Thursday, May 4
College Station
6:30 PM
Texas A&M
34-13, 14-8
9
vs
2
.png&width=60&height=60&type=webp)
Mississippi State
30-17, 14-8
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Mississippi State
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
2
7
0
Texas A&M
0
3
0
5
0
0
1
0
X
9
11
2
Photo by: Thomas Campbell/Texas A&M Athletics
Shewmake's Slam Seals Series Opener vs. Mississippi State, 9-2
May 04, 2017 | Baseball
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Braden Shewmake's fourth-inning grand slam keyed the No. 17 Texas A&M Aggies' 9-2 triumph over the No. 13 Mississippi State Bulldogs in the Thursday evening's series opener on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.
Texas A&M (34-13, 14-8 SEC) came into the game trailing the league-leading Bulldogs (30-17, 14-8 SEC), along with Auburn and Kentucky, by one game in the SEC standings. They gave the ball to junior Brigham Hill (7-3) to try to pull themselves to within a half game of the SEC lead.
The Aggies pounced on the Bulldogs early with a three-run second off southpaw Konnor Pilkington (5-4). Joel Davis and Cole Bedford got the frame started with a pair of singles. With two down, Walker Pennington cleared the bases with a double that he just squeezed inside the left field line. Nick Choruby brought Pennington home on a single to right, giving Texas A&M an early 3-0 lead.
In the fourth, Mississippi State broke a streak of 44 straight innings where Aggie pitching did not allow an earned run. The first four Bulldogs reached with two coming around to score. Cody Brown and Elijah MacNamee provided RBI singles in the inning. Hill bounced back by retiring the next three batters to limiting the damage.
The Aggies stretched the lead to six with a five-run fourth. Cole Bedford and Austin Homan reached with a walk and hit-by-pitch, respectively, and were moved to scoring positon on a Pennington sacrifice bunt. A flurry of ten straight balls chased Pilkington from the game, with Baine Schoenvogel's bases-loaded, pinch-hit free pass inflating the Texas A&M cushion to 4-2.
Entering with a 2-0 count on Shewmake, reliever Peyton Plumlee offered up a ball and a strike before delivering a regretful fastball on a 3-1 count. Shewmake's grand slam sent Olsen Field into a frenzy as the freshman's dinger snuck inside the right field foul pole. The 8-2 lead after four would be more than enough for Hill and company.
The Aggie offense added one more to their lead in the seventh. Choruby stretched the lead to 9-2 on a single through the left side that scored Davis.
Hill worked 7.0 innings fanning six and allowing just the two third-inning runs. Kaylor Chafin came on in relief and pitched a perfect eighth and Jason Ruffcorn closed the door on the victory with three straight strikeouts in the ninth.
Bedford and Choruby both reached four times in the game. Choruby accounted for three of the 11 hits and Bedford had two of the six walks. The last four in the order contributed seven runs.
The Aggies look to clinch their sixth straight SEC series on Friday for the middle game of the series slated for 6:32 pm Friday on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach Rob Childress
On the approach today…
"We had him (Mississippi State pitcher Konnor Pilkington) on his heels. We had a lot of good at-bats he was never able to establish his secondary stuff. We were able to take some borderline pitches and grab the lead early and Mississippi State never goes away. You knew they were going to make a run. Brigham [Hill] did a great job keeping getting out of the fourth, because we could've given away the lead real quick right there. [We] came right back and scored five and were able to pull away from them and from the fourth inning on, Brigham was fabulous."
Junior RHP Brigham Hill
On stronger pitching performance as game progressed…
"We just had to adjust to their approach. They were really swinging first pitch every time and they were up in the box too so we just had to adjust to it later in the game."
Senior OF Nick Choruby
On getting the series-opening win…
"It's always nice anytime you win a game to open a series. The first game is always big as far as setting the up the weekend. So it was great for us to come out ready to go and play like we can play."
On if tonight's win gives confidence going forward in series…
"Anytime you play well, it's always good for your confidence. But you've got to come out the next day ready to go, no matter what. The previous day, whether you win or lose, doesn't get you anything for the next day."
Freshman INF Braden Shewmake
On emotion after his grand slam…
"It's always nice to get one in a big game like that. You know Brigham's [Hill] up there, pitching his guts out so we've got to stay behind him and keep trying to score runs for him so anytime we can get a run on the board is huge."
Texas A&M (34-13, 14-8 SEC) came into the game trailing the league-leading Bulldogs (30-17, 14-8 SEC), along with Auburn and Kentucky, by one game in the SEC standings. They gave the ball to junior Brigham Hill (7-3) to try to pull themselves to within a half game of the SEC lead.
