Pennington Conjures Up Olsen Magic in 10 Inning Win

Saturday, March 12

College Station

2:00 PM

Texas A&M

14-1

Fresno State

11-4

Fresno State

Texas A&M

Baseball vs. Northwestern State (Game 1)

Photo by: Texas A&M Athletics

Mar 12, 2016 | Baseball

Box Score

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 3 Texas A&M Aggies mounted a 10^th-inning rally to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat Saturday afternoon Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park, registering a 4-3 win over the Fresno State Bulldogs.

Trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the 10th, the straits looked dire for the Aggies as Bulldogs' closer Tim Borst snared a sharp ground ball back up the middle to rob Boomer White of a leadoff hit. Hunter Melton responded by working a four-pitch walk and Nick Banks was issued a base on balls on six pitches to put the go-ahead runner on first.

Michael Barash flied out for the second out of the inning, giving A&M one last out to work with. Ryne Birk roped a brisk ground ball that deflected off the glove of lunging first baseman Aaron Arruda and went into the hole on the right side. Jesse Medrano was unable to corral the ricochet and Melton came home to score the tying run on Birk's single.

Walker Pennington capped off the rally, driving a 1-1 offering deep into the right-center gap for a let's-go-home double and the 4-3 victory.

With the triumph, the Aggies won their ninth consecutive game, their 15th straight home game and clinched the series win over Fresno State.

Tyler Ivey was stellar in the start for the Aggies. The A&M freshman struck out a career-high 12 and allowed just two runs on three hits and two walks over 7.0 innings. Brigham Hill worked two scoreless innings with one hit and one walk.

Ty Schlottmann (1-0) retired the only batter he faced in the 10th to vulture the win.

The Bulldogs appeared headed to the win after posting a run in the top of the 10th. With Aggie co-closer Mark Ecker on the mound, Fresno State's first two batters were retired. Nick Warren drew a four-pitch walk and Korby Batesole slapped a single to rightfield to put two on. Ecker got ahead of Medrano 0-2, but the second baseman was able to send a flare to short rightfield, sending pinch-runner Ryan Dobson home for the 3-2 advantage.

Fresno State (11-4) struck first with a two-run frame in the top of the fourth. Zach Ashford started the rally with a six-pitch walk to lead off the inning. With one out, Aaron Arruda hit a wall-banger to the gap in left-center for a double, putting two runners in scoring position. Ivey got Torin Goldstein to swing at strike three for the second out of the inning, but he was unable to get out of the frame unscathed as McCarthy Tatum blooped a single into shallow right-center to plate two runs, staking Fresno State to a 2-0 lead.

After starting the game 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position, Texas A&M (14-1) finally broke through in the sixth inning. With one out, Melton was issued a base on balls and Banks was hit by a pitch. After Barash grounded into a fielder's choice putout at second to put runners at the corners, Birk punched a single to centerfield to trim the Fresno State lead to 2-1.

The Aggies tied the game in the seventh, scoring an unearned run off of reliever Dylan Lee. With one out, J.B. Moss was granted first base on a catcher's interference and Jonathan Moroney followed with a pinch-hit single down the leftfield line. White was hit with a pitch to load the bases and Melton plated Moss with the equalizer on a sacrifice fly to centerfield. For a brief moment it looked as though Texas A&M would take the lead when Banks crushed a 1-1 offering back to the mound, but Lee was able to make a self-preservation snag to end the frame.

Borst (0-1) was saddled with the loss. He allowed two runs on two hits and three walks while striking out one in 1.2 innings of work. Starting pitcher Jimmy Lambert yielded one run on six hits and one walk while striking out seven in 5.2 innings.

Birk was the only player in the game to register multiple hits, going 2-for-5 with two RBI.

The Aggies go for the sweep Sunday with first pitch slated for 1:04 pm on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.

TEXAS A&M QUOTES

Head Coach Rob Childress

Thoughts on the game…
"I'm really proud of our guys for staying in the fight. We had a lot of opportunities early. Made some base running mistakes and Jimmy Lambert was pitching really well. We found a way to scratch a few runs. In the top of tenth, we couldn't finish them with two outs and nobody on. After a four-pitch walk and a single they got a 0-2 hit and just like that you think you're going lose. Our guys wouldn't allow that and put a rally together in the bottom half. (Ryne) Birk hit a ball hard with two strikes and set it up for (Walker) Pennington to be the hero."

On Walker Pennington…

"He's got a good swing, and he's hit some balls hard with not a lot to show for it so far on the season. He barreled the ball up coming off the bench earlier in the day. Then, he had an opportunity to make the big hit. I couldn't be prouder for him."

Runners left on base…

"Very fortunate to be able to cover those up. We had runners at second and third a couple of times and a leadoff double that we weren't able to cash in on. You feel like if you miss those opportunities against a good team then you are probably going to come up short, but we able to overcome the mistakes in the end."

Junior outfielder Walker Pennington

On the game-winner…

"I was looking for the fastball there on the 1-1 count and it payed off. You have to give credit to the guys in front of me. I got rewarded with an RBI but it was the guys working those walks and the two-out hits that really gave me the opportunity."

Freshman pitcher Tyler Ivey

On the team win…

"We have so many guys on this team that just fight so hard and never get up. That's what makes this such a great team."

On his outing…

"Everything felt good. It's the way things go sometimes that those balls fell in for their couple of runs. But, I'm just glad we got the win."