Aggies Drop Super Regional Opener to TCU, 8-2

Friday, June 10

College Station

8:00 PM

Texas A&M

48-15

TCU

46-15

TCU

Texas A&M

Photo by: Thomas Campbell/Texas A&M Athletics

Jun 11, 2016 | Baseball

Box Score

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M Aggies lost the first game of the NCAA Division I Championship College Station Super Regional to the TCU, 8-2, Friday evening on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.

TCU (46-15) drew first blood in the top of the first inning. With one out, Cam Warner dropped a single in front of the Aggies' leftfielder and Evan Skoug gapped a single to left-center to put runners on the corners. After Luken Baker drew a five-pitch walk, Elliott Barzilli knocked in Warner when Texas A&M was unable to turn an inning-ending 3-6-1 double play and Skoug came around to score when the throw got by Brigham Hill at first.

Texas A&M (48-15) responded with two runs in the home half of the first. With one out, Nick Banks bounced a single up the middle and Ryne Birk drew a four-pitch walk with two outs. Michael Barash followed by punching a 2-2 offering to the warning track in left-center for a two-run double.

The Horned Frogs reclaimed the lead in the third. Hill issued walks to Warner and Skoug to start the inning and Baker made him pay with a three-run home run to leftfield for the 5-2 lead.

TCU tacked on three more runs in the fifth. The frame featured Baker scoring from second on a wild pitch and Ryan Merrill tight-roping a two-run double down the leftfield line for the 8-2 cushion.

Hill (9-2) was saddled with the loss for Texas A&M. He allowed eight runs, seven earned, in the 4.2 innings. He was squeezed for four walks and struck out two while surrendering six hits.

White paced the Texas A&M offense with two hits, including a double.

Jared Janczak (7-3) earned the win for TCU. He worked 7.2 innings, yielding two runs on six hits and three walks while striking out four.

Warner, Skoug, Baker and Merrill each logged two hits for the Horned Frogs.

The best-of-three series continues with game two Saturday at 8:04 pm.

NOTES
Texas A&M

Texas A&M faced their first deficit of the NCAA Tournament and suffered their first loss as well.
Seven earned runs is the most given up in Brigham Hill's career at Texas A&M, and his four walks surrendered ties his career high.
Mitchell Kilkenny matched his career-long outing with 3.1 innings pitched. He did not allow a run.
Michael Barash extended his hitting streak to 15 games, which includes all four of the Aggies' games in the NCAA Tournament. He has hit safely in seven straight NCAA Tournament games, dating back to last seasons' NCAA Fort Worth Super Regional
Boomer White extended his hitting streak to six games and had his 29^th multi-hit game of the year.
Texas A&M still leads the all-time series 161-91-4, but TCU holds a 4-1 lead in NCAA Tournament play.

TCU

Luken Baker hit his team-leading fifth homerun of the season, extending his hit streak to nine. This was his 25^th multi-hit game as well.
Jared Janczak posted his second quality start of his season and career with a final line of 7.2 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 4 K.
Ryan Merrill's double was his ninth of the season, and his two RBIs brought his season total to 22.
TCU improves to a 35-2 record when scoring 6+ runs.
TCU has held its opponents to three or fewer runs in all four games of the NCAA Tournament.
TCU has not committed an error in the NCAA Tournament
The Horned Frogs have won six straight games, including all four contests in the NCAA Championship. TCU has won four straight NCAA Tournament games in each of the past two seasons.
TCU can clinch its third straight trip to the College World Series, and fourth trip overall, with a win in game two of the College Station Super Regional, at 8 p.m. on Saturday. It is an elimination game for Texas A&M.

TCU quotes
Head Coach Jim Schlossnagle
Opening Statement…
"Really excited about the win. But, that's all it is, one win, one ballgame. Jered (Janczak) was outstanding especially in the middle innings. I felt like we had to get it going really early in the game. They put a lot of good swings on Jared but he settled in and pitched really well. It was big to get on them early."