The Aggies pounced on the Bulldogs early with a three-run second off southpaw Konnor Pilkington (5-4). Joel Davis and Cole Bedford got the frame started with a pair of singles. With two down, Walker Pennington cleared the bases with a double that he just squeezed inside the left field line. Nick Choruby brought Pennington home on a single to right, giving Texas A&M an early 3-0 lead.
In the fourth, Mississippi State broke a streak of 44 straight innings where Aggie pitching did not allow an earned run. The first four Bulldogs reached with two coming around to score. Cody Brown and Elijah MacNamee provided RBI singles in the inning. Hill bounced back by retiring the next three batters to limiting the damage.
The Aggies stretched the lead to six with a five-run fourth. Cole Bedford and Austin Homan reached with a walk and hit-by-pitch, respectively, and were moved to scoring positon on a Pennington sacrifice bunt. A flurry of ten straight balls chased Pilkington from the game, with Baine Schoenvogel's bases-loaded, pinch-hit free pass inflating the Texas A&M cushion to 4-2.
Entering with a 2-0 count on Shewmake, reliever Peyton Plumlee offered up a ball and a strike before delivering a regretful fastball on a 3-1 count. Shewmake's grand slam sent Olsen Field into a frenzy as the freshman's dinger snuck inside the right field foul pole. The 8-2 lead after four would be more than enough for Hill and company.
The Aggie offense added one more to their lead in the seventh. Choruby stretched the lead to 9-2 on a single through the left side that scored Davis.
Hill worked 7.0 innings fanning six and allowing just the two third-inning runs. Kaylor Chafin came on in relief and pitched a perfect eighth and Jason Ruffcorn closed the door on the victory with three straight strikeouts in the ninth.
Bedford and Choruby both reached four times in the game. Choruby accounted for three of the 11 hits and Bedford had two of the six walks. The last four in the order contributed seven runs.
The Aggies look to clinch their sixth straight SEC series on Friday for the middle game of the series slated for 6:32 pm Friday on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach Rob Childress
On the approach today…
"We had him (Mississippi State pitcher Konnor Pilkington) on his heels. We had a lot of good at-bats he was never able to establish his secondary stuff. We were able to take some borderline pitches and grab the lead early and Mississippi State never goes away. You knew they were going to make a run. Brigham [Hill] did a great job keeping getting out of the fourth, because we could've given away the lead real quick right there. [We] came right back and scored five and were able to pull away from them and from the fourth inning on, Brigham was fabulous."
Junior RHP Brigham Hill
On stronger pitching performance as game progressed…
"We just had to adjust to their approach. They were really swinging first pitch every time and they were up in the box too so we just had to adjust to it later in the game."
Senior OF Nick Choruby
On getting the series-opening win…
"It's always nice anytime you win a game to open a series. The first game is always big as far as setting the up the weekend. So it was great for us to come out ready to go and play like we can play."
On if tonight's win gives confidence going forward in series…
"Anytime you play well, it's always good for your confidence. But you've got to come out the next day ready to go, no matter what. The previous day, whether you win or lose, doesn't get you anything for the next day."
Freshman INF Braden Shewmake
On emotion after his grand slam…
"It's always nice to get one in a big game like that. You know Brigham's [Hill] up there, pitching his guts out so we've got to stay behind him and keep trying to score runs for him so anytime we can get a run on the board is huge."
.png&width=84&height=84&quality=100&type=webp)
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Hill, Brigham (7-3)
L: Pilkington, Konnor (5-4)
.png&width=32&height=32&type=webp)
Batting:
2B: Vansau, Hunter 1 ; Lovelady, Josh 1
RBI: Brown, Cody 1 ; MacNamee, Elijah 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Rooker, Brent 1 ; Gridley, Ryan 1
CS: Poole, Tanner 1
HBP: Gridley, Ryan 2
Batting:
2B: Davis, Joel 1 ; Pennington, Walker 1
HR: Shewmake, Braden 1
RBI: Choruby, Nick 2 ; Schoenvogel, Baine 1 ; Shewmake, Braden 4 ; Pennington, Walker 2
SH: Homan, Austin 1 ; Pennington, Walker 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Choruby, Nick 1 ; Kopetsky, Blake 1 ; Shewmake, Braden 1 ; Davis, Joel 2 ; Bedford, Cole 2 ; Homan, Austin 1 ; Pennington, Walker 1
SB: Choruby, Nick 1
HBP: Coleman, Hunter 1 ; Homan, Austin 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
1
H
3
RBI
2
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
4
AB
5
R
2
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
2
H
2
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
C
/ Baseball
LHP
/ BaseballOF
/ BaseballINF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
C
/ BaseballINF
/ BaseballMedia Availability: Michael Earley
Monday, January 12
Media Availability: Gavin Grahovac
Monday, January 12
Media Availability: Josh Stewart
Monday, January 12
Media Availability: Michael Earley
Thursday, October 09
