Saturday, May 6
College Station
1:00 PM
Texas A&M
34-15, 14-10
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Mississippi State
32-17, 16-8
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Mississippi State
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Texas A&M
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Photo by: Sam Craft/Texas A&M Athletics
Aggies Fall in Rubber Match vs. Mississippi State, 4-3
May 06, 2017 | Baseball
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 17 Texas A&M Aggies gave up three runs in the decisive seventh inning as the No. 13 Mississippi State Bulldogs came away 4-3 winners Saturday afternoon.
Texas A&M (34-15, 14-10 SEC) scored the game's first run in the opening frame. Nick Choruby led off with a single and advanced to third on a groundout and wild pitch. Braden Shewmake's team-leading 57th RBI scored Choruby on a groundout.
Joel Davis extended the Texas A&M lead in the fourth with a blast to right. The solo shot was Davis' sixth homer of the season and ninth of his career.
Both teams traded runs in the sixth with the Bulldogs scoring first on a groundout off Aggie starter Stephen Kolek. After not hitting a home run in his first 70 career games, Blake Kopetsky played long ball for the second consecutive game. The senior's solo tater put the Aggies back up by two, 3-1.
Mississippi State's fateful seventh inning started with a one-out single from Elijah MacNamee. An error put Bulldogs on the corners with two outs when the Aggies made a change on the mound. Mitchell Kilkenny (3-2) came in and allowed consecutive singles tying the game up. A passed ball pushed across the go-ahead run before the inning concluded.
The Texas A&M bats couldn't put a rally together in the final three innings off Bulldog reliever Riley Self. The offense mustered just one hit over the last five innings.
Kolek got the no-decision in his 6.2 innings of work. He tied a career high with 11 strikeouts and allowed just one earned run. The sophomore has racked up 31 Ks over his last three starts. Kaylor Chafin relived Kilkenny pitching the scoreless eighth and ninth. Altogether, the Aggie pitching staff has compiled a 0.88 ERA over the last seven games.
Choruby reached three times in the game and finished the series 4-for-10 with three walks.
Next up, the Aggies travel to Ole Miss for their final SEC road series of the season. The three-game set gets started on Friday at 6:30 pm from Oxford.
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach Rob Childress
On today's game…
"Five weeks in a row Stephen Kolek has been outstanding. Pitched his tail off today. Did a great job. When you're not scoring runs, every little mistake gets magnified. We certainly had some today that were magnified and cost us dearly."
On the difference in the game…
"In the second inning we had runners on second and third with one out and don't score. Big run. In their seventh inning we're not able to get off the field and they score three two-out runs."
Senior INF Joel Davis
On Texas A&M's SEC series win streak being snapped…
"Every game in the SEC is tough, that's why it's the best conference in baseball. The game we lost today, we've won tons of those like that. We're a great team. They're a great team. There's a fine line between winning and losing and they were on that line these last two games. I'm not afraid of what our team is going to do."
On converting with runners on base…
"We left some guys on bags that shouldn't have happened. We have to take advantage of that. They took advantage of it, so that was a big part of the game."
Sophomore RHP Stephen Kolek
On getting a no decision despite a solid performance…
"It's no fun. You always want to get the win. It sucks when you lose. You just have to keep rooting for your guys and let them know that you have their back even when they have a little trouble. Just keep supporting them."
On his approach on the mound…
"Really just trying to fill up the strike zone with all of my pitches: fastball, cutter, change-ups Just trying to throw them all for strikes in the bottom of the zone. Just trying to get ahead of batters too. Don't fall behind. Just attack them."
Texas A&M (34-15, 14-10 SEC) scored the game's first run in the opening frame. Nick Choruby led off with a single and advanced to third on a groundout and wild pitch. Braden Shewmake's team-leading 57th RBI scored Choruby on a groundout.
Joel Davis extended the Texas A&M lead in the fourth with a blast to right. The solo shot was Davis' sixth homer of the season and ninth of his career.
Both teams traded runs in the sixth with the Bulldogs scoring first on a groundout off Aggie starter Stephen Kolek. After not hitting a home run in his first 70 career games, Blake Kopetsky played long ball for the second consecutive game. The senior's solo tater put the Aggies back up by two, 3-1.
Mississippi State's fateful seventh inning started with a one-out single from Elijah MacNamee. An error put Bulldogs on the corners with two outs when the Aggies made a change on the mound. Mitchell Kilkenny (3-2) came in and allowed consecutive singles tying the game up. A passed ball pushed across the go-ahead run before the inning concluded.
The Texas A&M bats couldn't put a rally together in the final three innings off Bulldog reliever Riley Self. The offense mustered just one hit over the last five innings.
Kolek got the no-decision in his 6.2 innings of work. He tied a career high with 11 strikeouts and allowed just one earned run. The sophomore has racked up 31 Ks over his last three starts. Kaylor Chafin relived Kilkenny pitching the scoreless eighth and ninth. Altogether, the Aggie pitching staff has compiled a 0.88 ERA over the last seven games.
Choruby reached three times in the game and finished the series 4-for-10 with three walks.
Next up, the Aggies travel to Ole Miss for their final SEC road series of the season. The three-game set gets started on Friday at 6:30 pm from Oxford.
TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head Coach Rob Childress
On today's game…
"Five weeks in a row Stephen Kolek has been outstanding. Pitched his tail off today. Did a great job. When you're not scoring runs, every little mistake gets magnified. We certainly had some today that were magnified and cost us dearly."
On the difference in the game…
"In the second inning we had runners on second and third with one out and don't score. Big run. In their seventh inning we're not able to get off the field and they score three two-out runs."
Senior INF Joel Davis
On Texas A&M's SEC series win streak being snapped…
"Every game in the SEC is tough, that's why it's the best conference in baseball. The game we lost today, we've won tons of those like that. We're a great team. They're a great team. There's a fine line between winning and losing and they were on that line these last two games. I'm not afraid of what our team is going to do."
On converting with runners on base…
"We left some guys on bags that shouldn't have happened. We have to take advantage of that. They took advantage of it, so that was a big part of the game."
Sophomore RHP Stephen Kolek
On getting a no decision despite a solid performance…
"It's no fun. You always want to get the win. It sucks when you lose. You just have to keep rooting for your guys and let them know that you have their back even when they have a little trouble. Just keep supporting them."
On his approach on the mound…
"Really just trying to fill up the strike zone with all of my pitches: fastball, cutter, change-ups Just trying to throw them all for strikes in the bottom of the zone. Just trying to get ahead of batters too. Don't fall behind. Just attack them."
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Self, Riley (5-0)
L: Kilkenny, Mitchell (3-2)
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Batting:
2B: MacNamee, Elijah 1 ; Poole, Tanner 1
RBI: Mangum, Jake 1 ; Lovelady, Josh 1 ; Poole, Tanner 1
Base Running:
RUNS: MacNamee, Elijah 1 ; Vansau, Hunter 1 ; Lovelady, Josh 2
Batting:
HR: Davis, Joel 1 ; Kopetsky, Blake 1
RBI: Shewmake, Braden 1 ; Davis, Joel 1 ; Kopetsky, Blake 1
SH: Homan, Austin 1 ; Kopetsky, Blake 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Choruby, Nick 1 ; Davis, Joel 1 ; Kopetsky, Blake 1
SB: Davis, Joel 1
CS: Shewmake, Braden 1
HBP: Davis, Joel 1 ; Pennington, Walker 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
AB
2
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
LHP
/ BaseballOF
/ BaseballINF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballOF
/ BaseballINF
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