Texas A&M
38-18, 19-8
Texas
40-13, 19-8
No. 11 Aggies Clinch Share of Big 12 Championship with 3-0 Win
May 21, 2011 | Baseball
May 21, 2011
May 21, 2011 • Disch Falk Field • Austin, Texas
Boxscore/Play-by-Play
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| Texas A&M (38-18) |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 1 |
| Texas (40-13) |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R/ER | BB | SO |
| WP: Ross Stripling (12-2) |
9.0 | 4 |
0/0 |
0 |
6 |
| LP: Corey Knebel |
1.0 | 4 | 3/3 |
0 |
2 |
| A&M Batting | AB | H | R | RBI | 3B |
| Andrew Collazo |
4 |
1 |
0 |
3 | 1 |
| Kevin Gonzalez |
4 | 2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
| Kenny Jackson |
4 | 2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
AUSITN, Texas - The No. 11 Texas A&M baseball team clinched a share of the Big 12 Championship Saturday evening as the Aggies earned a 3-0 win over No. 4 Texas at UFCU Disch Falk Field during the team's regular season finale.
Junior Ross Stripling (12-2) captured the night's headlines as he tossed a four-hit complete game shutout to help the Aggies claim their sixth Big 12 Championship and their fourth under head coach Rob Childress. Texas A&M, which won last season's Big 12 Tournament title, can now boast 23 conference championships in program history.
With the victory, the Aggies finished the regular season with a 38-18 overall record and their 19-8 mark in league play tied them with Texas for the Big 12 regular season crown. The Aggies can now turn their attention to next week's Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship at Oklahoma City's RedHawks Field where they will enter the tournament as the No. 2 seed.
Complete brackets and game times for the conference tournament will be announced Sunday following the completion of all of the league's regular season games.
Saturday's game got off to an ominous start for the Aggies as during the bottom of the first a dropped pop-up in the infield allowed Texas leadoff man Brandon Loy to reach second base. However, after a sac bunt moved the runner to third, Stripling was able to record his first of six strikeouts on the night and induce a 3-6-3 double play to escape the inning unscathed.
The game quickly settled into a pitching duel between Stripling and Texas starter Sam Stafford as the two traded zeros on the scoreboard. Stafford tossed the first five innings on the mound for the Longhorns allowing only three hits before giving way to reliever Nathan Thornhill.
Stripling, meanwhile, continued to baffle the Texas hitters as he retired the final 14 men he faced and did not allow a runner past first base after the initial inning. The Southlake, Texas, native's impressive performance lowered his season ERA to 1.89 and tied him for the most wins in the Big 12 with 12.
However, the game remained scoreless after eight complete innings and the Aggies needed an offensive breakthrough to clinch a share of the title.
The offensive heroics came with one out in the top of the ninth and began when senior catcher Kevin Gonzalez singled through the left side for his second hit of the contest. Junior Scott Arthur, who entered the game as a pinch hitter in the top of the seventh, reached on a bunt single in the next at bat and was followed by senior shortstop Kenny Jackson who reached on a bloop single down the left field line.
The stage was set for senior Andrew Collazo to get the big hit, and the Paterson, N,J., native came through. With a 2-2 count at the plate, Collazo drove a ball to center that found its way over the head of Texas center fielder Paul Montalbano and rolled all the way to the wall allowing all three runs to score and Collazo to stand safely on third.
All three runs were charged to Texas reliever Corey Knebel (2-2) who was tagged with the loss.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Stripling, Ross (12-2)
L: Knebel, Corey (2-2)
Batting:
2B: Wood, Brandon 1
3B: Juengel, Matt 1 ; Collazo, Andrew 1
RBI: Collazo, Andrew 3
Base Running:
RUNS: Gonzalez, Kevin 1 ; Arthur, Scott 1 ; Jackson, Kenny 1