On the pitching approach…
"When you're able to get a lead and you're able to extend it, it lets you be more aggressive out on the mound against a really good offensive team. A&M started taking strike one a lot and luckily we were throwing strike one and it caused them to hit from behind a lot."

On taking advantage of the baserunners…
"We are always trying to win the freebie war. Try to be the team that doesn't give up the most free 90 feet. We did a good job of that tonight and it comes down to pitching defense and timely hitting. We knew going in, especially with the crowd here and how good A&M is on offense, that you have to get off the field with two outs. We weren't able to do that in the first inning but later in the game we were able to make big pitches, especially in the eighth. The last three runs we scored came with two outs, and when you have guys on base, the good things get magnified."

Freshman designated hitter Luken Baker
On the home run…
"He gave me some really good pitches leading into the 1-2. I was just trying to do anything to drive in that run and to avoid hitting into a double play. He gave me a pitch that I could put a good swing. I didn't know when it left the bat but once I saw the left fielders back turn i sort of had a feeling."

Freshman starting pitcher Jared Janczak
On the approach tonight…
"Just trying to take it one pitch at a time and not think to far ahead. It's all you can do in a game like this. The first couple of innings I had a lot of adrenaline going and I was trying to throw the pitches on the bottom half of the strike zone and it got me a lot more ground balls tonight."

Texas A&M quotes
Head Coach Rob Childress
Opening Statement…
"TCU played very well tonight. Both starting pitchers wobbled a little bit early. We give up two runs in the top, we come right back and score in the bottom and their guys settled in and did a really nice job. We made a mistake defensively in the first, it cost us a run. The next three runs we gave up were off the homerun to Luken [Baker] which was off of the two walks and there again in the last number that we gave up, we couldn't get off the field with two outs. Give TCU hitter's credit, they did a great job competing with two strikes, fouling tough pitches off and staying in the at bat. Each reliever that we went to, they didn't get the first guy that they were brought in to face and after that, Mitchell Kilkenny was fantastic and obviously Ryan Hendrix was good there in the ninth but when you go to the bullpen, you've got to hope that guy gets the first hitter that they face and neither one of them were able to do that and give TCU credit for that."

On Texas A&M pitching at the end…
"We left with something. We slowed them down a little bit offensively the last three or four innings so you talk about something positive, we did slow them down. Like you said Mitchell Kilkenny albeit one at bat was really good after that and obviously Ryan Hendrix was electric there at the end of the game."

Senior catcher Michael Barash
On [Jared] Janczak settling in…
"I don't know if he was doing much differently. I think through the middle innings, we kind of got away from our approach on what we do as a team as a whole and when we do that, obviously we're just very average as you could tell by tonight but when we're clicking together, we're firing all cylinders, that's when you see the big offensive outburst but he did a good job. He made the pitches when they needed to be made and tip your cap to him, he made the adjustments against us but we didn't make the adjustments back against him."

On season being on the line tomorrow…
"I'm not ready to be done. This is my last go around as a senior here at Texas A&M and we're not done yet. I'm not ready to be done playing with these guys. These are my brothers, these are my best friends and I'm not ready to take this uniform off. At the end of the day, we've got to flush this one and just come play. We got to come out tomorrow play hard, play fast, be a good aggressors and the chips will fall where they need to fall."

On the similarity of losing last season's opener to in Super Regional…
"When it comes down to it, it's about us. It's about us, Texas A&M and us playing Aggie baseball. If we make it any more than it is, like I said before, we're going to be in trouble but if we take it inning by inning, pitch by pitch, just enjoying the time we have together, the score board will take care of itself."

Sophomore pitcher Brigham Hill
On his struggles on the mound tonight…
"I was unable to get ahead in the count, gave them way too many free bases. I made mistakes and they took advantage of it."

On the pitch for the three-run home run…
"I thought it was a pretty good pitch but I left it up and he made me pay."