Aggies One Win from Omaha after Topping TCU, 7-1
Jun 12, 2016 | Baseball
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – In the last Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park start of his career, senior Kyle Simonds pitched the Texas A&M Aggies to a 7-1 win over the TCU Horned Frogs to even the College Station Super Regional at 1-1. The teams will play the deciding game Sunday at 8:04 pm on ESPN2.
Simonds (11-3) allowed just one run on four hits and three walks while striking out six to earn the win. The Grand Island, Nebraska native finished the year 7-1 on Olsen Field, including his complete-game, no-hitter against Vanderbilt.
The Aggies exploded for four home runs on the evening, all solo jobs, with Michael Barash, Hunter Melton, Jonathan Moroney and J.B. Moss all going deep.
Texas A&M (49-15) needed just two pitches to break the scoring seal as Moss hit a 1-0 offering to the scoreboard in leftfield for a leadoff home run. After two outs were recorded, the Aggies resumed the charge with Ryne Birk and Barash singling to put two runners on. The inning appeared to be over when Moroney grounded to third base, but Elliott Barzilli's throw sailed over the first baseman's head allowing Birk to score. Joel Davis followed with a single down the leftfield line, plating Barash for the 3-0 lead.
The Aggies tacked on two insurance runs in the sixth. With one out, Moroney put a charge into a 0-1 pitch, sending over the fence in left-center for a solo home run. Davis followed with a double down the leftfield line and scored on a double by Austin Homan, inflating the Texas A&M cushion to 5-0.
Texas A&M added two runs in the eighth with home runs by Barash and Melton.
Jace Vines closed out the game with two strikeouts in 1.1 innings of relief.
Barash went 2-for-5 with two runs and one RBI. Davis batted 2-for-2 with one double, one walk, one run and one RBI. Homan hit his fifth double of the postseason.
Mitchell Traver (1-2) was saddled with the loss for TCU (46-16). He yielded five runs, three earned, on six hits and two walks while striking out four in 5.2 innings.
Evan Skoug and Ryan Merrill managed two hits apiece for TCU with Skoug accounting for the only RBI.
NOTES
Texas A&M
TCU
TCU quotes
Head Coach Jm Schlossnagle
Opening Statement…
"Congratulations to the Aggies. I thought Kyle Simonds was obviously really, really good. We got off to a bad start in the first inning, set behind the eight ball a little bit but that didn't cost us the ball game. What did is how good Kyle was and for the rest of the game we just tried to keep it close but also conserve pitching for tomorrow so had no doubt that this whole weekend was going to be a grind, as it has been and we look forward to being back out here tomorrow."
On game three mentality…
"We can't make it anything more than it is. It's just a ballgame and you got to play relaxed. We've been in this situation before. I've been in this situation before but I don't play, so these guys just have to play sound baseball. You have good starting pitching, you have timely hitting and you play good defense behind the pitcher so it's that simple. You can't do anything more than that."
Sophomore catcher Evan Skoug
On importance of momentum…
"Well, the crowd was in it for them to the last pitch. Yesterday, a big part of our victory was silencing that crowd. They feast off their crowd and the bubbles and all that stuff so it just makes it a little harder to come back and scratch some runs off when their crowd's into it like that."
Junior pitcher Mitchell Traver
On his first inning…
"The second pitch of the game, it was elevated and he put a good swing on it, so credit to J.B. Moss. After that, it's the same thing, just trying to make good pitches. The error didn't help but at the end of the day, I should be going one, two, three anyway so I'm never going to put that on my guys. The credit goes to them. They put good swings on baseballs, one of them was elevated and the other ones were in good spots."
Texas A&M quotes
Head Coach Rob Childress
Opening Statement…
"I'm very proud of our team for bouncing back after last night's disappointing loss. We found a way to even the series and give us a chance to play one more day. When all is said and done our guys understand it's about winning two games. Nice answer today, it all started on the mound and Kyle Simonds was fantastic. We started the game well offensively with J.B. Moss and capitalized off their mistakes defensively. I thought once Kyle got through the second inning with runners on first and second and no outs it allowed us to tack on a few more. Then Jace Vines did a really nice job closing the game out."
On Hunter Melton…
"He had a hit last night and nobody cares and wants to be a contributor more than Hunter Melton. He works really hard at that. He had a really good at bat with two strikes and didn't miss the mistake and it is nice to be able to achieve what we are capable of tonight."
