Aggies win nailbiter over Houston, 4-3, to advance to Super Regional

Houston Regional Game #3: Texas A&M 4, Houston 3
Records: Texas A&M (3-0), Houston (2-2)
WP: Stephen Kolek (4-4)
LP: Nolan Bond (2-1)
S: Cason Sherrod (4)
BOX SCORE

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HOUSTON — Coach Rob Childress isn’t known for smooth dance moves, but he was contorting his body in the Texas A&M dugout as a hard line drive streaked toward the left field wall at Schroeder Park.

The Aggies held a fragile one-run lead with two out in the ninth inning when Houston’s Connor Wong ripped the first pitch from reliever Cason Sherrod down the third base line for a potential game-winning three-run home run.

Mercifully, the baseball sailed foul by about 10 feet.

Two pitches later, Sherrod struck out Wong to clinch a 4-3 Texas A&M victory over the top-seeded Cougars (42-21) in the Houston Regional of the NCAA Baseball Playoffs and propel the Aggies into next week’s Super Regional round.

The Aggies (39-21) will play host to Davidson next weekend in a Super Regional with a trip to Omaha for the College World Series on the line. But that appeared in jeopardy until Wong’s drive crossed the line, much to Childress’ relief.

“I was giving it a lot of body language; I tell you that,” Childress said. “I couldn’t tell (if it would be fair).

"When he first hit it, I thought he got it. But it ended up hooking foul. Maybe my body language made a difference.”

Why not? Every other move Childress made certainly had a big impact.

The box score indicates there were several A&M heroes on Monday afternoon. Blake Kopetsky delivered a two-run single. Nick Choruby blasted a run-scoring triple. Baine Schoenvogel launched a home run. Stephen Kolek pitched eight scoreless innings. And, of course, Sherrod picked up the clutch save.

Yet, nobody had a better performance than Childress, who made several smooth moves that paid off in a big way.

For example, Childress moved catcher Cole Bedford up from sixth to second in the batting order.

Bedford went 2-for-4, and his first hit followed Choruby’s lead-off single in the first inning and eventually led to Kopetsky’s two-run single off Houston starter Nolan Bond (2-1), who made his first collegiate start.

Childress also started Walker Pennington in left field. Pennington made a spectacular diving catch in the fourth, which proved key because two Cougars reached base later in the inning.

Then, Childress signed off on Schoenvogel pinch-hitting to start the top-of-the-night. Schoenvogel responded by blasting a 1-2 pitch from Houston reliever Aaron Fletcher over the left field fence for a 4-0 lead.

Of course, not much has come easy for Texas A&M this college baseball season, so why would a berth in the Super Regionals be any different? Childress had to make a series of pitching moves to ensure the Aggies would not fall victim to an epic collapse.

Kolek had been exceptional through eight innings against the heavy-hitting Cougars.

Kopetsky bounced off the right field wall to rob Houston’s Corey Jenks of extra bases in the first inning, and Pennington had his defensive gem in the fourth. Other than that, Kolek was in command. He struck out nine and allowed only one runner to reach second base in the first eight innings.

“I was very confident,” Kolek said. “If you don’t come out confident, you’re not going to have success. You’ve got to come out and act like you're the best pitcher in the country. Just having the mindset and attacking the strike zone and trusting your stuff.”

Then came the ninth. Kolek allowed a one-out home run to Julks. Grayson Padgett followed with a infield single. That prompted Childress to bring in relief pitcher Kaylor Chafin, who’d notched saves in A&M’s first two games of the tournament.

Chafin wasn’t as sharp as the first two games and even hit designated hitter Joe Davis with a pitch to put the a possible tying run at the plate. But Chafin made the pitch that could have – really, should have – ended the game.

He got Lael Lockhart to hit a bouncer to Janca at third base for an apparent double play. However, Janca dropped the ball as he ran toward the base for an error that left the bases loaded.

Houston’s Cooper Coldiron followed with a run-scoring single, and then Nick Slaughter slapped a sacrifice fly to Kopetsky in right as the Cougars pulled within 4-3. That’s when Childress went to Sherrod, whose first pitch to Wong provided the most anxious seconds of the game.

“When he hit it, I thought it was gone,” Houston coach Todd Whitting said. “I thought it might hit the wall.”

It didn’t. Wong didn’t hit Sherrod’s next two pitches, either.

That’s when the dancing really started in the Texas A&M dugout.