Rob Childress
Ryne Birk
Turner Larkins
Texas A&M Baseball
Larkins throws gem as Aggie baseball shuts out SFA 6-0
GAME #4: Texas A&M 6, Stephen F. Austin 0
RECORDS: Texas A&M 4-0; Stephen F. Austin 1-4
WP: Larkins (1-0)
LP: Greene (0-1)
BOX SCORE: LINK
Ants are amazing creatures. They are incredibly small, but if they work together, they can create complex architectural wonders that are many times their own size. All it takes is teamwork.
The Aggie baseball team (4-0) did its best ant colony impersonation Tuesday. With solid performances all around the diamond, and especially at the mound, Texas A&M dropped Stephen F. Austin (1-4), 6-0, on a chilly night at Olsen Field.
The Aggies started scoring early, plating two runs in the first inning. With one man on base, Ryne Birk doubled to deep left center. Two batters and two sacrifice hits later, both men were home, and the Aggies had a lead they would not relinquish.
The Aggies would go on to score another run in the fourth, after Mitchell Nau's second sacrifice fly of the night. Three innings later the home team would tack on three more runs thanks, in part, to Ryne Birk's two-run shot over the right field fence. Birk would finish 3-5 for the night.
Matt Sachs, TexAgs
Ryne Birk went 3-5 on the day, including a double and a two-run homerun.
Birk followed the theme of the night, giving all of the credit to his teammates.
"I couldn't have done it without J.B. Moss. His at-bat right before mine sucked 9 or 10 pitches out of him," he said. "You can't throw that many good pitches. He left me a cookie right down the middle, and I got lucky on it. I've got to give a lot of credit to J.B."
Those six runs were more than the Aggies would need, courtesy of an outstanding start by freshman right-hander Turner Larkins.
In his first start for the Maroon and White, the young gun threw 5.1 innings of scoreless baseball, striking out nine and only allowing five hits. After sprinkling hits throughout the first three innings, Larkins put on a display in the fourth and fifth.
After striking out the last batter in the fourth to get out of a bases-loaded jam, Larkins was untouchable in the fifth. He struck out all three batters, often making them look silly en route to his seventh strikeout of the night. He capped off his stellar performance with a sixth straight strikeout to start the sixth inning.
Larkins talked about how his performance and his teammates bolstered his confidence after the game.
"To get guys out at this level, it's not an easy task," he said. "(The bullpen) gives me a lot of confidence too. To have guys do that makes me more comfortable coming out of the game, knowing they're going to have my back and keep that lead."
After that, Ty Schlottman came in to preserve the shutout. He struck out one batter before being relieved by Kyle Simonds. Simonds, the 2014 National JUCO Pitcher of the Year, carried his stellar performance last weekend over into the midweek. Striking out four, he allowed no runs and three hits over 2.1 innings of work.
Ryan Hendrix came in to finish off the shutout on the mound for the Aggies in an all-around team win. The pitching staff finished with 16 strikeouts on the night, only allowing eight hits — a tremendous performance on the mound, to say the least.
Coach Rob Childress summed up the win, commenting on his team's performance under duress.
"We had to play with some pressure on us tonight, and I thought it was really good," he said. "We had some guys respond in some pressure spots on the mound, defensively and offensively, as well. I couldn't ask for more out of our guys tonight."
The Aggies take the field again on Friday, taking on Penn State at 6:30 at Blue Bell Park.
RECORDS: Texas A&M 4-0; Stephen F. Austin 1-4
WP: Larkins (1-0)
LP: Greene (0-1)
BOX SCORE: LINK
Ants are amazing creatures. They are incredibly small, but if they work together, they can create complex architectural wonders that are many times their own size. All it takes is teamwork.
The Aggie baseball team (4-0) did its best ant colony impersonation Tuesday. With solid performances all around the diamond, and especially at the mound, Texas A&M dropped Stephen F. Austin (1-4), 6-0, on a chilly night at Olsen Field.
The Aggies started scoring early, plating two runs in the first inning. With one man on base, Ryne Birk doubled to deep left center. Two batters and two sacrifice hits later, both men were home, and the Aggies had a lead they would not relinquish.
The Aggies would go on to score another run in the fourth, after Mitchell Nau's second sacrifice fly of the night. Three innings later the home team would tack on three more runs thanks, in part, to Ryne Birk's two-run shot over the right field fence. Birk would finish 3-5 for the night.
Matt Sachs, TexAgs
Ryne Birk went 3-5 on the day, including a double and a two-run homerun.
"I couldn't have done it without J.B. Moss. His at-bat right before mine sucked 9 or 10 pitches out of him," he said. "You can't throw that many good pitches. He left me a cookie right down the middle, and I got lucky on it. I've got to give a lot of credit to J.B."
Those six runs were more than the Aggies would need, courtesy of an outstanding start by freshman right-hander Turner Larkins.
In his first start for the Maroon and White, the young gun threw 5.1 innings of scoreless baseball, striking out nine and only allowing five hits. After sprinkling hits throughout the first three innings, Larkins put on a display in the fourth and fifth.
After striking out the last batter in the fourth to get out of a bases-loaded jam, Larkins was untouchable in the fifth. He struck out all three batters, often making them look silly en route to his seventh strikeout of the night. He capped off his stellar performance with a sixth straight strikeout to start the sixth inning.
Larkins talked about how his performance and his teammates bolstered his confidence after the game.
"To get guys out at this level, it's not an easy task," he said. "(The bullpen) gives me a lot of confidence too. To have guys do that makes me more comfortable coming out of the game, knowing they're going to have my back and keep that lead."
After that, Ty Schlottman came in to preserve the shutout. He struck out one batter before being relieved by Kyle Simonds. Simonds, the 2014 National JUCO Pitcher of the Year, carried his stellar performance last weekend over into the midweek. Striking out four, he allowed no runs and three hits over 2.1 innings of work.
Ryan Hendrix came in to finish off the shutout on the mound for the Aggies in an all-around team win. The pitching staff finished with 16 strikeouts on the night, only allowing eight hits — a tremendous performance on the mound, to say the least.
Coach Rob Childress summed up the win, commenting on his team's performance under duress.
"We had to play with some pressure on us tonight, and I thought it was really good," he said. "We had some guys respond in some pressure spots on the mound, defensively and offensively, as well. I couldn't ask for more out of our guys tonight."
The Aggies take the field again on Friday, taking on Penn State at 6:30 at Blue Bell Park.
Never miss the latest news from TexAgs!
Join our free email list
