Friday, April 1
Gainesville, Fla.
6:00 PM
Texas A&M
22-4, 4-3
4
at
7
Florida
25-3, 5-2
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Texas A&M
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
3
4
9
2
Florida
0
2
1
1
0
3
0
0
X
7
12
0
Photo by: Texas A&M Athletics
Late Rally Comes Up Short in 7-4 Loss at No. 3 Florida
Apr 01, 2016 | Baseball
GAINESVILLE, Florida – No. 1 Texas A&M mounted a late rally, but it came up short as the Aggies dropped a 7-4 decision to the No. 3 Florida Gators at McKethan Stadium Friday evening.
Trailing 7-1 in the ninth, Austin Homan drew a pinch-hit walk to start the frame. With one out, Ryne Birk gapped a double to right-center to plate Homan and with two outs, Hunter Melton belted a two-run home run to rightfield to cut the Florida lead to 7-4. After the dinger, Florida brought Steve Moss on to pitch and he issued a four-pitch walk to Nick Banks. With Cole Bedford coming to the plate, the Gators called on closer Shaun Anderson and he answered by inducing a game-ending grounder to second for his fifth save of the season.
Aggie pitching yielded the first runs of the game for just the fifth time on the season. The Gators used three doubles to score two runs in the bottom of the second. Deacon Liput started the frame with a double down the rightfield line on a 2-1 offering from A&M starter Tyler Ivey. After Mike Rivera grounded out back to the mound, Jeremy Vasquez broke the scoring seal, hitting a gapper to right-center for an RBI double. Nelson Maldonado was issued a four-pitch walk and Jonathan India followed with a ground-rule double to left-center, plating Vasquez for the 2-0 lead.
Florida (25-3, 5-2 SEC) tacked on a run in the third when Peter Alonso drove a 2-0 offering from reliever Brigham Hill deep to leftfield for solo home run.
The Gators took advantage of an Aggie error to score a run in the fourth. After Nick Choruby dropped a fly ball to centerfield by Maldonado for a three-base error India followed with his second double of the game to extend Florida's lead to 4-0.
Florida continued to stack up runs with a three-run sixth. After Aggie reliever Cason Sherrod issued a walk to Vasquez, Maldonado singled through the right side of the infield to put runners at the corners. India and Reed each knocked in runs with a single and a sacrifice fly by J.J. Schwarz ballooned the Gators' lead to 7-0.
Texas A&M (22-4, 4-3 SEC) broke the scoring seal in the top of the seventh. J.B. Moss started the frame by rattling a double into the leftfield corner. He moved to third on a groundout to short by Birk and scored on a sacrifice fly by Boomer White.
Ivey (2-1) was saddled with the loss in his short stint. He yielded two runs on four hits and one walk without a strikeout in 1.1 innings. Brigham Hill allowed two runs, one earned, on two hits and one walk while striking out two in 2.2 innings.
Logan Shore labored through 4.1 innings and was left without a decision. He scattered five hits and three walks while striking out five. Kirby Snead (2-0) earned the win in relief, allowing one run on one hit and one walk while striking out one in 2.0 innings.
Birk, White and Melton each logged two hits for the Aggies, but the squad was doomed by 11 runners left on base and 4-of-18 hitting with runners on base.
India had a career day, going 4-of-4 with two doubles and three RBI. Reed, Alonso and Liput each added two hits.
The series continues Saturday in Gainesville. The first pitch at McKethan Stadium is slated for 6:32 pm on ESPNU.
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach Rob Childress
On what he said to the team after the game…
"We have to play better. We don't have to play perfect baseball, we just have to play better. We didn't play very good tonight. Give Florida all of the credit. We have to go to the bullpen in the second inning, chasing runs. You do that against teams like Florida and it's an uphill climb. We had the leadoff runner on in four innings and I think we had 14 opportunities with a runner in scoring position, but didn't make the most of it. We had the bases loaded and one out and two guys you want coming to the plate in that situation and we didn't get the big hit.
On if he's worried about having to go to the bullpen early…
"No. We had some guys give us some good innings tonight and we have the guys available we need for the rest of the series."
