OKLAHOMA CITY – Senior catcher Kevin Gonzalez’s walk-off single in the bottom of the 11th inning gave the second-seeded Texas A&M baseball team a 9-8 win over No. 6 seed Kansas State and a berth in the title game of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship.
“I thought it was a hard-fought game,” Texas A&M head coach Rob Childress said. “The weather’s definitely changed today and it was hot. Ross (Stripling) went out and did a nice job. I thought he had good stuff today, but I didn’t think his command was very good. Kansas State took advantage of that … I’m really proud of our team. Guys didn’t quit, kept chipping away and had a big inning in the eighth to tie the game. We weren’t able to push through until the 11th, but we’re really proud of Kyle Martin. He did a nice job along with Estevan Uriegas and Steve Martin who all came out of the bullpen and gave us an opportunity to get back in the game.”
With the win the Aggies (41-18) avoided a rematch with the Wildcats Saturday night and ensured that they will play in Sunday’s title game for second straight season. The championship game will pit the Aggies against Missouri .
The importance of getting the night off before the title game was not lost on Texas A&M’s skipper.
“It was certainly important, it’s hot out there,” Childress added. “I didn’t want to have to come back and play another nine innings after that game and I don’t think our players did either. Kansas State had a very good run in the tournament. They’re well-coached, and they’re hot right now and playing well. I expect them to be in a (NCAA) Regional next week. They gave us everything we could handle both two days ago and again today.”
During the first three innings, neither team could mount a rally against the other’s starting pitcher, but that trend changed when the Wildcats came to the plate in the top of the fourth. KSU, which had not been able to scratch out a hit against Texas A&M starter Ross Stripling, notched five in the inning on its way to plating five runs against the Aggie right-hander.
During the bottom of the third, Texas A&M struck back with three runs of its own. Back-to-back singles from Krey Bratsen and Matt Juengel kicked off the Aggie rally and the duo was quickly joined on base by Jacob House, who drew a walk to load the bases.
Junior third baseman Adam Smith converted the opportunity with a two-run single on a chopper that bounced over the head of KSU third baseman Jason King and A&M left fielder Brandon Wood added a third run in the inning with a sac fly to center.
Texas A&M again cut into the KSU lead in the bottom of the fifth as Tyler Naquin scored on an attempted double steal, whittling the Wildcats’ advantage down to 5-4.
KSU (36-23) pushed across two more runs and extended its lead to 7-4 in the top of the sixth by scoring on a wild pitch and an RBI ground out by Ross Kivett.
Stripling exited the game in the sixth after allowing seven earned runs on eight hits in 5.2 innings of work.
Kivett again made an impression on the scoreboard with an RBI sac bunt in the top of the eighth that gave the Wildcats their biggest lead of the afternoon at 8-4.
However, in the bottom of the eighth the Aggies hit the comeback trail and were able to tie the game with four runs against a trio of Wildcat pitchers. Gonzalez got the scoring started with an RBI single up the middle and a wild pitch brought home a second A&M run in the next at bat. Following a walk by Wood which loaded the bases, Andrew Collazo pushed across a third run by drawing another free pass. An RBI fielder’s choice off the bat of Naquin proved to be the game-tying spark as the Aggies erased the four-run deficit.
After Texas A&M was able to draw even, sophomore Kyle Martin (2-1) shut the door on the Wildcats as the sophomore from Austin, Texas, tossed three perfect innings to pick up the win on the mound.
Martin’s outstanding work set the table for the Aggie hitters to put the finishing touches on the win in the home half of the 11th. Juengel, who led the way with a 3-for-6 afternoon at the plate, narrowly missed ending the game as he doubled off the left field wall to begin the inning.
House singled through the right side in the next at bat but Juengel was held at third as KSU was able to quickly get the ball back into the infield. Junior Scott Arthur was walked intentionally in the next at bat laying the ground work for Gonzalez’s game-ending hit, a high chopper that found its way through the left side of the Wildcats’ drawn-in infield.
Mizzou beat Texas to advance..
For a second straight season the Texas A&M baseball team will play in the title game of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship as Sunday the second-seeded Aggies will face No. 8 seed Missouri at 1 p.m. on RedHawks Field. The contest will be televised live on FSN.
Texas A&M, the tournament’s defending champion, punched its ticket to the championship game by defeating Kansas State 9-8 in 11 innings on Saturday. Missouri, meanwhile, had to play a pair of games Saturday to reach to finale, losing a morning contest to top-seeded Texas before bouncing back with a 2-1 win over the Longhorns Saturday night.
The Aggies (41-18) and Tigers (27-31) faced off in Columbia, Mo., during the regular season with Missouri winning two of three contests against visiting Texas A&M.
Sophomore lefty Dylan Mendoza (3-2, 2.61 ERA) will get the starting nod for Texas A&M while Missouri will counter with right-handed pitcher Eric Anderson (3-0, 5.06 ERA).
For a complete bracket, quotes, notes and live stats from the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship visit http://www.big12sports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=10410&KEY=&ATCLID=205084583.
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUP
SUNDAY (MAY 29)
Missouri – #44 Eric Anderson (So., RHP, 3-0, 5.06)
Texas A&M – #31 Dylan Mendoza (So., LHP, 3-2, 2.61)