Texas A&M
33-3, 11-3
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Mississippi State
22-16, 6-9
Two Grand Slams Power No. 1 A&M to Series Win vs. Mississippi State
Apr 12, 2015 | Baseball
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M Aggies pounded a pair of grand slams to post a 13-5 win Sunday afternoon in a rubber match against the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.
Texas A&M (33-3, 11-3 SEC) got a grand slam from Nick Banks in the fourth inning to take an 8-3 lead and with Mississippi State creeping back into the contest Ronnie Gideon picked up a salami of his own to cap off the scoring in the 13-5 win.
The victory gave A&M the series victory as the Aggies have won all nine of their weekend sets in 2015.
The Aggies churned out 12 hits, including three for Logan Taylor and two each for Banks, Mitchell Nau and Michael Barash. Gideon accounted for five RBI, Banks chipped in with four and Blake Allemand added two.
Mississippi State (22-16, 6-9 SEC) drew first blood in the top of the first with a two-run double by John Holland, but the Aggies responded with two runs in the home half of the inning. Allemand started the inning with a double. He eventually scored on a passed ball. Nau singled with one out, moved to third on a single by Taylor and scored on a sacrifice fly by Gideon.
The Bulldogs scored again in the third to take a 3-2, but once again A&M responded with two runs in the bottom of the frame. The keys to the Aggie rally were an RBI single by Barash and a sacrifice fly by Allemand, staking A&M to the 4-3 advantage.
Banks gave the Aggies a comfortable lead in the fourth when he hit his first career grand slam. With one out, Patrick McLendon and Barash singled and Allemand was hit by a pitch to fill the bags with Ags. Banks unloaded on a first-pitch offering from Logan Elliott, blasting it to the right of the large green wall in centerfield for the 8-3 lead.
Mississippi State did not curl up in a ball and hide, responding with two runs of their own in the top of the fifth. Rea started the rally with a home run off Jason Freeman to leftfield. Ryan Gridley, Seth Heck and Michael Smith followed with three consecutive singles to load the bases. Ty Schlottmann came on in relief and got Cody Brown to pop up in the infield. With the infield-fly rule in effect an out was recorded, but Hunter Melton was unable to glove the ball and Gridley scurried home to cut the A&M advantage to 8-5.
After Schlottmann walked Jacob Robson to reload the bases, Ryan Hendrix entered the game and ended the inning by inducing a flyout to rightfield by Gavin Collins.
The Aggies would push the lead to 9-5 when Allemand was hit by a pitch with bases loaded in the fifth and Gideon capped off the cavalcade of runs with his grand slam in the eighth. Banks started the inning with a leadoff double down the leftfield line. Nau drew a walk and Logan Taylor singled to rightfield to saturate the bases. Gideon crushed a first-pitch offering from Zac Houston over the video board in leftfield to inflate the A&M cushion to 13-5.
A&M starter Matt Kent did not factor in the decision, allowing three runs, one earned, on nine hits and one walk while striking out four in 3.1 innings.
Hendrix (3-0) picked up the win in relief, as he steered the Aggies out of troubled waters. With the outcome still in doubt, he retired the first 12 batters he faced before Wes Rea singled with two outs in the ninth inning. Hendrix finished with 4.1 innings of scoreless relief, allowing one hit and one hit batsman while striking out six of the 15 batters he faced.
Mississippi State starter Vance Tatum (3-2) was saddled with the loss. He worked 1.0 inning plus two batters in the second inning, yielding four runs, three earned, on three hits and one walk.
The Bulldogs offense notched 14 hits on the day, but were ultimately doomed by 12 stranded runners and the A&M offense.
The Aggies return to action on Wednesday, April 15 as they face the Abilene Christian Wildcats in a 6:35 pm contest on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head coach Rob Childress
On the game…
“It was back and forth early. We made some mistakes defensively in the first couple innings to allow them have a little hold. But each time they scored a couple of runs we always answered them back. A couple of big grand slams helped. They had the momentum with (Zac) Houston on the mound and two outs and we put together a rally with a few walks and hit by pitches. We took that momentum right back. I'm very proud of our guys today, competing, playing hard and pulling for each other. Wins in the SEC are hard to come by and obviously this was a big one for us today.”
Sophomore outfielder Nick Banks
On scoring 13 runs…
“We were just trying to make a statement after losing Saturday's game. We thought the other team played perfect to beat us and they got timely hits and we didn't. We just wanted to make sure that didn't happen today and we did it in a big way."
On moving up to second in the batting order…
“I just got a pitch I could handle and I did a little damage to it. Anywhere in the lineup is fine with me as long as we are getting wins.”
On coming up to bat the next inning with the bases loaded…
“I took a pitch that was way too close to take with two strikes. I am a little mad at myself for that. We have guys down the line up that can back me up the next couple of innings so it is alright when they pick me up.”
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Hendrix, Ryan (3-0)
L: Vance Tatum (3-2)
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Batting:
2B: John Holland 1
HR: Wes Rea 1
RBI: Gavin Collins 1 ; John Holland 2 ; Wes Rea 1
SH: Jacob Robson 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Cody Brown 1 ; Gavin Collins 1 ; Brent Rooker 1 ; Wes Rea 1 ; Ryan Gridley 1
HBP: Ryan Gridley 1
Batting:
2B: Allemand, Blake 1 ; Banks, Nick 1
HR: Banks, Nick 1 ; Gideon, Ronnie 1
RBI: Allemand, Blake 2 ; Banks, Nick 4 ; Gideon, Ronnie 5 ; Barash, Michael 1
SF: Allemand, Blake 1 ; Gideon, Ronnie 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Allemand, Blake 2 ; Banks, Nick 2 ; Nau, Mitchell 2 ; Choruby, Nick 1 ; Gideon, Ronnie 1 ; Melton, Hunter 2 ; McLendon, Patrick 2 ; Barash, Michael 1
HBP: Allemand, Blake 2 ; Taylor, Logan 1 ; Barash, Michael 1
