No. 2 Baseball Tops No. 23 Missouri Before Record Crowd

Friday, March 27

College Station

6:30 PM

Texas A&M

26-1, 6-1

Missouri

19-8, 5-2

Missouri

Texas A&M

Mar 27, 2015 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Texas A&M Athletics

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 2 Texas A&M Aggies bounced back from a sixth-inning charge by the Missouri Tigers to register a 7-4 win Friday evening in front of a record crowd of 7,391 on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.

The sellout crowd represented the highest attendance to see a ballgame at the facility since it was renovated prior to the 2012 season. It marked the 23rd-largest crowd at the Olsen Field site which saw its capacity decrease significantly during the renovation.

The Aggies drew first blood in the bottom of the fourth inning. With one out, Nick Banks hit a wall-banger down the leftfield line for a double and came around to score when Logan Taylor bounced a single up the middle, staking A&M to a 1-0 lead.

Texas A&M (26-1, 6-1 SEC) tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the fifth. Michael Barash reached on a throwing error by Missouri starter Reggie McClain on a chopper back to the mound. McClain hit JB Moss with the next pitch and Blake Allemand put down a sacrifice bunt to put two runners in scoring position. After Ryne Birk was hit by a pitch to fill the bags with Ags, Mitchell Nau poked a single through the right side of the inning to drive in two and inflate the cushion to 3-0.

Aggie starter Grayson Long appeared to be cruising heading to the sixth inning, but Missouri strung together three straight singles, all behind in the count, to drive A&M's ace from the game. Trey Harris fell behind 0-2 before slipping a single through the left side of the infield. Down 0-1, Josh Lester golfed an 0-1 pitch down the rightfield line. Ryan Howard fell behind 1-2, fouled the next four pitches off, and stroked the eighth pitch of the at-bat into rightfield to load the bases.

Left-hander Ty Schlottmann entered the game from the Aggie bullpen and gave up consecutive RBI singles to Zach Lavy and Brett Bond, trimming A&M's advantage to 3-2.

A&M head coach Rob Childress then called on right-hander Andrew Vinson. The northpaw induced a double play grounder by Chris Akmon, but Howard came home to score the tying run, knotting the game at 3-3. Vinson finished the sixth by striking out Logan Pearson with a runner at third.

The Maroon and White offered an immediate response in the home half of the sixth. With one out, Ronnie Gideon doubled won the leftfield line. Hunter Melton took a titanic swing at the first pitch he saw and whiffed. A&M third base coach Will Bolt conferenced with Melton, who took the next two pitches for balls and bounced the next strike he saw up the middle for an RBI single, giving A&M a 4-3 lead. Melton moved to second on a wild pitch and scored when Barash threaded a single through the left side of the infield for the two-run lead.

The Aggies tacked on two more runs in the eighth. Taylor drew leadoff walk and was replaced by pinch-runner Nick Choruby. Choruby broke for second on a pick-off attempt at first and beat the throw for a stolen base. Melton drove in Choruby with a ground-rule double down the rightfield line and later scored on a sacrifice fly by JB Moss.

Missouri scored the game's final run with two outs in the ninth, but could not muster enough to complete the comeback.

Vinson (3-0) earned the win, facing 10 batters in 3.0 scoreless innings of work. He scattered two hits while striking out two and forcing a double play.

Long worked 5.0 innings plus three batters in the sixth, allowing three runs on five hits and two walks while striking out seven.

The loss was hung on McClain. The Missouri ace allowed five runs, four earned, on eight hits and one walk while striking out five in 5.1 innings.

Texas A&M's 6-7-8 hitters combined to go 6-for-10. Gideon hit 2-for-3 with one double and one run. Melton batted 2-for-4 with one double, two runs and two RBI. Barash batted 2-for-4 with one run and one RBI. Out of the No. 3 spot, Mitchell Nau delivered two RBI, going 2-for-4.

Missouri's Bond led all players with three hits, going 3-for-4 with one RBI. Harris and Howard added two hits.

The series continues on Saturday with a 1 pm contest on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.

Head coach Rob Childress

On the atmosphere at Blue Bell Park…

“It was a great crowd just like we had against Auburn. Getting all the students back to town and the weather made the environment awesome. It was electric from the word “go.” You could tell it was going to be big when they started filing in during BP. It's a special environment. It's as good a college baseball venue as there is in the country.”

On Andrew Vinson's clutch outing…

“His three outs were huge. Grayson (Long) was cruising along and we had finally got the lead from Reggie McLain who was fantastic tonight. Missouri ripped off three singles when they were already down in the count. The bases were loaded with nobody out. They knocked (Ty) Schlottmann for a couple of hits and they had a chance to have a really big inning. Vinson comes in and gets a double play groundball and punch out to get us off the field and keep the game tied. Just like our team has done all year long. We were able to answer back in the sixth and extend the lead in the eight. It ended up being huge.”

Junior first baseman Hunter Melton

On his conference with Coach Will Bolt in the middle of his sixth-inning at-bat…

“Coach told me to get up in the box because I was early on everything. I made the adjustment and point my cross-hairs towards right field. That's what I did and it paid off when I got that changeup.”

On winning the opener…

“It's good for us. I mean a win is a win for us. But it's great to come out and get that Friday night win. It's big for us because it take the momentum into Saturday and Sunday games.”

Junior relief pitcher Andrew Vinson
On playing in front of the largest crowd in history since the renovation…
"It was pretty crazy. Once you get out there on the mound the adrenaline really kicks in. It was super loud out there. It was a pretty awesome experience."

On entering the game with bases loaded and no outs in the sixth…
"I was just trying to get one out at a time. I was hoping to get a little punch out, or get the out at home to save the run for Grayson (Long), but it's part of the game. It's fun to come in and fight for your brothers."