Friday, February 24
College Station
6:30 PM
Texas A&M
5-0
3
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0
Pepperdine
3-1
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Pepperdine
0
0
0
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Texas A&M
1
0
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0
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0
2
X
3
8
2
Photo by: Glen Johnson/Texas A&M Athletics
No. 20 Baseball Blanks Pepperdine, 3-0
Feb 24, 2017 | Baseball
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Juniors Brigham Hill and Cason Sherrod combined on a two-hitter as the No. 20 Texas A&M Aggies posted a 3-0 shutout of the Pepperdine Waves Friday evening on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.
Hill (2-0) equaled a career-high with 10 strikeouts on the evening. He scattered two hits and one walk over 7.2 innings. Hill has not allowed a run in 2017, striking out 20 over 13.2 innings.
Sherrod entered the game with a runner on first and two outs and Texas A&M clinging to a 1-0 lead in the top of the eighth. He fanned Quincy McAfee on four pitches to end the frame.
Texas A&M (5-0) tacked on insurance runs in the home half of the eighth. Hunter Coleman worked a seven-pitch walk to start the inning and with one out Blake Kopetsky singled to centerfield. Braden Shewmake worked the count to 2-0 before punching a gapper to left-center to drive in Coleman. Walker Pennington sent Kopetsky home with a deep shot that was caught at the wall on the foul side of the pole for a sacrifice fly and a 3-0 cushion.
Sherrod hit the first batter he faced in the ninth before setting in to induce a flyout to left by Aaron Barnett and a game-ending 5-4-3 double play by Ben Rodriguez to record his first save of the season.
The Aggies broke the scoring seal in the first. With two outs, Shewmake bounced a single up the middle and Pennington followed with a six-pitch walk. Jorge Gutierrez blooped a single to shallow rightfield to knock in Shewmake, but the inning ended with Gutierrez thrown out at second going for a hustle double.
Shewmake led Texas A&M at the plate going 2-for-4 with one double, one run and one RBI.
Matt Gelalich reached twice for Pepperdine (3-1), going 1-for-3 with a walk.
Ryan Wilson (0-1) was the hard-luck loser for Pepperdine, yielding one run on six hits and two walks while striking out five in 7.0 innings of work.
The Aggies and Waves return to Blue Bell Park for game two of the series Saturday at 2:02 p.m.
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
HEAD COACH ROB CHILDRESS
On the game…
"We told the guys before the game started, 'You better be ready for a Friday night fight.' Their lefty can flat out pitch. He wasn't super sharp early and we strung something together in the first. Our pitching made it stand up. It's nice to see us there in the eighth inning, once we got him out of the game, for us to be able to extend the lead. Cason (Sherrod) got us off the field and was able to finish the ninth."
On Cason Sherrod....
"He's dependable and he throws it over the plate. We are going to take (Corbin) Martin farther and extend him a little bit. We can use him as an X factor. If we would have needed him in the fifth or sixth we could have gone to him today. But when we need 5 or 6 outs or so we can go to Cason."
FRESHMAN 2B BRADEN SHEWMAKE
On the win...
"It's huge for our team to have good competition come in and play us well. It forced us to do things better and it forced us to make plays off of the mistakes. We made a few mistakes tonight but we recovered. Brigham (Hill) was cruising and we figured out how to hit in key situations to get the job done."
JUNIOR RHP BRIGHAM HILL
On the performance...
"It was a great night. Coach Childress and I really worked on fastball command throughout the week. I was throwing a lot of two-seams tonight trying to keep the ball on the ground especially with the wind. I thought it really helped. It's important to extend your outing on the first game of a series and give some room for the bullpen."
JUNIOR RHP CASON SHERROD
On getting the opportunity to close out the game...
"When coach gives you the ball you just have to go out there and throw strikes. Especially after the outing that Brigham (Hill) had. You just have to close it out and let the defense work behind you and get off the field."
On the K to end the Eighth...
"I finished him off on a slider. My slider has been my go-to pitch throughout the year. It was a big-time situation getting us off the field and when we got back to dugout our offense goes to work scoring a couple more runs. That just added to my confidence when I went back out there in the ninth."
