Aggies Edge Abilene Christian, 3-2

Wednesday, April 15

College Station

6:30 PM

Texas A&M

34-3

Abilene Christian

8-26

Abilene Christian

Texas A&M

Apr 15, 2015 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Texas A&M Athletics

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Logan Taylor pushed the No. 1 Texas A&M Aggies past the Abilene Christian Wildcats with a 3-for-3 for outing that included two RBI in the Aggies 3-2 victory Wednesday on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.

Texas A&M Aggies (34-3) continued their perfection in non-conference play and midweek games with the aid of timely hitting and superb bullpen work. The Aggies fought off two separate Abilene Christian leads before taking the lead for good in the seventh.

The Aggie bullpen was lights-out pitching 5.0 scoreless innings in relief of Turner Larkins who worked 4.0 innings allowing two runs and only three hits. The bullpen quieted the Wildcats for the rest of the game and gave the offense time for their patented comeback. The win went to Ty Schlottmann (3-1) who pitched 1.2 perfect innings. The combination of Kyle Simonds, Andrew Vinson, Schlottman, and Mark Ecker allowed only two Wildcats to reach base and sent five down on strikes.

Abilene Christian (8-26) opened the scoring, posting a run in the top of the first. Taylor Waters and Tyler Eager started the threat with consecutive singles and Russell Crippen was hit by pitch to load the bases. Simonds walked Marcelle Carter bringing in Waters and putting the Wildcats on the board. The Aggies escaped further damage in the inning with a 4-6-3 double play off the bat Chris Altimont.

The Aggies were able to answer with a two-out rally in the bottom half of the inning. Mitchell Nau boarded with a walk and was brought home by a Logan Taylor double tying the score at 1-1.

The Wildcats took the snatched the lead back in the top of the third. With runners on the corners and two outs the Wildcats executed a double steal with the lead runner Draper advancing home after the throw down to second wasn't in time.

Again, the Maroon and White didn't let ACU hold the lead for too long, responding in the home half. of the third Allemand got the rally started with a single and a stolen base. Mitchell Nau pushed Allemand to third on ground out. Allemand completed the circuit on a wild pitch by Nate Cole, bringing the score back to a tie.

Abilene Christian sent Cole to the mound for his first start of the season. He was effective in his five innings of work fanning nine aggies and only allowing two runs. Cole was relieved by Kevin Sheets (0-2) who was hung with the loss.

The Aggies finally took the lead in the seventh inning, again with a rally started by Blake Allemand who raked a one-out double. The Wildcats decided to intentionally walk Nick Banks putting two Aggies on and only one out. Nau drove a ball to center that was dropped by Colton Hall, but Hall recovered to retire Banks at second base for the fielder's choice, putting runners at the corners. Logan Taylor brought the Aggies ahead with his third hit of the ball game this time in the form of a single to right field.

Abilene Christian had a glimmer of hope in the eighth inning as Eager tattooed a ball towards dead center. Defensive replacement Nick Choruby chased the ball down a few steps before the wall without quite enough time to hit the brakes before having a meet-and-greet with the wall. His highlight-reel snag sent down the three-hole hitter and put the Aggies four outs away from the win. Ecker came in to close down the Wildcats out in the ninth earning his seventh save of the season.

The top of the order accounted for most of the offensive damage in the win. Allemand batted 3-for-5 and scored twice. Nau was responsible for the other run and found his way on twice. Taylor reached base in every trip to plate, going 3-for-3 with a walk and the only two Aggie RBI.

Texas A&M will be back at Blue Bell Park at Olsen Field on Friday to begin a three game SEC home stand against the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Texas A&M Quotes

Head Coach Rob Childress
On the win…
“When you get this deep into conference and you have been in a motion that you have been in on the weekends, to come out and find a way to win tonight, I was really proud of our guys. The bullpen did an outstanding job. We played great defense, which gave us a chance to win the game tonight. They score one in the first, we weren't real sharp on the mound. They scored in the third inning, which was on me. First and third with two outs and two strikes, we shouldn't be throwing through there. I could have changed our play. Our guys picked me up tonight and I appreciated that.”

Senior shortstop Blake Allemand
On pulling out the win…
“We came out a little slow, but I credit those guys (Abilene Christian). They came out ready to play. We started figuring it out. We were getting better at-bats. Logan Taylor came in with some big hits giving us some big time RBIs. Kyle Simonds came in there and shut the door on them on the mound side of things.”

Junior outfielder Logan Taylor
On getting the big hits on a night where the offense was struggling…
"I was just trying to let the ball get deep, and put a good swing on it. Whatever happened happened. Honestly it wasn't anything that I did it was Nick Choruby making that catch (in the eighth). It was a game-saver, it would have been a double or a triple for that guy, and he came through with a big-time play."