Saturday, February 27
Malibu, Calif.
3:00 PM
Texas A&M
6-1
6
at
0
Pepperdine
3-3
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Texas A&M
0
2
0
1
0
0
0
2
1
6
13
0
Pepperdine
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
Photo by: Bryan Byerly/ISI Photos
Aggies Even Series at Pepperdine with 6-0 Victory
Feb 27, 2016 | Baseball
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Kyle Simonds and Ryan Hendrix combined to hold Pepperdine to two hits while striking out 13 as the No. 4 Texas A&M Aggies registered a 6-0 triumph over the Waves Saturday at Eddy D. Field Stadium to even the three-game series heading into Sunday's finale.
Simonds (2-0) cruised through 7.0 innings of work, allowing just four baserunners on two hits, one walk and a wild pitch on a strike three. He struck out nine Waves on the afternoon. Hendrix fanned four of the seven batters he faced over 2.0 innings in a non-save situation.
The Aggies broke the scoring seal in the top of the second inning. Joel Davis drew a walk to start the frame and was replaced at first base on a fielder's choice grounder to shortstop by George Janca. With Janca running on a 3-1 offering, Ronnie Gideon slapped a single into left-center. Janca wheeled around third and headed home where he slid in safe as the ball popped out of the catcher's mitt on the tag for the 1-0 lead. Gideon moved to second on the throw home and would score when Boomer White punched a single to centerfield, staking the Aggies to a 2-0 lead.
The Maroon and White tacked on a run in the fourth. Gideon and Walker Pennington drew walks to start the frame and Boomer White laced a single up the middle to load the bases. Nick Choruby scored Gideon with a groundout to second base to inflate the cushion to 3-0.
Texas A&M (6-1) added two runs in the top of the eighth. With one out, Janca flared a single into leftfield and stole second base when Gideon struck out for the second out of the inning. Pennington gapped a double to left-center to knock in Janca. White knocked in Pennington with a single to leftfield to extend the lead to 5-0.
Michael Barash capped off the scoring in the ninth, sending a two-out offering to the Rockford Files, a solo dinger to leftfield for his second home run of the season and the 6-0 advantage.
White led the Aggie arsenal going 3-for-5 with two RBI. Janca batted 2-for-4 with two runs and Gideon went 1-for-2 with two walks, two runs and one RBI.
Pepperdine starter Kiko Garcia (1-1) was saddled with the loss, allowing three runs on eight hits and five walks while striking out one in 5.1 inning.
The squads meet in the rubber match of the series at 3 pm Central on Sunday.
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach Rob Childress
On Kyle Simonds' performance...
"I couldn't be more proud of Kyle. He set the tone for how we went about our business all day long in every facet of the game. He was outstanding and we played great defense behind him. He was able to expand the zone and he gave us seven great innings. We probably could have ran him out for the eighth and probably would do so later in the year, that's how efficient he was."
On the offense…
"We grabbed the lead early and we kept the pressure on. Four of our six runs were with two outs. We had 13 hits and five walks and we didn't strike out much early on. We kept the pressure on them all day long from an offensive standpoint. I'm very proud to see us score the three jug runs at the end of the game to put it out of reach. It took the pressure off in that ninth inning.
Simonds (2-0) cruised through 7.0 innings of work, allowing just four baserunners on two hits, one walk and a wild pitch on a strike three. He struck out nine Waves on the afternoon. Hendrix fanned four of the seven batters he faced over 2.0 innings in a non-save situation.
The Aggies broke the scoring seal in the top of the second inning. Joel Davis drew a walk to start the frame and was replaced at first base on a fielder's choice grounder to shortstop by George Janca. With Janca running on a 3-1 offering, Ronnie Gideon slapped a single into left-center. Janca wheeled around third and headed home where he slid in safe as the ball popped out of the catcher's mitt on the tag for the 1-0 lead. Gideon moved to second on the throw home and would score when Boomer White punched a single to centerfield, staking the Aggies to a 2-0 lead.
The Maroon and White tacked on a run in the fourth. Gideon and Walker Pennington drew walks to start the frame and Boomer White laced a single up the middle to load the bases. Nick Choruby scored Gideon with a groundout to second base to inflate the cushion to 3-0.
Texas A&M (6-1) added two runs in the top of the eighth. With one out, Janca flared a single into leftfield and stole second base when Gideon struck out for the second out of the inning. Pennington gapped a double to left-center to knock in Janca. White knocked in Pennington with a single to leftfield to extend the lead to 5-0.
Michael Barash capped off the scoring in the ninth, sending a two-out offering to the Rockford Files, a solo dinger to leftfield for his second home run of the season and the 6-0 advantage.
White led the Aggie arsenal going 3-for-5 with two RBI. Janca batted 2-for-4 with two runs and Gideon went 1-for-2 with two walks, two runs and one RBI.
Pepperdine starter Kiko Garcia (1-1) was saddled with the loss, allowing three runs on eight hits and five walks while striking out one in 5.1 inning.
The squads meet in the rubber match of the series at 3 pm Central on Sunday.
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach Rob Childress
On Kyle Simonds' performance...
"I couldn't be more proud of Kyle. He set the tone for how we went about our business all day long in every facet of the game. He was outstanding and we played great defense behind him. He was able to expand the zone and he gave us seven great innings. We probably could have ran him out for the eighth and probably would do so later in the year, that's how efficient he was."
On the offense…
"We grabbed the lead early and we kept the pressure on. Four of our six runs were with two outs. We had 13 hits and five walks and we didn't strike out much early on. We kept the pressure on them all day long from an offensive standpoint. I'm very proud to see us score the three jug runs at the end of the game to put it out of reach. It took the pressure off in that ninth inning.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Simonds, Kyle (2-0)
L: GARCIA (1-1)
Batting:
2B: Moroney, Jonathan 1 ; Pennington, Walker 1
HR: Barash, Michael 1
RBI: White, Boomer 2 ; Choruby, Nick 1 ; Barash, Michael 1 ; Gideon, Ronnie 1 ; Pennington, Walker 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Barash, Michael 1 ; Janca, George 2 ; Gideon, Ronnie 2 ; Pennington, Walker 1
SB: Janca, George 1
HBP: Pennington, Walker 1
Base Running:
HBP: GELALICH, Matt 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
5
R
0
H
3
RBI
2
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
0
AB
5
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
C
/ BaseballOF
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballINF
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballINF
/ BaseballLSU Postgame: Michael Earley, Jace Laviolette, Clayton Freshcorn
Friday, May 23
Highlights: A&M 3, LSU 4
Friday, May 23
Auburn Postgame: Michael Earley, Justin Lamkin, Kaeden Kent
Thursday, May 22
Highlights: Texas A&M 3, Auburn 2
Thursday, May 22
