House's Ninth Inning Clutch Hit Lifts No. 5 Aggies over KSU 4-3

Saturday, April 2

Manhattan, Kan.

4:00 PM

Texas A&M

22-5, 7-1

Kansas State

15-11, 1-7

Texas A&M

Kansas State

Apr 02, 2011 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Texas A&M Athletics

April 2, 2011

#5 Texas A&M 4, Kansas State 3
April 2, 2011 • Tointon Family Stadium • Manhattan, Kan.

Boxscore/Play-by-Play

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Texas A&M (22-5)	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	4	8	0
Kansas State (15-11)	0	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	3	10	0

Pitching	IP	H	R/ER	BB	SO
WP: Estevan Uriegas (1-0)	1.1	1	0/0	0	1
LP: Evan Marshall (2-3)	1.1	1	1/1	1	1
Sv: Joaquin Hinojosa (7)	1.1	1	1/1	1	1

A&M Batting	AB	H	R	RBI	2B
Charlie Curl	3	2	0	2	1
Kenny Jackson	4	2	1	1	1
Jacob House	3	1	1	1	1

MANHATTAN, Kan. - A ninth inning RBI double by junior first baseman Jacob House broke a 3-3 tie and lifted the No. 5 Texas A&M baseball team to its ninth-straight victory as the Aggies defeated Kansas State 4-3 on Saturday in front on 1,389 fans at Tointon Family Stadium.

House's clutch hit came after the Wildcats (15-11, 1-7 Big 12) rallied to tie the game with three unanswered runs. It also ensured the first-place Aggies' will earn their third series victory to begin Big 12 Conference play and set them up for the potential of their first back-to-back conference sweeps since 2008, when A&M swept five consecutive series.

Texas A&M (22-5, 7-1 Big 12) took control of the game early as a leadoff walk to begin the second inning got KSU starter Matt Applegate in trouble. The free pass was followed by a looping single into right field by senior catcher Kevin Gonzalez and senior shortstop Kenny Jackson cashed in with a RBI double to right center on a 3-2 pitch from Applegate. Freshman Charlie Curl came up clutch as he knocked a two-out single up the middle to plate two more Aggie runs and give the visitors a 3-0 lead.

The Wildcats scratched back with a run in the bottom of the second as three consecutive singles scored a run to cut the A&M lead down to 3-1.

Kansas State continued to chip away at Texas A&M starter Michael Wacha and the Aggies' lead as it scored a run on a Jared King single in the sixth and tied the game on a run-scoring double by Jason King in the seventh.

Wacha exited with two outs in the seventh after tossing 6.2 innings and allowing a season-high three runs on nine hits. The Texarkana, Texas, native fanned seven batters as he got a no-decision in the contest.

Junior Estevan Uriegas (1-0) got the win in relief of Wacha as he got the Aggies out of the seventh and tossed a scoreless eighth.

The Aggies came to bat in the top of the ninth needing a clutch knock to get their offense back in gear, which was outhit by the Wildcats for the second straight day. Junior designated hitter Matt Juengel worked a leadoff walk after falling behind in the count 1-2 to begin the frame.

Senior Andrew Collazo came in to run for Juengel and came all the way around to score the game-winning run in the next at bat as House roped the first pitch he saw from KSU's Evan Marshall (2-3) to the wall in right center for his team-leading 23rd RBI of the season.

For the second straight day, senior Joaquin Hinojosa held the Wildcats scoreless in the bottom of the ninth to lock down the save, his seventh of the year.

Texas A&M will go for his 10th consecutive victory and second straight Big 12 series sweep Sunday when the two teams face off at 1 p.m. inside Tointon Family Stadium. Junior Ross Stripling (5-1, 0.76) will get the start for the Aggies against KSU right-hander Kayvon Bahramzadeh (1-0, 3.43).