Saturday, April 22
Lexington, Ky.
5:15 PM
Texas A&M
25-14, 9-8
8
at
7
Kentucky
29-9, 10-7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Texas A&M
0
3
0
0
0
0
3
0
2
8
8
2
Kentucky
0
2
0
0
1
2
2
0
0
7
12
1
Photo by: Ethan Mito/Texas A&M Athletics
Bost Delivers Late to Push Aggies Past Kentucky
Apr 22, 2023 | Baseball
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Austin Bost delivered a two-run double with two outs in the top of the ninth inning to propel the Texas A&M Aggies to an 8-7 victory over No. 13 Kentucky in the nightcap of a Saturday doubleheader at Kentucky Proud Park.
The double capped a 3-for-5 night for Bost, who finished a home run short of the cycle and clinched the weekend series for the Aggies. It is A&M's (25-14, 9-8 SEC) first series win against a ranked opponent in 2023.
Texas A&M got a solid start from lefty Troy Wansing who pitched 6.0 innings with four strikeouts and no walks, but it was a back-and-forth final three innings that spelled the difference in the game. Twice the Aggies fell behind the Wildcats (29-9, 10-7 SEC) before rallying back and finally closing it out with a scoreless ninth inning from Will Johnston.
Shane Sdao got the win with 1.1 innings of relief and Jordan Thompson delivered a three-run home run in the second inning that got the Aggie bats going.
Kentucky reliever Mason Moore took the loss, walking five hitters in 2.0 innings and allowing the winning run in the ninth.
TOP AGGIE PERFORMERS
Austin Bost – 3-for-5, 2B, 3B, 2 RBI, 1 R
Jordan Thompson – 1-for-2, 2 R, HR, 3 RBI, BB
Shane Sdao - (W, 2-1) 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
Will Johnston – (SV, 4) 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
UP NEXT
Texas A&M will close out its series at Kentucky on Sunday beginning at 12 p.m. CT. The game will be streamed on SEC Network+ and can be heard locally on 1150 AM/93.7 FM The Zone.
GAME SUMMARY
T2 | A&M 3, UK 0
After a clean first inning from Tyler Bosma, the Kentucky starting pitcher found himself in trouble when he allowed consecutive one-out singles to Austin Bost and Jace LaViolette. Two batters after LaViolette's base hit Jordan Thompson launched the first pitch of his at-bat into the left-field bullpen to give the Aggies a 3-0 lead.
B2 | A&M 3, UK 2
Kentucky responded with two runs of their own in the bottom of the inning. The attack started with a one-out single by Jase Felker and was followed by a double by Jackson Gray that stayed just inside the third-base bag and put both runners in scoring position. Reuben Church then drove in Felker with a single up the middle and Grant Smith picked up an RBI with a well-executed sacrifice bunt with runners on the corners.
B5 | A&M 3, UK 3
The Wildcats drew even with another run in the bottom of the fifth, an inning that started with a bloop single by Smith to center field. A sacrifice bunt advanced him into scoring position and Devin Burkes picked up the RBI when he knuckled a single back up the middle.
B6 | UK 5, A&M 3
Kentucky took their first lead of the game an inning later in an inning that got going when Felker bunted his way on with one out. Two batters later Church drove a pitch from Wansing out of the ballpark over the right-center field fence.
T7 | A&M 6, UK 5
Texas A&M put together a two-out rally to retake the lead, taking advantage of five walks from the Wildcat bullpen. Thompson started the rally with a free pass that was followed by Hank Bard. Hunter Haas then got a run back with an RBI single to right field to score Thompson with a good slide. The Wildcats then chose to load the bases by intentionally walking Jack Moss, but reliever Mason Moore then issued a bases-loaded walk to Trevor Werner that scored Bard to tie the game at 5-5. Moore then uncorked a wild pitch and Haas made a heady play to head home and got in with the go-ahead run.
B7 | UK 7, A&M 6
The Aggies were not able to get a shutdown frame after taking the lead as the Wildcats took advantage of a pair of free passes of their own to go back in front. Ryan Waldschmidt and Emilien Pitre each reached base on walks, but it as a single off the end of the bat to center field by Hunter Gilliam that got them home.
T9 | A&M 8, UK 7
After Moore had struck out Hunter Haas to open the inning, Jack Moss lined a double into the left-field corner to give the Aggies something to work with. Pinch runner Kasen Wells then moved up to third base on a fly ball by Werner and the Wildcats elected to intentionally walk Brett Minnich to set up a matchup with Bost. The senior saw one pitch before shooting a one-hop double off the right-center field wall that scored Wells with the tying run and brought Minnich in with the go-ahead score all the way from first.
POSTGAME COMMENTS
Head Coach Jim Schlossnagle
UTL Austin Bost
LHP Will Johnston
The double capped a 3-for-5 night for Bost, who finished a home run short of the cycle and clinched the weekend series for the Aggies. It is A&M's (25-14, 9-8 SEC) first series win against a ranked opponent in 2023.
Texas A&M got a solid start from lefty Troy Wansing who pitched 6.0 innings with four strikeouts and no walks, but it was a back-and-forth final three innings that spelled the difference in the game. Twice the Aggies fell behind the Wildcats (29-9, 10-7 SEC) before rallying back and finally closing it out with a scoreless ninth inning from Will Johnston.