On the difference tonight…
"We were focused yesterday, but TCU deserves all the credit for last night and they were focused again today. But, today we threw it over the plate, didn't give them any free baserunners, and got some timely hits. That's the type of game we play and that's why we don't play one a week and we play as many as we do. The guys were ready to go tonight, locked in and ready to go. I'm sure they'll be ready to be go tomorrow also."
Senior catcher Michael Barash
Thoughts on the game…
"They are a really aggressive team, they swing the bat hard and get the barrel to the bat. Kyle (Simonds) changed speeds really well throwing pitches for strikes and anytime you do that you are going to be really effective. The biggest thing was his fastball command to both sides of the plate, keeping the ball down. He did an outstanding job commanding the game for us tonight."
Extending the season…
"After the game last night, we all reached out to each other and said that 'we aren't ready to be done yet'. And there is no reason for us to be done yet the only team that is going to make this happen is ourselves and we came out today and put our head down and got off to a nice start, setting the start. It was an outstanding effort one through nine tonight."
Senior pitcher Kyle Simonds
On the outing…
"It was just an unbelievable effort by the boys tonight to set the tone in the first inning. I was proud of the way our defense was able to make the plays to get us off the field when we needed to and the offense did the rest. That standing ovation by the crowd was an awesome feeling."
Simonds (11-3) allowed just one run on four hits and three walks while striking out six to earn the win. The Grand Island, Nebraska native finished the year 7-1 on Olsen Field, including his complete-game, no-hitter against Vanderbilt.
The Aggies exploded for four home runs on the evening, all solo jobs, with Michael Barash, Hunter Melton, Jonathan Moroney and J.B. Moss all going deep.
Texas A&M (49-15) needed just two pitches to break the scoring seal as Moss hit a 1-0 offering to the scoreboard in leftfield for a leadoff home run. After two outs were recorded, the Aggies resumed the charge with Ryne Birk and Barash singling to put two runners on. The inning appeared to be over when Moroney grounded to third base, but Elliott Barzilli's throw sailed over the first baseman's head allowing Birk to score. Joel Davis followed with a single down the leftfield line, plating Barash for the 3-0 lead.
The Aggies tacked on two insurance runs in the sixth. With one out, Moroney put a charge into a 0-1 pitch, sending over the fence in left-center for a solo home run. Davis followed with a double down the leftfield line and scored on a double by Austin Homan, inflating the Texas A&M cushion to 5-0.
Texas A&M added two runs in the eighth with home runs by Barash and Melton.
Jace Vines closed out the game with two strikeouts in 1.1 innings of relief.
Barash went 2-for-5 with two runs and one RBI. Davis batted 2-for-2 with one double, one walk, one run and one RBI. Homan hit his fifth double of the postseason.
Mitchell Traver (1-2) was saddled with the loss for TCU (46-16). He yielded five runs, three earned, on six hits and two walks while striking out four in 5.2 innings.
Evan Skoug and Ryan Merrill managed two hits apiece for TCU with Skoug accounting for the only RBI.
NOTES
Texas A&M
- Kyle Simonds posted his eighth quality start on the year, finishing with a line of 7.2 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 6 K. Simonds moves to 11-3, having the most wins by an Aggie since Ross Stripling in 2012
- Four different Aggies left the yard in tonight's game – JB Moss (6th), Jonathan Moroney (5th), Michael Barash (5th), and Hunter Melton (12th)
- Moroney's home run was his third this NCAA Tournament
- Hunter Melton's eighth inning homerun was initially ruled a triple, but was later ruled to be a homerun upon video review
- Michael Barash extended his hitting streak to 16 games, which includes all six of the Aggies' games in the NCAA Tournament. He has hit safely in eight straight NCAA Tournament games, dating back to last seasons' NCAA Fort Worth Super Regional. This was his 19th multi-hit game on the season
- Austin Homan hit his fifth double this postseason
- Joel Davis had his seventh multi-hit game of season and his career
- The Aggies tied the College Station Super Regional at one game apiece, forcing a Game 3 on Sunday at 8 p.m. The winner of Sunday's game clinches a berth in the College World Series
- This is the second straight year that Texas A&M and TCU have played in a Super Regional that has gone three games. TCU won last season's Fort Worth Super Regional two games to one
- The Aggies are looking for their sixth College World Series appearance, and first since 2011.
