Stripling's Gem Gives No. 5 Aggies Series Win over Baylor

Sunday, April 17

College Station

1:05 PM

Texas A&M

26-10, 0

Baylor

20-17, 0

Baylor

Texas A&M

Apr 17, 2011 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Texas A&M Athletics

April 17, 2011

#5 Texas A&M 2, Baylor 1
April 17, 2011 • Olsen Field • College Station, Texas

Boxscore/Play-by-Play

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Baylor (20-17)	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	4	1
Texas A&M (26-10)	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	X	2	6	0

Pitching	IP	H	R/ER	BB	SO
WP: Ross Stripling (7-2)	9.0	4	1/1	2	8
LP: Logan Verrett (3-4)	8.0	6	2/0	1	7

A&M Batting	AB	H	R	RBI	3B
Jacob House	3	2	0	1	0
Kevin Gonzalez	3	1	0	1	1

COLLEGE STATION Texas - Junior starting pitcher Ross Stripling tossed his first career complete game, scattering four hits and allowing only one run, as he lifted the No. 5 Texas A&M baseball team to a 2-1 series-clinching victory over Baylor on Saturday afternoon at Olsen Field.

"I'm really proud of our team today," Texas A&M head coach Rob Childress said, "This was a big weekend for us."

The dominating pitching performance of Stripling coupled with several clutch at bats late in the game proved to be the difference as the Aggies improved their overall record to 26-10 and kept themselves in a first place tie atop the Big 12 standings. It also gave Texas A&M its school-record fifth consecutive Big 12 series win to begin league play.

During the opening moments of the contest, Stripling look a bit shaky on the mound as Baylor (20-17; 6-9 Big 12) jumped out to an early 1-0 lead. Left fielder Logan Vick led the game off with a double to right center and came in to score in the next at bat on a run-scoring single by Max Muncy as the first two hitters of the game reached base against the Aggie right-hander.

Stripling, who ended the contest with eight punch outs and just a pair of walks, shook off the rocky early start and was able to keep the Bears at bay by stranding Baylor base runners in each of the next two innings. After retiring the final batter of the third inning, the Southlake, Texas, native hit his stride on the mound by retiring 15 consecutive batters and 19 of the game's final 20 hitters.

His outing featured 1-2-3 frames in the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and ninth innings as he needed only 116 pitched to give the Aggie bullpen the day off.

"I thought it was going to be a very different day in the first inning with a double and a single that were both hit really hard," Childress added. "I started to put in my mind what we were going to do out of the bullpen if it ended up being a run day, but just like that Ross settled in and things started to click for him about the fourth inning. He went about four innings in a row under 10 pitches and I felt like once we got the lead he needed to go out there and finish."

With Stripling keeping them in the game, the Aggies' offense needed some heroes in the late innings to scratch across a run against Baylor starter Logan Verrett (3-4) who allowed only two unearned runs in the contest.

Trailing 1-0, the Aggies came to bat in the bottom of the seventh and took advantage of a misplay by the Baylor defense, which had been solid the entire series. With one out in the frame, freshman second baseman Charlie Curl reached second on a throwing error by the shortstop but shortly thereafter found himself in danger of becoming another stranded A&M baserunner as the Bears we poised to get out of the inning unscathed.

Senior catcher Kevin Gonzalez had other ideas, however, as he drove a 2-2 pitch over the head of Baylor centerfielder Brooks Pinckard for a game-tying, two-out RBI triple.

With the newfound A&M momentum at the plate, sophomore outfielder Tyler Naquin singled up the middle to lead off the Aggie eighth inning and extend his career-best hitting streak to 12 games.

A sacrifice bunt and a passed ball put Naquin at third base with just one out in the frame and junior first baseman Jacob House cashed in on the opportunity by driving a ball deep into left field for a sacrifice fly and his team-leading 28th RBI of the season.

The two runs would be all that Stripling needed as he sat the Bears down in order in the ninth to seal the win.

"There is a whole lot of mental toughness that goes into (winning a game like this) after getting beat 12-1," Childress said. "Baylor got after us last night and knocked us back on our heels a little bit there in the first inning. For him (Stripling) to get settled back in after that and turn it into a pitcher's duel, I'm really proud of Ross."

Texas A&M baseball is back in action at Olsen Field on Tuesday when the Aggies host No. 9 TCU in a 6:35 p.m. contest.