Facing elimination, Arizona collected 11 hits Sunday night at Olsen Field as the No. 22 Wildcats defeated No. 6 Texas A&M by a score of 7-2 to force a winner-take-all Regional Championship Game on Monday night.
“Without question it was Arizona’s day,” Texas A&M head coach Rob Childress said. “They came out with their backs against the wall against Seton Hall earlier today. They got a great effort out of their starter. They rose to the occasion, got all the big hits and made all the plays they needed to make. (Nick) Cunningham for them was a big guy, stepped up, and obviously threw a career long outing for them. He did an amazing job. But, give Arizona all the credit. They did a great job today.”
The 2011 College Station Regional champion will be decided Monday night under the lights of Olsen Field when the two teams square off at 6:35 p.m. Texas A&M’s Brandon Parrent (2-4, 3.65 ERA) and Arizon lefty Vincent Littleman (2-3, 8.10 ERA) are listed as the probable starters for the contest.
The loss snapped a seven-game winning streak for the Aggies, who fell to 44-19 on the year. Arizona, meanwhile, improved to 39-20 with the victory, which was their second of the day after defeating Seton Hall Sunday afternoon.
Early on it was Texas A&M who applied the pressure as All-American Tyler Naquin continued his hot hitting at the regional by leading off the contest with a double down the left field line. The Aggie sophomore came around to score the contest’s first run later in the frame on a Wildcat throwing error to put Texas A&M ahead, 1-0.
Naquin finished 2-for-3 with three runs scored in the contest to notch his team-best 29th multi-hit game of the season. Both of the Spring, Texas, native’s hits were two-baggers to bring his season total up to 21, a total that ranks him in ninth place on the A&M single-season list.
Arizona designated hitter Josh Garcia used the long ball to tie the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the second as he went deep over the wall in left center for his team-leading eighth home run of the season.
Texas A&M battled back and retook the lead at 2-1 in the top of the third as the Aggies scored on a double play during the frame.
An unfortunate incident in the top of the third gave the game a wildly different look as Arizona starter Tyler Hale was struck hard in the arm by a sharp line drive off the bat of Krey Bratsen and forced to leave the game.
The Wildcats made a move to the pen and replaced the injured starter with sophomore Nick Cunningham (1-0), who was impressive on the mound. The Indianapolis product kept the Aggies off the scoreboard for 5.1 innings, limiting them to only two hits during his outing to pick up his first win of the season.
Freshman Derrick Hadley drew the start for Texas A&M and tossed five solid innings before being lifted following a leadoff double in the bottom of the sixth.
“I thought he was fantastic, from the word go he commanded the fastball and the slider,” Childress added. “Couldn’t have asked for anything more. He got us into the sixth inning, and we went to our hot hand (Kyle Martin) and Arizona got him.”
After the departure of Hadley, Arizona took control of the game with a three-run bottom of the sixth that featured RBI from Jett Brandy, Alex Mejia and Seth Mejias-Brean to give the Wildcats a 4-2 advantage.
Three more runs came across to score in the bottom of the sixth as Arizona opened up a 7-2 lead with the last five runs charged to A&M reliever Kyle Martin (2-2), who took the loss.
The Aggies attempted to rally in the top of the ninth and were able to push across a pair of runs on balks, but could not complete the comeback attempt.