
After last week losing leads to Texas, it was nice to be on the other side of that yesterday for the Aggies against Texas Tech.
This time A&M fell behind 5-0 to the Red Raiders, stopped Tech’s scoring right there and erupted for 10 runs of their own in a 10-5 win on their first game of the Big 12 Baseball Tournament.
The Aggies will meet Kansas State, a 5-4 winner over Oklahoma in the late game, tonight at 7:30 in the winner’s bracket game. The winner will earn both a day off tomorrow and a berth in their division’s championship game on Saturday.
The Aggies scored 3 in the bottom of the fifth and six in the sixth to take the lead, plus added a padding run in the seventh while collecting 18 hits off the first three Tech pitchers, including 11 off starter Brennan Stewart.
Meanwhile A&M’s Jacob House tied a Big 12 Tournament record with five hits in five at bats and two RBIs. Matt Player of the Year Tyler Naquin got 3 hits in the lead-off spot. Pitcher John Stilson was a late scratch with tightness in his shoulder during warn-ups so Derrick Hadley and four relievers threw for A&M, Steve Martin, Joaquin Hinojosa and Kyle Martin combined to give up no runs and just two hits over the last 4 1.3 innings.
The other three opening day games at Redhawks Field in Oklahoma City produced two upsets. After Oklahoma State beat Baylor 6-2, Big 12 Co-champ and second ranked Texas fell 6-4 to Missouri in the second game of the day. The Horns will play Baylor in an elimination game at 9 am this morning while Missouri and Oklahoma State meet in the winners bracket at 4.
Texas Tech meets Oklahoma in another elimination game at 12:30 today.
We will broadcast the A&M-Kansas State game on 1620 with the air time scheduled for 7 pm but being the last of four games today, it could run later so stay tuned in.