Trailing 7-1 in the ninth, Austin Homan drew a pinch-hit walk to start the frame. With one out, Ryne Birk gapped a double to right-center to plate Homan and with two outs, Hunter Melton belted a two-run home run to rightfield to cut the Florida lead to 7-4. After the dinger, Florida brought Steve Moss on to pitch and he issued a four-pitch walk to Nick Banks. With Cole Bedford coming to the plate, the Gators called on closer Shaun Anderson and he answered by inducing a game-ending grounder to second for his fifth save of the season.
Aggie pitching yielded the first runs of the game for just the fifth time on the season. The Gators used three doubles to score two runs in the bottom of the second. Deacon Liput started the frame with a double down the rightfield line on a 2-1 offering from A&M starter Tyler Ivey. After Mike Rivera grounded out back to the mound, Jeremy Vasquez broke the scoring seal, hitting a gapper to right-center for an RBI double. Nelson Maldonado was issued a four-pitch walk and Jonathan India followed with a ground-rule double to left-center, plating Vasquez for the 2-0 lead.
Florida (25-3, 5-2 SEC) tacked on a run in the third when Peter Alonso drove a 2-0 offering from reliever Brigham Hill deep to leftfield for solo home run.
The Gators took advantage of an Aggie error to score a run in the fourth. After Nick Choruby dropped a fly ball to centerfield by Maldonado for a three-base error India followed with his second double of the game to extend Florida's lead to 4-0.
Florida continued to stack up runs with a three-run sixth. After Aggie reliever Cason Sherrod issued a walk to Vasquez, Maldonado singled through the right side of the infield to put runners at the corners. India and Reed each knocked in runs with a single and a sacrifice fly by J.J. Schwarz ballooned the Gators' lead to 7-0.
Texas A&M (22-4, 4-3 SEC) broke the scoring seal in the top of the seventh. J.B. Moss started the frame by rattling a double into the leftfield corner. He moved to third on a groundout to short by Birk and scored on a sacrifice fly by Boomer White.
Ivey (2-1) was saddled with the loss in his short stint. He yielded two runs on four hits and one walk without a strikeout in 1.1 innings. Brigham Hill allowed two runs, one earned, on two hits and one walk while striking out two in 2.2 innings.
Logan Shore labored through 4.1 innings and was left without a decision. He scattered five hits and three walks while striking out five. Kirby Snead (2-0) earned the win in relief, allowing one run on one hit and one walk while striking out one in 2.0 innings.
Birk, White and Melton each logged two hits for the Aggies, but the squad was doomed by 11 runners left on base and 4-of-18 hitting with runners on base.
India had a career day, going 4-of-4 with two doubles and three RBI. Reed, Alonso and Liput each added two hits.
The series continues Saturday in Gainesville. The first pitch at McKethan Stadium is slated for 6:32 pm on ESPNU.
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach Rob Childress
On what he said to the team after the game…
"We have to play better. We don't have to play perfect baseball, we just have to play better. We didn't play very good tonight. Give Florida all of the credit. We have to go to the bullpen in the second inning, chasing runs. You do that against teams like Florida and it's an uphill climb. We had the leadoff runner on in four innings and I think we had 14 opportunities with a runner in scoring position, but didn't make the most of it. We had the bases loaded and one out and two guys you want coming to the plate in that situation and we didn't get the big hit.
On if he's worried about having to go to the bullpen early…
"No. We had some guys give us some good innings tonight and we have the guys available we need for the rest of the series."
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Snead (2-0)
L: Ivey, Tyler (2-1)
S: Anderson (5)
Batting:
2B: Moss, J.B. 1 ; Birk, Ryne 1 ; Banks, Nick 1 ; Davis, Joel 1
HR: Melton, Hunter 1
RBI: Birk, Ryne 1 ; White, Boomer 1 ; Melton, Hunter 2
SF: White, Boomer 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Moss, J.B. 1 ; Birk, Ryne 1 ; Melton, Hunter 1 ; Homan, Austin 1
CS: Moroney, Jonathan 1
HBP: Birk, Ryne 1
Batting:
2B: Reed 1 ; Liput 1 ; Vasquez 1 ; India 2
HR: Alonso 1
RBI: Reed 1 ; Schwarz 1 ; Alonso 1 ; Vasquez 1 ; India 3
SH: Guthrie 1
SF: Schwarz 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Alonso 1 ; Liput 1 ; Vasquez 2 ; Maldonado 2 ; India 1
SB: Reed 1
CS: Reed 1
HBP: Alonso 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
1
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
Players Mentioned
OF
/ Baseball
C
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballINF
/ 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
