A&M Drops 9-6 Decision at LSU

Friday, April 24

Baton Rouge, LA

7:00 PM

Texas A&M

36-7, 12-7

LSU

37-6, 14-5

Texas A&M

LSU

Apr 25, 2015 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Texas A&M Athletics

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana – The No. 2 Texas A&M Aggies let a 5-2 lead slip away on Friday night, dropping a 9-6 decision to the No. 1 LSU Tigers at Alex Box Stadium.

For the second time in the series, the Aggies pounced on the Tigers for a run in the first. Blake Allemand threaded a leadoff single through the right side of the infield and a hit-and-run single by Mitchell Nau put runners at the corners. Logan Taylor plated Allemand, bouncing single up the middle to stake A&M to a 1-0 advantage. The Aggies would load the bases in the frame, but LSU starter Alex Lange retired Ryne Birk on strikes to end the rally.

The Tigers bounced back with a two-out rally in the bottom of the first to tie the game at 1-1. Alex Bregman golfed a 1-2 pitch into shallow rightfield, stole second base and scored on a single by Conner Hale to knot the game at 1-1.

LSU (37-6, 14-5 SEC) grabbed the lead in the bottom of the second. Andrew Stevenson poked a single up the middle and moved to second on a wild pitch to start the frame. After Chris Chinea struck out on three pitches, Jake Fraley knocked a first-pitch offering up the middle for an RBI single, knocking in Stevenson for the 2-1 lead.

Texas A&M (36-7, 12-7 SEC) mounted a two-out rally to tie the game in the top of the third. Logan Taylor hit a wall-banger to leftfield for a double. After Hunter Melton drew a five-pitch walk, Ronnie Gideon stroked a single back up the middle to knock in Taylor with the equalizer, tying the game at 2-2.

The see-sawing continued with A&M reclaiming the lead in the top of the fourth. Leading off, JB Moss bunted back to the mound where LSU starting pitcher Alex Lange fielded easily but sent his throw over the head of the first baseman and Moss ended up at second on the error. Michael Barash popped up for the first out of the inning, but Moss moved to third on a wild pitch with Allemand at the plate. With a full count, Allemand hit the chalky paint down the rightfield line for an RBI double that withstood an umpire video review to give A&M the 3-2 advantage.

The Aggies tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the top of the sixth. Birk singled up the middle and Moss drew a six-pitch walk to start the stanza. Barash put down a sacrifice bunt to knock both runners into scoring position and Allemand was issued an intentional walk to fill the bags with Ags. Nick Banks drove a single up the middle, sending Birk and Moss home and driving Lange from the contest with A&M leading 5-2.

Texas A&M squandered a chance tack on more runs in the seventh, which would come back to haunt them. Melton hit a leadoff single and after Gideon was caught looking at strike three for the first out, Birk singled to centerfield and moved to second on the throw to third to put two runners in scoring position. Moss swung at a first pitch, popping out into foul territory and Barash flied out to center to end the inning.

LSU wrestled the lead away from the Aggies in the bottom of the seventh. Chinea chopped a single up the middle to start the inning and Fraley singled to second. Jared Foster hit a potential double play ball to the right side, but Birk was unable to range to the grounder, allowing Chinea to score on the single, cutting the A&M lead to 5-3. With runners on the corners, Chris Sciambra put a squeeze bunt down five feet in front of home plate. A&M catcher Barash bounded out of the crouch to get to the ball but was unable to bare-hand the ball and Fraley scored to trim the Aggie lead to 5-4.

After Mark Laird flied out to center for the first out of the inning, Mark Ecker came on to spell A&M starter Ryan Hendrix. Bregman worked the count full and then fouled off four pitches before lacing a double down the leftfield line to give A&M a 6-5 lead.

The Tigers' defense prevented A&M from knotting the game in the eighth. Allemand started the inning with a single through the right side of the inning, but LSU turned a nifty 3-6 double play on when Banks hit a sharp grounder down the first base line. Nau stroked a double over the centerfielder's head to bring the go-ahead run to the plate for the second time in the inning. Taylor chipped a ball into the Bermuda Triangle down the rightfield line, but second baseman Jared Foster caught the ball on a dead sprint just inside fair territory to prevent the game-tying single, ending the frame.

LSU padded the lead in the eighth. Stevenson started the rally with a one out single and scored when Chinea doubled to leftfield. Fraley plated Chinea with a triple and came around to score when Barash was unable to cover home because Foster hit him in the head with his backswing on a grounder to short, giving the Tigers a 9-5 advantage.

The Aggies would bring the tying run to the plate in the ninth. Melton started the inning by stroking a double down the leftfield line and Gideon followed with a single through the right side to put runners at the corners. After pinch-hitter Jonathan Moroney struck out swinging, Moss reached on an error by LSU third baseman Hale, scoring Melton to trim the lead to 9-6. Pinch-hitter Logan Nottebrok came to the plate as the tying run, but Hunter Newman induced a game-ending double play.

Hendrix (3-1) was hung with the loss despite holding one of the nation's top offenses in check for six innings. He allowed six runs on 10 hits while striking out a career-high nine in 6.1 innings of work.

Lange was roughed up for five runs, four earned, on eight hits and five walks while striking out seven over 5.1 innings. Russell Reynolds (4-0) was credited with the win, scattering two hits while striking out two in 1.2 blank frames. Newman picked up his third save of the season, allowing one run on four hits while striking out one.

Both squads pounded out 14 hits on the evening, but the Aggies were doomed by 12 runners left on base.

Texas A&M had six players notch multiple hits led by Allemand who batted 3-for-4 with one double, one run and one RBI. Nau, Taylor, Melton, Gideon and Birk each tallied two hits.

LSU also had six players with multiple hits paced by Fraley who hit 3-for-4 with one triple, two runs and two RBI. Sciambra, Bregman, Hale, Stevenson and Chinea logged two hits apiece.

The Aggies and Tigers wrap up the series on Saturday with a 1:00 pm game at Alex Box Stadium. The contest is slated to air on ESPN.