A&M Drops an Anvil on the Roadrunners, 11-1

Tuesday, March 24

San Antonio, TX

6:30 PM

Texas A&M

25-1

UTSA

13-11

Texas A&M

UTSA

Mar 24, 2015 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Texas A&M Athletics

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The No. 2 Texas A&M Aggies rebounded from their first loss of the season in grand fashion, registering an 11-1 win over the UTSA Roadrunners in front of a predominantly maroon crowd Tuesday night at Nelson W Wolff Municipal Stadium.

The win featured a season-high 19 hits with every player in the starting lineup registering a knock. Blake Allemand led the hit parade, going 5-for-6 with one runs and one RBI. Nick Banks, Michael Barash, Ronnie Gideon, Hunter Melton and JB Moss each added two hits. Gideon went 2-for-5 with one double, one home run and four RBI.

Four Aggie pitchers combined to hold the Roadrunners to four hits on the evening.

Two days after being assigned A&M's first loss of the season, Turner Larkins (3-1) bounced back on the mound. The freshman worked 6.0 scoreless innings, scattering two hits and two walks while striking out four. Brigham Hill and Blake Kopetsky combined to retire all six batters they faced in the seventh and eighth innings. Corbin Martin was tagged with UTSA's lone run on two hits and a walk in the ninth.

Texas A&M (25-1) set a booby trap for the Roadrunners in the top of the first inning, sending 11 men to the plate and leaving the frame with six runs on eight hits.

The first six Aggie batters reached base. Allemand started the frame by bouncing a single up the middle and he advanced two bases on a wild pitch. After Ryne Birk drew a walk to put runners on the corners, Mitchell Nau singled up the middle to break the scoring seal. Nick Banks singled through the right side of the infield to load the bases and Logan Taylor drove UTSA starting pitcher Boone Mokry from the game with a two-run single through the right side of the infield.

Gideon greeted reliever Logan Onda with a wall-banger to centerfield for an RBI double, inflating the cushion to 4-0. The scoring in the frame finished with Hunter Melton knocking in a run with a ground out to second base and Barash singling in a run to stake A&M to a 6-0 lead.

The Aggies blew the game open with a four-run fifth inning. Banks singled up the middle and Taylor was hit by a pitch to start the inning. Gideon followed by launching a first-pitch offering over the fence in right-center for a three-run home run. It was his fourth whammy of the season. Melton followed with a shot to the other gap that came up inches shy of being a back-to-back job and he ended up with a stand-up double. The UTSA third baseman snared a line drive by Barash to rob the Aggie catcher of an extra-base hit and Melton moved to third on a fly out to rightfield by Moss. Allemand bounced a single up the middle to send Melton home, inflating the Aggie cushion to 10-0.

The cavalcade of runs continued in the seventh. With one out, Barash slapped a single to the gap in left-center and JB Moss followed with a single through the right side of the infield. After Allemand popped up for the second out of the inning, Patrick McLendon poked a single in the hole on the left side to send Barash home for the 11-0 lead.

Mokry (1-1) was saddled with the loss for UTSA (13-11). He did not record an out among the five batters he faced, allowing five runs on four hits and one walk.

The Aggies return to action on Friday when they host the Missouri Tigers in a three-game series on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park. Games are slated for 6:35 pm on Friday and 1:05 on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday's game will air live on the SEC Network. All three games will have live streaming available to SEC Network subscribers with participating cable or satellite providers on the WatchESPN app and SECSports.com.

TEXAS A&M QUOTES

Head coach Rob Childress

On the game…
“That was as good of a bounce back game as you're going to see. The offense was on the attack early and often. Turner (Larkins) really bounced back on the mound and was attacking the zone. The defense was getting after it and we had three spectacular catches in the outfield.”

On the first inning…
“That was a great statement. It set the tone that Saturday's loss had no effect on us. If we come out to play every game like we did today, we'll win a lot of games.”