Story by Thomas Dick, Texas A&M Athletics Communications
BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Jacob Palisch held the hard-charging Razorbacks at bay with two innings of stellar relief pitching as the Texas A&M Aggies topped No. 3 Arkansas in Sunday afternoon’s rubber match, 11-10, on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.
The Aggies saw an early 9-1 advantage evaporating when Palisch was called on with no outs, bases loaded and the Maroon & White clinging to an 11-8 advantage in the bottom of the eighth inning. The first batter he faced hit a humpback liner off the glove of a leaping Jack Moss at first base for a double, driving in two and trimming the Aggie advantage to 11-10, but Palisch struck out the first three batters in the Arkansas lineup to get out of the frame with the lead.
Palisch came back out for the ninth inning and finished Arkansas off with two harmless fly outs sandwiching a grounder to third base.
The Aggies pounced on the Razorbacks for five runs in the bottom of the first keyed by a three-run home run by Austin Bost. The Maroon & White added single runs in the second and third and a pair in the fourth, staking claim to a 9-1 advantage before the Razorbacks slowly started chipping away.
The game was 10-3 in favor of the Aggies with five innings in the books, but Arkansas scored seven of the next eight runs to close out the scoring.
Jack Moss batted 4-for-5 with one double, one run and three RBI. Bost was 3-for-4 with one home run, four RBI, two runs and one walk. Dylan Rock reached base safely all five trips to the plate, going 2-for-2 with one home run, three walks, four runs and one RBI. Brett Minich added three hits, including a double.
Brad Rudis (3-0) made his first career start, allowing four runs on seven hits while striking out two in 5.0 innings. Palisch earned his third save of the season and second of the series, yielding just one hit while striking out three in 2.0 innings.
TOP AGGIE PERFORMERS
Jacob Palisch – 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K – Save, 3
Austin Bost – 3-for-4, 1 HR, 2 R, 4 RBI, 1 BB
Jack Moss – 4-for-5, 1 2B, 1 R, 3 RBI
Dylan Rock – 2-for-2, 1 HR, 4 R, 1 RBI, 3 BB
GAME SUMMARY
B1| The first four Aggies reached base to start the frame. Kole Kaler and Dylan Rock drew walks and Jack Moss drove them both in with a double down the leftfield line. Troy Claunch followed with a walk before the first out was recorded. Austin Bost cleared the bases with a three-run tater over the leftfield wall. A&M 5, ARK 0
B2| Rock worked a one-out walk and with two outs Claunch reached on a fielding error by the Arkansas third baseman. Brett Minnich punched a single to leftfield, knocking in Rock. A&M 6, ARK 0
B3| Trevor Werner bounced a leadoff single up the middle. A two-out single by Rock off the glove of a diving third baseman put runners on the corners and Moss knocked in Werner with a single off the pitcher’s glove. A&M 7, ARK 0
T4| Braydon Webb bounced a leadoff single back up the middle and Brady Slavens singled to leftfield. Cayden Wallace followed with the third consecutive single of the inning with a gapper to right-center to knock in Webb. A&M 7, ARK 1
B4| Minnich hit a leadoff single to leftfield, stole second base and scored on a single up the middle by Bost. With one out, Werner singled up the middle to put runners on the corners. Britt knocked Bost in with a grounder back to the mound. A&M 9, ARK 1
T5| Peyton Stovall drove a leadoff double to right-center and Jalen Battles followed with a two-run home run to leftfield. A&M 9, ARK 3
B5| Rock drew a leadoff walk and came around to score on a Moss infield single and a throwing error by the Razorbacks’ third baseman. A&M 10, ARK 3
T6| Wallace hit a leadoff single to leftfield as the last batter Aggie starter Brad Rudis faced. Chris Cortez yielded a single to Michael Turner to put runners on the corners. Wallace scored on a groundout to short by Robert Moore and Stovall doubled down the leftfield line to knock in Turner. A&M 11, ARK 5
B7| Rock launched a leadoff dinger over the scoreboard in leftfield. A&M 11, ARK 5
T8| Wallace laced a leadoff home run to leftfield and Turner followed with a single to leftfield. Robert Hogan relieved Cortez on the mound and hit Moore with a pitch. Lanzilli and Stovall followed with RBI singles and Battles drew a walk to load the bases with the Razorbacks down by three. Jacob Palisch allowed a pinch-hit double from Dylan Leach off the glove of a leaping Moss at first base before striking out the top of the order. A&M 11, ARK 8
UP NEXT
The Aggies host the Sam Houston Bearkats in a 6:32 pm contest Tuesday at the corner of Bush & Olsen.
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach Jim Schlossnagle
On what Jacob Palisch means to the team…
“There was not a plan to use Palisch. He wasn’t on the list to pitch. He came to me in the sixth or seventh and said, ‘Coach if you need me for an inning, I can do it’. Then he comes in there and does what he does in the eighth and then runs off the mound and says ‘I’ll finish this’. That is what I just told the team. For the rest of your career as a young player, that is your reference point. When you look up warrior, competitor, and teammate, he is the living and breathing example of what that looks like.”
Junior designated hitter Austin Bost
On where the team stands after winning the series against a highly ranked opponent…
“You love where you are at right now. Obviously, you just beat a fantastic team, but you can’t change what you do every single day. You can’t change your routine and what you do when you come to the ballpark every single day. You have to take it one game at a time, so our next game is our biggest game. We are not thinking about huge, big picture stuff right now. We are just worried about what game is next because we still have a lot of baseball left.”
Freshman RHP Brad Rudis
On his pitching performance today…
“Honestly I did not have my best stuff, but I went out there to compete and I got the job done.”
Graduate LHP Jacob Palisch
On being put in the game in a high-pressure situation…
“It was a big situation, and I was put in the situation because coach thinks you are the best person for that situation. At the end of the day, all you can do is come in and execute pitches and we cannot control what happens after that. I was just throwing what Troy was calling and it was working out. I knew it was going to boil down to how I executed when the game was actually on the line. I was ready for it.”