Hill (2-0) equaled a career-high with 10 strikeouts on the evening. He scattered two hits and one walk over 7.2 innings. Hill has not allowed a run in 2017, striking out 20 over 13.2 innings.
Sherrod entered the game with a runner on first and two outs and Texas A&M clinging to a 1-0 lead in the top of the eighth. He fanned Quincy McAfee on four pitches to end the frame.
Texas A&M (5-0) tacked on insurance runs in the home half of the eighth. Hunter Coleman worked a seven-pitch walk to start the inning and with one out Blake Kopetsky singled to centerfield. Braden Shewmake worked the count to 2-0 before punching a gapper to left-center to drive in Coleman. Walker Pennington sent Kopetsky home with a deep shot that was caught at the wall on the foul side of the pole for a sacrifice fly and a 3-0 cushion.
Sherrod hit the first batter he faced in the ninth before setting in to induce a flyout to left by Aaron Barnett and a game-ending 5-4-3 double play by Ben Rodriguez to record his first save of the season.
The Aggies broke the scoring seal in the first. With two outs, Shewmake bounced a single up the middle and Pennington followed with a six-pitch walk. Jorge Gutierrez blooped a single to shallow rightfield to knock in Shewmake, but the inning ended with Gutierrez thrown out at second going for a hustle double.
Shewmake led Texas A&M at the plate going 2-for-4 with one double, one run and one RBI.
Matt Gelalich reached twice for Pepperdine (3-1), going 1-for-3 with a walk.
Ryan Wilson (0-1) was the hard-luck loser for Pepperdine, yielding one run on six hits and two walks while striking out five in 7.0 innings of work.
The Aggies and Waves return to Blue Bell Park for game two of the series Saturday at 2:02 p.m.
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
HEAD COACH ROB CHILDRESS
On the game…
"We told the guys before the game started, 'You better be ready for a Friday night fight.' Their lefty can flat out pitch. He wasn't super sharp early and we strung something together in the first. Our pitching made it stand up. It's nice to see us there in the eighth inning, once we got him out of the game, for us to be able to extend the lead. Cason (Sherrod) got us off the field and was able to finish the ninth."
On Cason Sherrod....
"He's dependable and he throws it over the plate. We are going to take (Corbin) Martin farther and extend him a little bit. We can use him as an X factor. If we would have needed him in the fifth or sixth we could have gone to him today. But when we need 5 or 6 outs or so we can go to Cason."
FRESHMAN 2B BRADEN SHEWMAKE
On the win...
"It's huge for our team to have good competition come in and play us well. It forced us to do things better and it forced us to make plays off of the mistakes. We made a few mistakes tonight but we recovered. Brigham (Hill) was cruising and we figured out how to hit in key situations to get the job done."
JUNIOR RHP BRIGHAM HILL
On the performance...
"It was a great night. Coach Childress and I really worked on fastball command throughout the week. I was throwing a lot of two-seams tonight trying to keep the ball on the ground especially with the wind. I thought it really helped. It's important to extend your outing on the first game of a series and give some room for the bullpen."
JUNIOR RHP CASON SHERROD
On getting the opportunity to close out the game...
"When coach gives you the ball you just have to go out there and throw strikes. Especially after the outing that Brigham (Hill) had. You just have to close it out and let the defense work behind you and get off the field."
On the K to end the Eighth...
"I finished him off on a slider. My slider has been my go-to pitch throughout the year. It was a big-time situation getting us off the field and when we got back to dugout our offense goes to work scoring a couple more runs. That just added to my confidence when I went back out there in the ninth."
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Hill, Brigham (2-0)
L: Wilson, Ryan (0-1)
S: Sherrod, Cason (1)
Base Running:
SB: Gelalich, Matt 1
CS: Gelalich, Matt 1
HBP: Gelalich, Matt 1
Batting:
2B: Shewmake, Braden 1
RBI: Shewmake, Braden 1 ; Pennington, Walker 1 ; Gutierrez, Jorge 1
SF: Pennington, Walker 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Kopetsky, Blake 1 ; Shewmake, Braden 1 ; Coleman, Hunter 1
CS: Homan, Austin 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
1
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
C
/ BaseballINF/C
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballOF
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballINF
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