Texas A&M
23-0, 4-0
Alabama
12-8, 2-2
Long Stymies Alabama as Aggies Improve to 23-0
Mar 21, 2015 | Baseball
HOOVER, Alabama – Grayson Long hung a career-high 14 Ks on the board as No. 4 Texas A&M notched a 4-2 win over the Alabama Crimson Tide Friday evening at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.
The victory improved A&M's record to 23-0 on the season, the second-longest win streak to start a campaign in school history. The foundation trails only the 26-0 start in 1989 when the Aggies went on to finish 58-7.
Long (5-0) was untouchable for a good part of the night, striking out nine batters in a row between the third and sixth inning. He finished the night with 6.0 innings of work, plus one batter in the seventh, allowing one run on three hits and two walks along with his 14 strikeouts.
The Aggies took advantage of a wild beginning by Alabama starter Taylor Guilbeau to score a run in the top of the first. The Tide southpaw walked four of first five batters he faced with Logan Taylor drawing the fourth base on balls to plate Blake Allemand. Texas A&M (4-0 SEC) was unable to capitalize further on the walks as Ronnie Gideon was called out looking at a ball outside for strike three and Hunter Melton grounded out to short.
Alabama (12-8, 2-2 SEC) tied the game in the home half of the second. Kyle Overstreet drew a walk to start the inning and Chance Vincent reached on a single deep in the hole at first. After William Elliott was caught looking for a strikeout, Will Haynie slipped a single through the right side of the infield to knock in Overstreet with the equalizer.
The Aggies reclaimed the lead in the seventh. Gideon started the inning by slapping a single to rightfield and moved to second on a wild pitch. After Melton grounded out to third, Michael Barash reached on an infield single off of reliever Ray Castillo, putting runners on the corners. JB Moss worked a walk to load the bases bringing Allemand to the plate. The senior fell behind 0-2 in the count, but took two balls and fouled off a pair pitches before slapping a 2-2 offering down the leftfield line. The Crimson Tide leftfielder caught the ball in foul territory and Gideon charged home for a go-ahead run. Both runners moved up a base as the errant throw got by the Alabama catcher. Ryne Birk followed by hammering a wall-banger to the gap in right-center for a two-run double, staking A&M to a 4-1 lead.
Long came out to start the seventh, but issued a walk to the first batter he faced. With Overstreet on first, Andrew Vinson entered the game to face Vincent. Vinson got Vincent to hit a trickler back to the mound on the first pitch, setting up the 1-6-3 double play. Vinson got out of the seventh with a strikeout and retired the side in order in the eighth.
Things got precarious with Ryan Hendrix in to close the game. With one out, Mikey White singled down the rightfield line and moved to second on a fielding error by Nick Banks. Casey Hughston worked a base on balls to bring the tying run to the plate. After Overstreet struck out looking for the second out of the inning, Vincent hit a ball deep into the hole at second. Vincent beat an errant throw to first for the single and White came around to score on the error, cutting the Aggie lead to 4-2. Hendrix nailed down his fifth save of the season by getting pinch-hitter Cody Henry to ground out to third.
Guilbeau (2-2) was the hard-luck loser for the Tide, allowing two runs on two hits and five walks while striking out 11 in 6.1 innings.
Hits were hard to come by with the Aggies logging four and Alabama getting five. Gideon accounted for two of A&M's four hits and White and Vincent each logged two hits for Alabama.
The series wraps up on Saturday with a doubleheader at Hoover Met. The lid lifter on the twin bill starts at 1:05 with game two slated to follow 40 minutes after completion.
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head coach Rob Childress
On the win…
“Friday nights are always tough. They're even tougher in the SEC and on the road. So this is a nice win. But tomorrow's games each count as much as tonight, so we have to carry the momentum.”
On the Grayson Long…
“It's hard to pitch better than Grayson pitched tonight. He was unhittable at times. They took advantage of him hitting a batter and giving up an infield hit in the second, but other than that he was in command.”
Senior shortstop Blake Allemand
On his game-winning sacrifice fly…
“It was hard to tell what a strike was tonight, so with bases loaded, I didn't want to get caught looking at strike three. I just wanted for a pitch I could drive knowing that one run could be the difference with the way Grayson (Long) was dealing and as well as our bullpen has been this year.
Junior pitcher Grayson Long
On his night…
“I kind of settled in after the second inning. My offspeed starting working and I was able to get ahead of guys. Once it started working, I was able to start working backwards. The guys behind me and Michael (Barash) behind the plate were awesome as always.”
On striking out nine in a row…
“I really wasn't thinking about it, but every pitch was working. It's a lot easier to pitch when all of your pitches are working.”
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Long, Grayson (5-0)
L: Guilbeau, Taylor (2-2)
S: Hendrix, Ryan (5)
Batting:
2B: Birk, Ryne 1
RBI: Allemand, Blake 1 ; Birk, Ryne 2 ; Taylor, Logan 1
SF: Allemand, Blake 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Allemand, Blake 1 ; Gideon, Ronnie 1 ; Barash, Michael 1 ; Moss, J.B. 1
SB: Allemand, Blake 1
Batting:
RBI: Haynie, Will 1
Base Running:
RUNS: White, Mikey 1 ; Overstreet, Kyle 1
CS: Salem, Georgie 1
HBP: Salem, Georgie 1
