Kyle Simonds tosses no-hitter to dispose of Vanderbilt, 3-0

GAME #47: Texas A&M 3, Vanderbilt 0
RECORDS: Texas A&M 37-10 (16-8); Vanderbilt 36-12 (14-10)
WP: Kyle Simonds (8-1)
LP: Patrick Raby (6-1)
BOX SCORE

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Ross Stripling, Zach Jackson, and Matt Blank. Those are a few of the guys that threw no-hitters during their time at A&M. Their names are etched forever in the annals of Aggie baseball. Until Saturday, the list of games in which the Aggies had accomplished the feat was just eleven entries long.

It's time to add another.

In front of 6,550 fans at Olsen Field, senior Kyle Simonds wrote his name in the history books, throwing Texas A&M's first no-hitter since 2012 to close out the series against No. 8 Vanderbilt, 3-0.

Simonds was brilliant from start to finish. Hampered only by an error in the first inning, Simonds mowed his way through the Vanderbilt line-up with stunning efficiency. The senior threw just 83 pitches across his nine innings of work, including 53 strikes.

The big right-hander cruised through the first five innings in workmanlike fashion, and the Aggie offense rewarded him for it. Facing a full count with one out in the bottom half of the inning, Austin Homan launched his first home run in an Aggie uniform into left field.

The Aggies added another run a few batters later. Boomer White knocked a single into left to drive in J.B. Moss and give the Ags a 2-0 lead over the Commodores.

From there, it was all about the man on the mound.

Simonds lined them up and knocked them down in the sixth and seventh. After the Aggies added an insurance run in the seventh, he shut down three more hitters in the eighth.

Things got dicey in the game's final frame.

The lead-off man sent a hard shot to the mound -- the ball looking for a hole up the middle. Simonds reacted beautifully, grabbing it on one hop and making the easy toss to Hunter Melton for the out.

Rarely does a no-hitter come without a spectacular defensive play in the outfield, and today's was no different. The next hitter sent a weak fly ball into centerfield. Fearing it would drop, Nick Choruby made an all-out sprint to shallow center, diving for and catching the ball in one of the Aggies' most impressive defensive plays of the year.

The game's last batter didn't go quietly either, sending a line drive straight at Simonds. As the last line of defense before the ball reached the outfield grass, the senior stuck his glove out and snagged the ball to seal the no-hitter and the win, 3-0.

Simonds spiked the ball in celebration as his teammates rushed the mound, the celebration taking place on the field as well as in the stands. The senior wanted everyone to enjoy it.

"You just dream of doing these things, and you see other guys like Ross Stripling do it," he said, "When it just comes together it's hard to believe. There's no better place to do it than in front of these fans here in Aggieland. It makes it pretty special."

It was pretty special for his head coach, Rob Childress, too.

"He was fantastic," Childress said of his pitcher. "He built on last weekend's performance against Arkansas. He's throwing with an awful lot of confidence, and (throwing) all three pitches for a strike. He's fielding his position really well. I couldn't be more proud of him."

Judging by the crowd's reaction to the last out of the day, that's a sentiment shared by many others. It was a performance those in attendance won't soon forget. How could they?

It's Aggie history.