Adam Smith’s two-run home run in the top of the sixth broke a 3-3 tie in support of Ross Stripling’s complete-game effort to give top-seeded Texas A&M a 6-3 win over No. 3 seed Seton Hall at Olsen Field Saturday during the second day of the NCAA College Station Regional.
“I thought we played well again tonight,” Texas A&M head coach Rob Childress said. “Ross (Stripling) was outstanding and very efficient with only 102 pitches in a complete-game effort. Offensively, we got off to a really good start, kind of shocked them in the first inning. (Joe) DiRocco has been their hot hand and we were able to come away with two runs early, but then gave it back to them. But our guys didn’t panic. We made it 3-2, and were able to build on that. Adam Smith had a big two-run homer for us, and Matt Juengel had a big two-out double to extend the lead. I was disappointed that we weren’t able to get a big hit in the eighth to put them away, but it’s good that we played with pressure tonight. Hopefully, that will help us throughout the weekend.”
The Aggies (44-18) are now 2-0 at the tournament and will await the winner of Sunday’s early contest between Seton Hall and Arizona to see who they will face during the Regional Championship game Sunday night at 6:35 p.m.
“Well it’s what every team wants to do,” Childress added. “We still haven’t done anything yet. It’s nice that we don’t have to come out and play at 12:30 tomorrow, but we still haven’t done anything yet. We have to be able to finish, and we know we’ll have our hands full tomorrow night.”
On the mound, Stripling (13-2) was solid en route to tossing his fourth complete game of the year. The All-American was charged with only one earned run while scattering four hits to move into a tie for third all-time in the Aggie record book for wins in a single season.
A night after scoring 11 runs in a victory over Wright State, the Aggie bats remained hot when they stepped to the plate in the top of the first inning as a rare appearance as the visiting team in front of their home town fans.
Big 12 Player of the Year and All-American Tyler Naquin doubled to lead off the contest and after a Krey Bratsen single in the next at bat, junior designated hitter Matt Juengel plated the first run of the game with a single through the left side. Jacob House followed Juengel to the plate and made it 2-0 Texas A&M with a sacrifice fly to center.
Junegel went 3-for-5 against the Pirates for his fourth straight multi-hit game. During the streak, the Houston native is 11 for this last 19 at the plate (.579).
“I’ve really hit it (his stride at the plate) at the right time, as well as a couple of other guys,” Smith said when asked about the production throughout the A&M line-up. “The guys hitting around me are really making it easier. (Kevin)Gonzalez, with the way he’s been heating up, has really given me a lot better pitches to hit. You guys can tell; it’s obviously been paying off for all four of us in the middle of the line up.”
An Aggie error paved the way for the Pirates to plate a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the second and tie the game at 2-2.
House regained the lead for the Aggies in the top of the third as he scored Bratsen with an RBI ground out.
Again in the bottom of the fourth Seton hall rallied to tie the game, using an RBI ground out by third baseman Giuseppe Papaccio to knot the game at 3-3.
Regaining the lead for the Aggies at 5-3 in the top of the sixth, Smith’s blast went an estimated 388 feet and cleared the video board in left for his fifth long ball of the season and the 24th of his Aggie career.
Juengel added an insurance run with a two-out RBI double in the top of the seventh for Texas A&M, which has won 13 of its last 15 games, including the last seven straight.