
Mar 08, 2011 | Baseball
March 8, 2011
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Runs were most defiantly not hard to come by for the Aggies on Tuesday night at Olsen Field as the No. 14 Texas A&M baseball team roughed up Centenary 21-3 in a season-best showing for the Aggie hitters.
Texas A&M (10-3), which set a season-high in both runs scored and hits (23), was led by seven players who notched multi-hit games.
The scoring began early and continued often as the Aggies scored in every inning of the affair, starting in the bottom of the first. Freshman Jace Statum tripled to lead off the contest and came home two batters later on a sacrifice fly by Tyler Naquin, who when 2-for-3 with two RBI to give the sophomore outfielder six hits and eight RBI in his last two games.
Freshman Troy Stein made it 3-0 Aggies when he connected on the first home run of his A&M career with a runner on base in the bottom of the second.
After the Aggies plated an unearned run in the home half of the third, they piled on five more tallies in the fourth. A&M started the inning with five consecutive singles, including run-scoring knocks from Naquin and designated hitter Matt Juengel, who went 3-for-4 in the contest. Senior shortshop Kenny Jackson, who finished 2-for-3, knocked in a pair with a single through the right side and Junegel was able to come home himself on a throwing error. When the dust settled in the inning, the A&M bats had widen the lead to 9-0.
Junior first baseman Jacob House brought home three more A&M runs with a bases-clearing double in the fifth and would later add his first home run of the year while leading off the seventh inning. The transfer from Arkansas has been hot at the plate adding three hits Tuesday to make him 7-for-11 (.636) in his last two games and raising his season average to .346.
A two-run triple from Statum highlighted a four-run Aggie sixth that extended the lead to 16-0.
After being shut down by A&M starter Ross Stripling (2-0), who limited the Centenary hitters to just two hits while striking out seven in five innings of work, the Gents were able to plate three runs in the top of the seventh off A&M reliever Steve Martin.
Following the House homer in the bottom of the frame, another hit by Statum and a RBI single from Scott Arthur brought home two more Aggie runs.
A tally off another Centenary error and an RBI single off the bat of Brett Thornell, who notched two hits including a triple in his A&M debut, gave the Aggies two runs in the eighth inning and increased their total to 21 for the game.
The scoring output was the largest for A&M since a 21-4 win over Prairie View A&M on April 22, 2009.
Texas A&M baseball is back in action this weekend as it entertains FIU in a three-game series at Oslen Field. First pitch for Friday's opener is set for 6:35 p.m. and will be Crazy Hat Day where prizes will be awarded to the fans with the craziest headgear.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Stripling, Ross (2-0)
L: Cole Thompson (0-2)
Batting:
2B: Zachary Christ 1
RBI: Zachary Christ 1 ; Pete Rajkovich 1
SF: Pete Rajkovich 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Seth Lugo 1 ; Dan Lazarou 1 ; Zachary Christ 1
SB: RJ Talamantes 1 ; Mark Gillean 1
HBP: Mark Gillean 1 ; Zachary Christ 1
Batting:
2B: House, Jacob 2 ; Jackson, Kenny 1
3B: Statum, Jace 2 ; Thornell, Brent 1
HR: House, Jacob 1 ; Stein, Troy 1
RBI: Statum, Jace 3 ; Arthur, Scott 1 ; Naquin, Tyler 2 ; Wood, Brandon 1 ; Juengel, Matt 1 ; House, Jacob 4 ; Jackson, Kenny 2 ; Thornell, Brent 1 ; Stein, Troy 2 ; Alcazar, Gregg 1
SH: Alcazar, Gregg 1
SF: Naquin, Tyler 1 ; Wood, Brandon 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Statum, Jace 3 ; Bratsen, Krey 1 ; Naquin, Tyler 2 ; Juengel, Matt 2 ; House, Jacob 2 ; Smith, Adam 1 ; Taylor, Kirby 1 ; Jackson, Kenny 1 ; Thornell, Brent 2 ; Stein, Troy 1 ; Alcazar, Gregg 1 ; Curl, Charlie 4
SB: Smith, Adam 1 ; Jackson, Kenny 1 ; Curl, Charlie 1
HBP: Smith, Adam 1 ; Thornell, Brent 1 ; Curl, Charlie 1
PO: Bratsen, Krey 1
