Aggies Continue to Roll with 4-1 Win over HBU

Tuesday, February 24

College Station

4:30 PM

Texas A&M

8-0

Houston Baptist

5-3

Houston Baptist

Texas A&M

Feb 24, 2015 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Texas A&M Athletics

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M Aggies improved to 8-0 on the season Tuesday evening as they scratched out a 4-1 win over the Houston Baptist Huskies on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.

The victory continued A&M's best start since 2006 when the Aggies won their first 10 games to start the year.

The Texas A&M bullpen retired 11 of the 12 batters it faced in 3.2 innings of work. Jason Freeman (2-0) earned the win in relief. The senior entered a tie game with runners on the corners and one out in the sixth inning and induced a line out and closed out the frame with a strikeout. He worked 1.0 inning with one strikeout. Ty Schlottmann retired both batters he faced, including one strikeout and Andrew Vinson struck out one of his three batters in the eighth inning. Ryan Hendrix earned his first career save, allowing one hit and fanning out one in 1.0 innings.

Turner Larkins was solid in his start, allowing one run on seven hits and one walk while striking out two in 5.1 innings.

The Aggies gave up a run in the first inning for just the second time in 2015. Thomas Clay started the inning with an infield single to second base for Houston Baptist (5-3). Clay moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Louie Payetta and after Curtis Jones struck out for the second out of the inning, Samm Wiggins slapped a single up the middle to stake the Huskies to a 1-0 lead.

Texas A&M knotted the game in the bottom of the fourth inning. Nick Banks was the catalyst of the rally with a leadoff single up the middle. Logan Nottebrok followed by bouncing a single over the head of the Houston Baptist third baseman to put runners at the corners. Banks came around to score the equalizer when Blake Kopetsky grounded into a double play, tying the score at 1-1.

After having the potential go-ahead runner thrown out at the plate on a double by JB Moss in the fifth, the Aggies finally claimed their first lead of the game in the sixth. Ryne Birk started the frame by dropping a double in front of a diving Houston Baptist rightfielder. Banks singled through the left side of the infield to put runners on the corners. Birk scored the go-ahead run on a groundout to short by Nottebrok. Kopetsky plated Banks with a gapper to right centerfield for a double, giving the Aggies a 3-1 lead.

Texas A&M tacked on an insurance run in the eighth. Notterbrok was domed with a pitch to start the inning. He was replaced at first base by pinch-runner Nick Choruby who stole second base. Kopetsky drew a seven-pitch walk and a bunt single by Logan Taylor filled the bags with Ags. Blake Allemand was unable to plate a runner as his grounder to second allowed HBU to retire Choruby at home. Hunter Melton followed with a sacrifice fly to leftfield to drive in Kopetsky for the 4-1 margin.

The Aggies registered 11 hits, reaching double digits in the hits column for the seventh time in eight games. Banks went 2-for-3 with two runs. Birk hit 2-for-4 with one run and one double. Michael Barash also added two hits.

Curtis Jones (0-1) was saddled with the loss for HBU, allowing three runs on eight hits and one walk while striking out two over 5.1 innings.

Clay, Payetta and Zach Nehrir each logged two hits for Houston Baptist. Clay went 2-for-5 with one run and one stolen base. Payetta hit 2-for-3 with one sacrifice bunt. Nehrir slugged 2-for-4 with one triple and one stolen base.

The Aggies return to action Wednesday when they host the Incarnate Word Cardinals in a 6:35 pm contest on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.

TEXAS A&M QUOTES

Head coach Rob Childress
Thoughts on the game...
“I'm very proud of our guys. We knew we were going to get Houston Baptist's best shot. They have 27 juniors or seniors and they had their best guy out on the mound tonight. They were ready to play and that allowed them to scratch first. For us, we had a lot of big moments. In the top of the fourth, runner on third and one out, we were able to get off the field without allowing them to score and we came back in the bottom of the inning and tied it. Then again in the sixth inning with runner at first and third and one out, we went to the bullpen and Jason Freeman gets us off the field without giving up a run. We came back in the bottom of the sixth to take the lead and then we extended the lead late. We had a lot of gritty team at-bats where we were competitive with two strikes. Also our bullpen was fantastic tonight. I'm very proud of our team, maybe about as proud as I have been of them all year long.”

Texas A&M Player Nick Banks
On the win against Houston Baptist...
“These were tough conditions. It was 39 degrees. It feels good to get a win, no matter how you get it. A win's a win. It was a big win for us. At the end of the year, midweek games are just as important as conference play or week-end games, so it was a big win.”

On pitching effort to keep runs off the scoreboard...
“Turner (Larkins) pitched a heck of a game again. He looked strong and threw a lot of strikes. Then, in the tough situation Freeman came in and did his job. That's what we expected of our pitchers, and they've bene doing it all year. I'm proud of all of them.”

Senior relief pitcher Jason Freeman
On keeping Houston Baptist off the board in jams...
“We started off a little slow with the bats, but if you've been paying attention to our games, you know we didn't have any panic in the dugout at any point. Everybody knew that our hitters were going to come through eventually and get after their pitcher. HBU gave us their best pitcher tonight and we took him down.”