Rob Childress
Brigham Hill
Logan Foster
Kaylor Chafin
Texas A&M Baseball
Texas A&M puts up five-run second inning, sneaks past Brown, 6-4
Game #15: Texas A&M 6, Brown 4
Records: Texas A&M 12-3, Brown 0-4
WP: Brigham Hill (4-0)
LP: Christian Taugner (0-1)
Save: Landon Miner (1)
BOX SCORE
Over the course of a 56-game season, no college baseball team is going to be at its best every night. All-American pitchers will have off nights, and even the best lineup will go through midseason doldrums at some point.
The Aggies got a taste of both of those problems on Friday.
Though pitcher Brigham Hill didn't have a stellar outing and the Aggies couldn't seem to string hits together after the second inning, Texas A&M did just enough to beat Brown in Friday's series-opener, 6-4.
Hill struggled out of the gate, and it seemed to set the tone for the night. After giving up a lead-off double on his first pitch of the evening, the junior standout gave up an RBI-single to Brown right fielder Sam Grigo, ending his streak of 20-plus innings without giving up a run to start the season.
Hill got out of the top half of the inning without further damage, and his offense answered almost immediately. Two-hole hitter and designated hitter Logan Foster tied the game with a hard-hit solo home run to right center in the bottom of the frame. It was the powerful freshman's fourth of the season.
"That was big. Our momentum kind of went down after they came out and (scored)," Foster said. "They were ready to swing the bat from the get-go or first-pitch. Coming back and getting things ready to go for the top of our lineup was good for us."
Hunter Coleman, Blake Kopetsky and Walker Pennington led off the inning with three consecutive singles, scoring one run and leaving runners on first and second.
Two batters later, Austin Homan doubled to right to score Pennington and Kopetsky and stake the Aggies to a 4-1 lead. Homan later scored thanks to a Brown error and an infield single from Foster. Freshman Braden Shewmake followed that with a single of his own, plating Foster and extending the lead to 6-1.
The A&M bats failed to push a run across for the rest of the night, and head coach Rob Childress was forced to rely on Hill and the Aggie bullpen to stay in front of the Bears.
Hill ran into trouble again in the fourth. With one out, the right-hander issued a walk to Bear catcher Mark Sluys and proceeded to surrender a two-run homer off of the scoreboard in left two batters later. Working with a 6-3 lead, Hill gave up a single and threw a wild pitch before escaping the inning without allowing another run.
The Bears threatened once more in the next frame. Hill surrendered two singles and walked a man with one out to load the bases and bring the go-ahead run to the plate, but the Aggie defense bailed him out of the jam with a 6-4-3 double play.
Hill gave up a lead-off double in the sixth and was pulled. He finished with 5 IP and gave up 4 runs on 8 hits and 3 walks in an uncharacteristically shaky performance.
"I definitely didn't have my best stuff tonight," Hill said of his night. "I've got to give all the credit to the defense. They saved me in a lot of big situations, and the offense, too. They were incredible tonight, giving me six runs. I have to give some credit to Brown, too. They had a great approach and played well."
Kaylor Chafin took over in the sixth and did enough to preserve the lead. Though he allowed Hill's runner to score and gave up two hits in the sixth, the junior got the Aggies off the field and threw a scoreless seventh before handing the ball the Cason Sherrod.
Marc Flores, TexAgs
Cason Sherrod held the Bears scoreless in the eighth inning on Friday night.
Sherrod teamed with Landon Miner to keep the Bears at bay in the eighth and ninth and secure the 6-4 victory.
"I'm very proud of our team," Childress said after the win. "Brown has a very good club, ran out three very good arms (and) played great defense ... They had us on our heels early. Brigham fought through to get us to the sixth inning, and I can't say enough about our bullpen ... We played impeccable defense tonight, and it was pretty much the difference in the game."
Texas A&M will hit the field again tomorrow and attempt to take the series from the Bears. The game is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
Records: Texas A&M 12-3, Brown 0-4
WP: Brigham Hill (4-0)
LP: Christian Taugner (0-1)
Save: Landon Miner (1)
BOX SCORE
Over the course of a 56-game season, no college baseball team is going to be at its best every night. All-American pitchers will have off nights, and even the best lineup will go through midseason doldrums at some point.
The Aggies got a taste of both of those problems on Friday.
Though pitcher Brigham Hill didn't have a stellar outing and the Aggies couldn't seem to string hits together after the second inning, Texas A&M did just enough to beat Brown in Friday's series-opener, 6-4.
Hill struggled out of the gate, and it seemed to set the tone for the night. After giving up a lead-off double on his first pitch of the evening, the junior standout gave up an RBI-single to Brown right fielder Sam Grigo, ending his streak of 20-plus innings without giving up a run to start the season.
Hill got out of the top half of the inning without further damage, and his offense answered almost immediately. Two-hole hitter and designated hitter Logan Foster tied the game with a hard-hit solo home run to right center in the bottom of the frame. It was the powerful freshman's fourth of the season.
"That was big. Our momentum kind of went down after they came out and (scored)," Foster said. "They were ready to swing the bat from the get-go or first-pitch. Coming back and getting things ready to go for the top of our lineup was good for us."
Hunter Coleman, Blake Kopetsky and Walker Pennington led off the second inning with three consecutive singles, scoring one run.
After Hill got through the second without much trouble, the Aggie bats continued to roll.Hunter Coleman, Blake Kopetsky and Walker Pennington led off the inning with three consecutive singles, scoring one run and leaving runners on first and second.
Two batters later, Austin Homan doubled to right to score Pennington and Kopetsky and stake the Aggies to a 4-1 lead. Homan later scored thanks to a Brown error and an infield single from Foster. Freshman Braden Shewmake followed that with a single of his own, plating Foster and extending the lead to 6-1.
The A&M bats failed to push a run across for the rest of the night, and head coach Rob Childress was forced to rely on Hill and the Aggie bullpen to stay in front of the Bears.
Hill ran into trouble again in the fourth. With one out, the right-hander issued a walk to Bear catcher Mark Sluys and proceeded to surrender a two-run homer off of the scoreboard in left two batters later. Working with a 6-3 lead, Hill gave up a single and threw a wild pitch before escaping the inning without allowing another run.
The Bears threatened once more in the next frame. Hill surrendered two singles and walked a man with one out to load the bases and bring the go-ahead run to the plate, but the Aggie defense bailed him out of the jam with a 6-4-3 double play.
Hill gave up a lead-off double in the sixth and was pulled. He finished with 5 IP and gave up 4 runs on 8 hits and 3 walks in an uncharacteristically shaky performance.
"I definitely didn't have my best stuff tonight," Hill said of his night. "I've got to give all the credit to the defense. They saved me in a lot of big situations, and the offense, too. They were incredible tonight, giving me six runs. I have to give some credit to Brown, too. They had a great approach and played well."
Kaylor Chafin took over in the sixth and did enough to preserve the lead. Though he allowed Hill's runner to score and gave up two hits in the sixth, the junior got the Aggies off the field and threw a scoreless seventh before handing the ball the Cason Sherrod.
Marc Flores, TexAgs
Cason Sherrod held the Bears scoreless in the eighth inning on Friday night.
"I'm very proud of our team," Childress said after the win. "Brown has a very good club, ran out three very good arms (and) played great defense ... They had us on our heels early. Brigham fought through to get us to the sixth inning, and I can't say enough about our bullpen ... We played impeccable defense tonight, and it was pretty much the difference in the game."
Texas A&M will hit the field again tomorrow and attempt to take the series from the Bears. The game is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
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