South Carolina's Three-run Ninth Sinks Aggies,9-7

Friday, May 8

College Station

6:30 PM

Texas A&M

41-8, 16-8

South Carolina

29-21, 11-14

South Carolina

Texas A&M

May 08, 2015 | Baseball

Box Score

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 2 Texas A&M Aggies surrendered three runs in the top of the ninth inning and dropped a 9-7 decision in the series opener Friday night against the South Carolina Gamecocks on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.

Six bases on balls issued to South Carolina hitters and four errors by the defense spelled doom for the Aggies.

The free passes and errors overshadowed a stellar night for the Aggie offense that pounded out 14 hits, including three doubles and two home runs.

Mitchell Nau led the A&M offense going 2-for-4 with one double, one home run and four RBI. Nick Banks went 3-for-5. Blake Allemand, Ryne Birk and Michael Barash each added two hits

With the score tied 6-6 in the ninth, South Carolina was able to touch up Aggie closer Mark Ecker for three runs. Max Schrock opened the inning by flaring a single to right center and Kyle Martin gave the Gamecocks an 8-6 lead with a two-run home run over the wall in right-center for his 12th home run of the season. Elliott Caldwell singled to leftfield to drive Ecker from the game.

Ty Schlottmann relieved Ecker on the mound and recorded a pair of strikeouts. Caldwell stole second base, moved to second when Barash's throw to second wasn't able to be gloved and he came around to score when Clark Scolameiro threaded a single down the leftfield line for a 9-6 lead.

The Aggies mounted a late rally, but it came up short. With South Carolina closer Taylor Widener working, Birk started the frame by bouncing a single down through the left side of the infield and came around to score when Nau bounced a double in the corner down the rightfield line. Reed Scott spelled Widener on the mound and retired the meat of the Aggie order with a grounder to third base and two strikeouts.

Texas A&M broke the scoring seal in the bottom of the second inning. With one out, Banks threaded a single through the left side of the infield. After Hunter Melton flied out to deep rightfield for the second out of the frame, JB Moss bounced a single through the left side to give the Aggies two baserunners. Ronnie Gideon stroked a 1-2 offering into the right-center gap, driving both runners in with the double, staking A&M to a 2-0 lead.

South Carolina (29-21, 11-14 SEC) took advantage of a Texas A&M error to break the scoring seal in the third. After Logan Koch worked a seven-pitch walk to start the frame, Birk was unable to handle a throw at first base from pitcher Grayson Long on a sacrifice bunt by Marcus Mooney. Gene Cone followed with a sacrifice bunt to put two runners in scoring position with one out and Schrock plated Koch with a groundout to short, trimming the A&M advantage to 2-1.

Melton hit a moon shot on 1-0 offering for a solo home run. His fifth home run of the season gave the Aggies a 3-1 lead.

The opportunistic Gamecocks took advantage of another Aggie error to tie the game in the top of the fifth. With one out, Cone drew a four-pitch walk. Schrock put down a bunt that Gideon scooped up at third and threw wide of first. Cone came around to score on the error and Schrock moved to second. After Martin popped up to short for the second out of the inning, Caldwell slipped a single past Gideon who was headed to cover third on a stolen base. Caldwell's single plated Schrock with the equalizer, knotting the game at 3-3.

South Carolina claimed its first lead of the game in the sixth. DC Arendas drew a walk to start the frame and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. Andrew Vinson relieved Long on the mound and got Koch to ground to short, but the throw by Allemand bounced away from Melton at first, putting runners on the corners. Mooney started behind the count 0-2 against Vinson, before working two balls and fouling off three pitches. He looked at a pitch hovering near the strike zone to work the count full before hitting a three-run home run for the 6-3 advantage.

Texas A&M (41-8, 16-8 SEC) bounced back to knot the game in the bottom of the seventh. Barash slapped a leadoff single to left-center and Allemand hit a single off the glove of a diving Gamecocks' second baseman. Birk flied out to leftfield for the first out of the inning, but Nau followed with a titanic shot to leftfield, tying the game at 6-6 with his fourth home run of the season.

Long was left without a decision as the starter. He allowed four runs, one earned, on two hits and five walks while striking out two in 5.1 innings. Ecker (1-2) was saddled with the loss, giving up three runs on three hits without retiring an out.

Wynkoop (8-4) survived the Aggie offensive arsenal to pick up the win. He yielded six runs on 12 hits and two walks while striking out six in 8.0 innings. Scott picked up his second save of the season, retiring all three batters he faced in the ninth, including two strikeouts.

The series continues on Saturday with a 2:05 pm first pitch on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.

TEXAS A&M QUOTES

Head Coach Rob Childress
On defensively opening the door for South Carolina…
"It is awful hard to give up nine runs on eight hits. You certainly have to create some opportunities and we certainly did that for them tonight. It's very disappointing to give up six free baserunners via walk and have four errors. I give them credit. They made those eight hits count and we provided those opportunities to make those hits count for them."

Junior pitcher Andrew Vinson
On giving up a home run to Marcus Mooney in the sixth after not getting a called strike three…
"I didn't make my pitch after that. It shouldn't have mattered. We did a good job fighting back. Our bullpen wasn't able to hold it down like we normally do. Our hitters were good and kept bringing life in for us by putting the balls in play."

Texas A&M Designated Hitter Mitchell Nau
On the defensive miscues…
"We didn't play our best baseball tonight. It's something we really stressed in practice this week. That was the deciding factor in the game. We tried to improve upon them in practice. The cards didn't fall in our favor tonight."

On his late at-bats tonight that resulted in a three-run home run and an RBI double…
"On the home run--I was just trying to square the ball up. I got it up in this jet stream we had tonight and it took it ff. My last at-bat I was just taking until I got two strikes on me. I wanted line it up for Logan (Taylor) and Nick (Banks) behind me. Nine times out of 10 they would have gotten it done, but it just didn't happen for us tonight."