Shane Sdao got the win with 1.1 innings of relief and Jordan Thompson delivered a three-run home run in the second inning that got the Aggie bats going.
Kentucky reliever Mason Moore took the loss, walking five hitters in 2.0 innings and allowing the winning run in the ninth.
TOP AGGIE PERFORMERS
Austin Bost – 3-for-5, 2B, 3B, 2 RBI, 1 R
Jordan Thompson – 1-for-2, 2 R, HR, 3 RBI, BB
Shane Sdao - (W, 2-1) 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
Will Johnston – (SV, 4) 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
UP NEXT
Texas A&M will close out its series at Kentucky on Sunday beginning at 12 p.m. CT. The game will be streamed on SEC Network+ and can be heard locally on 1150 AM/93.7 FM The Zone.
GAME SUMMARY
T2 | A&M 3, UK 0
After a clean first inning from Tyler Bosma, the Kentucky starting pitcher found himself in trouble when he allowed consecutive one-out singles to Austin Bost and Jace LaViolette. Two batters after LaViolette's base hit Jordan Thompson launched the first pitch of his at-bat into the left-field bullpen to give the Aggies a 3-0 lead.
B2 | A&M 3, UK 2
Kentucky responded with two runs of their own in the bottom of the inning. The attack started with a one-out single by Jase Felker and was followed by a double by Jackson Gray that stayed just inside the third-base bag and put both runners in scoring position. Reuben Church then drove in Felker with a single up the middle and Grant Smith picked up an RBI with a well-executed sacrifice bunt with runners on the corners.
B5 | A&M 3, UK 3
The Wildcats drew even with another run in the bottom of the fifth, an inning that started with a bloop single by Smith to center field. A sacrifice bunt advanced him into scoring position and Devin Burkes picked up the RBI when he knuckled a single back up the middle.
B6 | UK 5, A&M 3
Kentucky took their first lead of the game an inning later in an inning that got going when Felker bunted his way on with one out. Two batters later Church drove a pitch from Wansing out of the ballpark over the right-center field fence.
T7 | A&M 6, UK 5
Texas A&M put together a two-out rally to retake the lead, taking advantage of five walks from the Wildcat bullpen. Thompson started the rally with a free pass that was followed by Hank Bard. Hunter Haas then got a run back with an RBI single to right field to score Thompson with a good slide. The Wildcats then chose to load the bases by intentionally walking Jack Moss, but reliever Mason Moore then issued a bases-loaded walk to Trevor Werner that scored Bard to tie the game at 5-5. Moore then uncorked a wild pitch and Haas made a heady play to head home and got in with the go-ahead run.
B7 | UK 7, A&M 6
The Aggies were not able to get a shutdown frame after taking the lead as the Wildcats took advantage of a pair of free passes of their own to go back in front. Ryan Waldschmidt and Emilien Pitre each reached base on walks, but it as a single off the end of the bat to center field by Hunter Gilliam that got them home.
T9 | A&M 8, UK 7
After Moore had struck out Hunter Haas to open the inning, Jack Moss lined a double into the left-field corner to give the Aggies something to work with. Pinch runner Kasen Wells then moved up to third base on a fly ball by Werner and the Wildcats elected to intentionally walk Brett Minnich to set up a matchup with Bost. The senior saw one pitch before shooting a one-hop double off the right-center field wall that scored Wells with the tying run and brought Minnich in with the go-ahead score all the way from first.
POSTGAME COMMENTS
Head Coach Jim Schlossnagle
UTL Austin Bost
LHP Will Johnston
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Sdao, Shane (1-2)
L: Mason Moore (2-1)
S: Johnston, Will (4)
Batting:
2B: Moss, Jack 1 ; Bost, Austin 1
3B: Bost, Austin 1
HR: Thompson, Jordan 1
RBI: Haas, Hunter 1 ; Werner, Trevor 1 ; Bost, Austin 2 ; Thompson, Jordan 3
Base Running:
RUNS: Haas, Hunter 1 ; Wells, Kasen 1 ; Minnich, Brett 1 ; Bost, Austin 1 ; LaViolette, Jace 1 ; Thompson, Jordan 2 ; Bard, Hank 1
CS: Werner, Trevor 1
Batting:
2B: Emilien Pitre 1 ; Jackson Gray 1
HR: Reuben Church 1
RBI: Devin Burkes 1 ; Hunter Gilliam 2 ; Reuben Church 3 ; Grant Smith 1
SH: Ryan Waldschmidt 1 ; Hunter Gilliam 1 ; Jackson Gray 1 ; Grant Smith 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Ryan Waldschmidt 1 ; Emilien Pitre 1 ; Jase Felker 2 ; Jackson Gray 1 ; Reuben Church 1 ; Grant Smith 1
SB: Ryan Waldschmidt 1 ; Emilien Pitre 1 ; Grant Smith 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
5
R
1
H
3
RBI
2
AB
5
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
AB
5
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
INF
/ BaseballINF
/ Baseball
LHP
/ BaseballOF
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
INF
/ BaseballLSU Postgame: Michael Earley, Jace Laviolette, Clayton Freshcorn
Friday, May 23
Highlights: A&M 3, LSU 4
Friday, May 23
Auburn Postgame: Michael Earley, Justin Lamkin, Kaeden Kent
Thursday, May 22
Highlights: Texas A&M 3, Auburn 2
Thursday, May 22
