COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Texas A&M knocked the Missouri Tigers out with a 14-6 victory on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park. A nine-run sixth highlighted the offensive exposition and helped the Aggies snag the rubber game from the Tigers.
Matt Kent (6-0) led the Aggies staff with another superb outing and notched his sixth win in just his seventh start of the season. Kent pitched 6.0 innings of scoreless baseball aiding the Aggies in securing their sixth series victory in as many tries.
Missouri (20-9, 5-3) called on Peter Fairbanks (2-3) to make his seventh start of the season. He came in with a 1.82 ERA, but his sterling record didn’t faze the Aggies. Fairbanks was touched for four runs, and left the game after walking the first batter of the fourth inning.
The Texas A&M (27-2, 7-2) lineup hung runs on Missouri early and often. They scratched out the first run of the game in the bottom of the first on a Nick Banks’ single. The Aggies continued in the second slapping a crooked number on the scoreboard with a Logan Nottebrok two-run homer, his second of the season. Mitchell Nau added another in the third when he blasted a solo shot to dead center that bounced off the top of the fence. In the fifth frame, the Aggies brought the lead to five-love via a J.B. Moss single.
Kent was on his game early. He retired the first six batters of the game and induced double plays to wrap up the third and the fourth. Missouri was on the cusp of a rally in the sixth with the bases juiced and nobody out. Kent settled down and fanned the next hitter then used his third inning-ending double play to escape the jam unscathed.
In the bottom of the sixth, The Aggies forced the Tigers to abandon all hope by dropping a cool nine runs on four different pitchers. After the first five runners reached base, Logan Taylor meandered to the box with the bases loaded. Taylor rocketed a grand slam to left, his sixth long ball on the season, giving the Aggies an 11-0 lead. The Aggies weren’t done just yet as they added three bonus runs with four more hits including Nau’s second RBI single of the inning. The A&M sixth-inning carousel, included seven hits, three walks, 14 plate appearances, and nine runs scored by nine different Aggies.
Mizzou got on the scoreboard with five runs in the top of the seventh. Brigham Hill was tagged for five runs and relieved in the inning by Blake Kopetsky, who got a chance to record his longest outing of the season, working 1.2 innings. Corbin Martin and Andrew Vinson worked the ninth, allowing one run and putting a lid on the series.
Taylor led the Aggie offense with a 3-for-4 day that included a grand slam and two singles. Nau drove in four runs on three hits and tallied three runs. A&M was aided by a great day on the base paths with four stolen bases in four attempts. The eight-run margin was the Ag’s largest conference win since April 20, 2014 against Kentucky.
Texas A&M will take the field at 6:35 on Tuesday in action against local rival Sam Houston State before taking off for Lexington to meet The Kentucky Wildcats in a holiday showdown.
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Texas A&M Head Coach Rob Childress
On the win…
After the loss, we certainly responded today. I though Missouri played an outstanding game yesterday, As good as one could play to win. We came out today and from the word ‘go’ we were ready. It started on the mound. I thought Matt Kent was fantastic. We played great defense behind him, they had a couple of opportunities to grab some momentum. First and third no outs bases loaded no outs and Matt made some big pitches to get off the field. We continued to score I am proud of our guys, proud of our finish for this week.
On the defense today…
We didn’t take care of the ball well enough to deserve the win yesterday and today we did. I was proud of the way we responded.
On Logan Nottebrok’s performance…
I was proud of him. I ask our guys to stand ready when their name is called. They need to be prepared and he was certainly prepared today. Not only did he have a great day offensively but with the glove as well. I was very proud for him and of him.
On finishing March without a series loss…
Well we are off to a really good start. Today we found something out about our team. We hadn’t been in this situation before where we are playing to win a series on Sunday. We responded quite well. So far, so good. I am proud of our guys and the new month will start for us on Tuesday.
Senior third baseman Logan Nottebrok…
On playing well in such an important game after being out of the lineup for a while…
The only way you can do that is with your teammates keeping you up. Struggling at first it’s no big deal. It’s part of baseball. It’s going to happen. No one can go hard all the time. I couldn’t have done it without my teammates or coaches.
On his feeling after you hit the homerun…
I almost forgot what it felt like. It was great getting that monkey off my back again. Trying to get back up (can’t hear this part) for my team.
On winning the series on Sunday…
Clearing we done like losing. Every time we lose a game, we come back and show up ready to play. They call this championship Sunday. Championship games are ready to play on Sunday. We could easily have turned it down and went about our business. We came out strong. You know you have to win Sunday games to compete in the SEC.
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics