COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 12 Texas A&M Aggies completed a two-game sweep of the UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros with a 7-4 win Wednesday afternoon on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.
Cole Bedford led the Aggies at the plate, going 3-for-5 with two RBI and one stolen base. Logan Foster batted 2-for-5 with one triple, two runs and two ribbies. Austin Homan hit 2-for-4 with two runs, one RBI and one stolen base. Blake Kopetsky batted 2-for-3 with one walk, one stolen base, one double and one run.
Corbin Martin (1-2) picked up the win with 4.0 scoreless innings of relief. He scattered one hit and two walks while striking out three.
Vaqueros struck first, manufacturing a run in the top of the first inning. With one out Austin Siener drew a six-pitch walk and stole second base. With two outs, Anibal Leal punched a single up the middle to plate Siener for the 1-0 lead.
UTRGV (10-4) tacked on two more runs in the third. With one out, smacked a first-pitch offering to the gap in left-center for a double. After Leal bounced out to second base, Joseph Collazo smacked a 2-0 pitch over the wall in left-center for a two-run dinger, staking the Vaqueros to a 3-0 lead.
The Aggies responded with two runs in the home half of the third. With one out, Homan slapped a single up the middle and Foster threaded a hit through the right side of the infield. Homan moved to third on a wild pitch and scored when Bedford knocked a single through the left side. Foster came around to score when UTRGV shortstop Estrella was unable to handle a throw at second base on a double play attempt.
Texas A&M (11-3) tied the game in the bottom of the fourth. Kopetsky drew a four-pitch walk and Jorge Gutierrez was hit by a pitch to start the frame. George Janca pushed both runners into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt and Homan knocked in Kopetsky for the equalizer with a grounder to short.
The Aggies claimed the lead with a three-run rally in the sixth. Kopetsky got things started again, this time beating an infield shift with a single to the left side. Kopetsky advanced to second when a pickoff throw sailed past the first baseman. Gutierrez drew a walk with Kopetsky stealing third on ball four to put runners on the corners. After Janca popped up to the second baseman, Homan was unsuccessful on a squeeze bunt attempt with Kopetsky getting thrown out at home. With runners at first and second and two outs, Foster capped off a nine-pitch at-bat by hitting a wall-banger to centerfield for a triple. Bedford bounced a single up the middle to plate Foster for the 6-3 lead.
Texas A&M tacked on an insurance run in the eighth. George Janca was issued a base on balls with one out. A balk pushed the sophomore to second and he moved to third on a single by Homan. Another balk pushed Janca across for the 7-3 lead.
Siener hit a solo dinger in the ninth for the final run of the game.
Josh Witherspoon (0-1) was saddled with the loss. He yielded six runs, five earned, on eight hits and three walks while striking out one in 6.0 innings.
Estrella went 2-for-4 with one double, one walk and one run scored to lead the Vaqueros.
Texas A&M returns to action Friday when they host the Brown Bears in a 6:32 p.m. contest to start a three-game series.
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach Rob Childress
On today’s win…
“I thought we played much better today. We didn’t score 17 runs, but it was a much cleaner baseball game. I’m proud of our guys for showing up. It’s kind of a tough game – three o’clock, coming off of a night game and not a lot of people in the stands. For us to stay in the moment and come out and play well, I was really proud of our guys. Corbin Martin came in and gave us a big stop. We had a chance to have a big third inning with runners at second and third after we scored a couple and weren’t able to cash in. In the sixth inning we had some great at bats, some decision-making at bats with two strikes to set up the inning. We had a couple of great at bats behind them. Logan Foster and Cole Bedford cashing in those three runs ended up being big.”
Sophomore C Cole Bedford
On batting second for the first time in his career…
“(Nick) Choruby had the day off so they put me up in the two-hole, but it’s the same approach and you just have to stick with what you do. I had (Logan) Foster in front of me and he had several multi-pitch at bats so I was able to see a lot of pitches in the on deck circle. Took some pressure off of me.”
Junior RHP Corbin Martin
On today’s performance…
“We were down in the game and we came back and fought back and had the game tied. I just had to do a good job of trusting my defense. [Cole] Bedford did a really good job of catching back there. It made it a lot easier when you have a guy like that working for you as the backstop. I just kept going back out there and with the guys that are behind me it’s a lot easier.”
On working with Coach Childress…
“We talked after this weekend that I was trying to overthrow, which I believe I was. We did a little work and today I just going out there and pitching instead of throwing. I felt good, throwing all pitches for strikes, and being able to get early outs in the count, which was big for me and our team. Just getting us off the field and getting a chance for Logan [Foster] to do what he did in the seventh inning to get us ahead.”
Freshman OF Logan Foster
On hitting leadoff…
“No matter where they put us in the lineup we are going to have the same approach and play like a unit out there. Try to dominate.”
On all of the triples the team is hitting…
“We talked about all the triples before the game and we were pretty shocked that we already around 14 triples. A lot of teams don’t even reach that number by the end of the season. Everyone likes the way that we are rolling and we just have to stick with it.”
On rebounding after last weekend…
“I think once Monday morning rolled around everyone had already put the weekend to bed. We were just hungry to get back out on the field ready to go.”
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics