COLLEGE STATION, Texas – With three starters out of the lineup due to injury, the No.11 Texas A&M Aggies fought the Missouri Tigers to a 2-2 draw Sunday afternoon on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park. The contest was halted after 10 innings due to Missouri travel logistics.
The three Texas A&M starters missing from action included second baseman Bryce Blaum, catcher Mikey Hoehner, and first baseman and backup catcher Hunter Coleman. All three were banged up in Saturday’s 15-inning affair.
The Aggies got a solid effort from the bullpen with Bryce Miller, Chris Weber and Kasey Kalich combining for 6.2 scoreless innings, scattering six hits and three walks while striking out nine. Miller pitched around three hits and two walks while striking out one in 2.0 innings. Weber fanned five in 2.2 innings yielding two hits and one walk. Kalich struck out three of the seven batters he faced in 2.0 innings.
In his first career start, Joseph Menefee worked 3.1 innings, giving up two runs on three hits and two walks while striking out four. The pitching staff struck out 10-plus batters for the 12th consecutive game.
The Maroon & White were paced by Jonathan Ducoff paced the Aggies at the plate, going 2-for-4. Braden Shewmake and Will Frizzell each added a hit and one run.
The Aggie record moves to 23-6-1 overall and 6-2-1 in the SEC, while the Tigers are now 18-10-1 overall and 3-5-1 in league play.
UP NEXT
The Aggies head Austin Tuesday to face the Texas Longhorns at 6:32 p.m.
SCORING SUMMARY
T1| Josh Holt was hit by a pitch to start the game and advanced to second on a one-out walk by Peter Zimmerman. Chris Cornelius helped the Tigers strike first, plating Holt on a single that bounced off the first base bag and shot into shallow rightfield. MIZ 1, A&M 0.
T4 | Chad McDaniel got things started with a double down the leftfield line and advanced to third on a one-out single by Alex Peterson. After a pitching change, Paul Gomez put down a bunt for a single, scoring McDaniel from third. MIZ 2, A&M 0.
B4 | Shewmake shot a leadoff single up the middle and advanced to second on a wild pitch. With two outs, Will Frizzell reached first and moved Shewmake to third on a fielding error by the pitcher. Chandler Morris got hit by a pitch, to fill the bags with Ags. Aaron Walters faced a bases loaded situation for the second time, and scored two runs on a towering pop fly that was dropped by Missouri’s first baseman. A&M 2, MIZ 2.
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach Rob Childress
On the game ending in a tie…
“Well you win one, you lose one, and you tie one; that’s the way the weekend went. For us we had one shot to have a big inning in the second there. We loaded the bases with one out. Aaron Walters had a really competitive at bat and hit the ball as hard as he could hit it right at ‘em. Then we catch a break when they drop a pop up and we score two runs. I’m really proud of our pitching and defense. Every guy that went out there had some moments to really crack and let the game get away, but they made big pitches in big spots to get us off the field.”
On the big third-out strikeouts the pitchers collected…
“All four of those guys I cannot speak highly enough for them. They had a chance to crack and they didn’t. They showed a lot of toughness making some big pitches when it mattered most with traffic on the bases and most importantly with runners in scoring position.”
On guys playing secondary positions due to recent injuries…
“All three of the guys that had to play today couldn’t have played any better defensively. I’m really proud of all three of them. Hopefully it’ll be short lived when we get some guys back, but that’s why we have the depth that we do. We have really good players on the bench. You know it’s an opportunity for those guys, and they did a nice job.”
Senior INF/OF Jonathan Ducoff
On today’s tie…
“I’ll take it over a loss, but it definitely doesn’t feel good. We wanted to close that game out. Pitching and defense was solid again today, that’s going to keep us in games. We have to do more to execute offensively with the opportunities we get.”
Freshman LHP Chris Weber
On today’s tie…
“We’re not satisfied, obviously the team played well and Kasey {Kalich} did a great job to hold them to their two runs at the end of the game but we are hungry for more and ready to go next week.”
On his performance…
“It was good coming back from last week and having confidence in my stuff and the defense to make plays. In a game like this one, having my teammates and fans going for me feels great.”
On coming out of the bullpen…
“Coach talks about it all the time, if you come out of the pin with runners in scoring position you want to get the off speed working early, that’s number one. We have to keep the hitters off balance to get some big strike outs and today we were able to accomplish that.”
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics