News release from Texas A&M Athletics:
OMAHA – Ryan Prager carried a no-hitter deep into the seventh inning to lead the No. 3 Texas A&M baseball team to a 5-1 win over the No. 2 Kentucky Wildcats in Monday’s College World Series action at Charles Schwab Field.
The victory put the Aggies (51-13), who are 2-0 in the College World Series for the first time in program history, into the driver’s seat for advancing to the championship series. The Maroon & White will get two cracks at securing one victory over the winner of tomorrow’s elimination game between Florida and Kentucky.
Prager’s no-hit effort was broken up with a single by Ryan Nicholson with two outs in the sixth inning and Nolan McCarthy followed with a double. It marked the second-longest College World Series no-hit bid pitched at Charles Schwab Field. Prager (9-1) scattered two hits and one walk while striking out four over 6.2 innings.
The Aggies exploded for five runs in the top of the sixth inning. Jace LaViolette drew leadoff walk and Jackson Appel deposited a double down the right field line to put two in scoring position. Hayden Schott broke the scoring seal with a grounder off the glove of a diving Wildcat shortstop for a two-run single. With one out, Ali Camarillo doubled over the right fielder to push Schott across and Kaeden Kent drove a two-run single right-center to stretch the lead to 5-0.
Kentucky (46-15) was menacing in the second inning with Nick Lopez reaching on a throwing error by Camarillo at short and Mitchell Daly getting hit by a pitch to start the inning. A deep fly ball by Nicholson put runners on the corner, but Prager fanned McCarthy and catcher Appel pounced on a bunt in front of the plate by James McCoy and gunned him down at first with the call getting upheld upon review.
After the escape job, Prager retired the next 10 Wildcats for a string of 13 in a row.
Nicholson hit a cosmetic solo home run with one out in the ninth inning to spoil Texas A&M’s attempt to add to its nation-leading tally of 11 shutouts.
Inside the Box Score
The Aggies had four different players log multi-hit games, including Schott with a game-high three hits and two apiece by Appel, Ted Burton and Kent.
Josh Stewart had his longest relief outing since April 20, yielding one run on two hits and one walk while striking out three and stranding both inherited runners in his 2.1 innings.
Aggie pitchers held Kentucky to 0-of-6 (.000) with runners in scoring position and 1-of-8 (.125) with runners on base. For the College World Series, opponents are 1-of-17 (.059) with RISP and 4-for-25 (.160) with runners on base.
Burton reached base all four times at the plate going 2-for-2 with two walks, one double and one run.
Appel batted 2-for-5 with one double and one run. He ranks second on the team with 24 multi-hit games.
Schott recorded his 23rd multi-hit game and 17th multi-RBI game, finishing 3-for-5 with one run and two RBI.
Kent batted 2-for-4 with two RBI, improving to 8-of-18 (.444) for the NCAA Tournament.
Game Notes
With 51 wins, the Aggies have their highest win total since the 1999 campaign when they went 52-18. The win tally ranks fifth on A&M’s list.
Texas A&M opened College World Series play with two wins for the first time in program history.
The two wins are tied for the most in program history at the College World Series.
In College World Series play, Texas A&M is now 6-14 all-time.
Under head coach Jim Schlossnagle, Texas A&M is now 16-4 in postseason play and 4-2 in College World Series games.
With Burton’s walk in the sixth inning, Texas A&M broke the team record for walks in season set with 405 in 2023. The Maroon & White ended the game with 408. Three of the Aggies’ top 5 walk seasons have come with Schlossnagle as head coach.
LaViolette stretched his school-record season walk total to 60.
LaViolette has now reached base safely in 22 straight games, the longest stretch of his career.
The Aggies improved to 14-8 all-time against Kentucky
Up Next
The Aggies will face the winner between Florida and No. 2 Kentucky Wednesday night at 6 p.m. from Charles Schwab Field.