- Texas A&M leads the all-time series 162-91-4, but TCU holds a 4-2 advantage in NCAA Tournament play
- Texas A&M holds a historical 2-1 record in Game 3 of a Super Regional, the only loss coming to TCU last year
- A&M improves to 40-6 when they score first
TCU
- TCU's error in the first inning was their first of the NCAA Tournament
- Luken Baker's double was his 15th of the year and extended his hitting streak to 10 games and his reached base safely streak to 34 games
- Texas A&M's seven runs matched the most scored by a TCU opponent this postseason
- TCU historically holds a 3-0 record in Game 3 of a Super Regional
- TCU fell to 42-32 in the NCAA Tournament and 8-8 in NCAA Super Regionals
- TCU dropped to 5-2 in NCAA Tournament games played in College Station
- TCU allowed the first run in a game for the 29th time this season and a first inning run for just the 14th time this season
- TCU gave up a season-high four home runs in the game
- Evan Skoug collected his 18th multi-hit game of the season and the 37th of his career
- Cam Warner and Elliott Barzilli have reached base in seven straight games
- Ryan Merrill has reached base safely in six straight games
- The Horned Frogs are looking to advance to the College World Series for the third straight season, and fourth time in school history
TCU quotes
Head Coach Jm Schlossnagle
Opening Statement…
"Congratulations to the Aggies. I thought Kyle Simonds was obviously really, really good. We got off to a bad start in the first inning, set behind the eight ball a little bit but that didn't cost us the ball game. What did is how good Kyle was and for the rest of the game we just tried to keep it close but also conserve pitching for tomorrow so had no doubt that this whole weekend was going to be a grind, as it has been and we look forward to being back out here tomorrow."
On game three mentality…
"We can't make it anything more than it is. It's just a ballgame and you got to play relaxed. We've been in this situation before. I've been in this situation before but I don't play, so these guys just have to play sound baseball. You have good starting pitching, you have timely hitting and you play good defense behind the pitcher so it's that simple. You can't do anything more than that."
Sophomore catcher Evan Skoug
On importance of momentum…
"Well, the crowd was in it for them to the last pitch. Yesterday, a big part of our victory was silencing that crowd. They feast off their crowd and the bubbles and all that stuff so it just makes it a little harder to come back and scratch some runs off when their crowd's into it like that."
Junior pitcher Mitchell Traver
On his first inning…
"The second pitch of the game, it was elevated and he put a good swing on it, so credit to J.B. Moss. After that, it's the same thing, just trying to make good pitches. The error didn't help but at the end of the day, I should be going one, two, three anyway so I'm never going to put that on my guys. The credit goes to them. They put good swings on baseballs, one of them was elevated and the other ones were in good spots."
Texas A&M quotes
Head Coach Rob Childress
Opening Statement…
"I'm very proud of our team for bouncing back after last night's disappointing loss. We found a way to even the series and give us a chance to play one more day. When all is said and done our guys understand it's about winning two games. Nice answer today, it all started on the mound and Kyle Simonds was fantastic. We started the game well offensively with J.B. Moss and capitalized off their mistakes defensively. I thought once Kyle got through the second inning with runners on first and second and no outs it allowed us to tack on a few more. Then Jace Vines did a really nice job closing the game out."
On Hunter Melton…
"He had a hit last night and nobody cares and wants to be a contributor more than Hunter Melton. He works really hard at that. He had a really good at bat with two strikes and didn't miss the mistake and it is nice to be able to achieve what we are capable of tonight."
On the difference tonight…
"We were focused yesterday, but TCU deserves all the credit for last night and they were focused again today. But, today we threw it over the plate, didn't give them any free baserunners, and got some timely hits. That's the type of game we play and that's why we don't play one a week and we play as many as we do. The guys were ready to go tonight, locked in and ready to go. I'm sure they'll be ready to be go tomorrow also."
Senior catcher Michael Barash
Thoughts on the game…
"They are a really aggressive team, they swing the bat hard and get the barrel to the bat. Kyle (Simonds) changed speeds really well throwing pitches for strikes and anytime you do that you are going to be really effective. The biggest thing was his fastball command to both sides of the plate, keeping the ball down. He did an outstanding job commanding the game for us tonight."
Extending the season…
"After the game last night, we all reached out to each other and said that 'we aren't ready to be done yet'. And there is no reason for us to be done yet the only team that is going to make this happen is ourselves and we came out today and put our head down and got off to a nice start, setting the start. It was an outstanding effort one through nine tonight."
Senior pitcher Kyle Simonds
On the outing…
"It was just an unbelievable effort by the boys tonight to set the tone in the first inning. I was proud of the way our defense was able to make the plays to get us off the field when we needed to and the offense did the rest. That standing ovation by the crowd was an awesome feeling."
Players Mentioned
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Fall Practice Preview: Shane Sdao
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