Aggies Claim Sixth Consecutive Series

Saturday, May 14

Bryan-College Station

2:00 PM

Texas A&M

32-16, 16-10

Mississippi State

25-26, 9-17

Mississippi State

Texas A&M

May 14, 2022 | Baseball

Box Score Box Score Schlossnagle Postgame Werner Postgame Cortez Postgame Photo Gallery

By: Madeline "Mad Dog" Osborn, Texas A&M Athletics Communications

BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 16 Texas A&M Aggies claimed the series with a 9-6 win over the Mississippi State Bulldogs, sparked by a three-run rally in the eighth inning.

Texas A&M (32-16, 16-10 SEC) battled back from Mississippi State's (25-26, 9-17 SEC) early 4-0 lead. Trevor Werner's performance at the plate highlighted the day, hitting 2-for-4 with a home run, two runs and three RBI. Kole Kaler scored three runs, batting 1-for-2 and walking twice.

Jack Moss hit a double in the seventh to give the Aggies their first lead, 6-5. After the Bulldogs fought back to tie the game in the top of the eighth, Ol' Sarge charged in the home half of the inning to ensure the victory, scoring three runs on hits by Troy Claunch, Ryan Targac and Werner. Targac drove in the decisive run with his double down the left line.

Wyatt Tucker made his first career start, working 4.0 innings with two strikeouts. Chris Cortez (5-2) worked the last five innings yielding just one run on four hits while striking out five bulldogs.

With the victory, the Aggies secured their sixth consecutive SEC series for the first time since 2016 when they grabbed seven straight series.

TOP AGGIE PERFORMERS
Trevor Werner – 2-for-4, 2 R, 3 RBI, 1 HR
Ryan Targac – 2-for-4, 1R, 1 RBI, 1 2B
Chris Cortez – 5.0 IP, 5 K, W- 5-2

GAME SUMMARY
T2| With one out, Kamren James deposited a double down the leftfield line and Jess Davis hit a two-run home run over the fence in right-center. Tanner Leggett and RJ Yeager both singled and a double-steal put both runners in scoring position. Luke Hancock plated Leggett with a sac fly to leftfield. MSU 3, A&M 0

T3| Hunter Hines hit a leadoff home run to rightfield. MSU 4, A&M 0

B3| Kole Kaler hit a leadoff bunt which Dylan Rock capitalized off with a home run to leftfield. MSU 4, A&M 2

T5| Hancock started the inning with a single and moved to second on Hines's single to leftfield. Clark singled to left center to allow Hancock to sign home. MSU 5, A&M 2

B5| With an out, Kaler walked to first. Trever Werner hit a 412-foot tater to left field to plate both him and Kaler. MSU 5, A&M 4

B7| With an out, Kaler walked and advanced to second on Werner's hit by pitch. Jack Moss pounded the ball to left center to reach second and bring Kaler and Werner home for the Aggie lead. A&M 6, MSU 5

T8| Brad Cumbest hit a solo home run to left center to start the inning. A&M 6, MSU 6

B8| With no outs, Brett Minnich walked to first and advanced to second on Troy Claunch's single to right center. Ryan Targac doubled down the leftfield line to plate Minnich and advance Claunch to third. Claunch was brought home on Jordan Thompsons sacrifice fly, and Targac advanced to second on a Kaler ground-out. Werner hit a single to right field to bring Targac home for the final run of the game. A&M 9, MSU 6

UP NEXT
The Aggies close out their regular-season home slate Sunday with a 12:02 pm contest to wrap up the series against Mississippi State.

TEXAS A&M QUOTES
Head coach Jim Schlossnagle
On Chris Cortez's five-inning outing…
"He had a breaking ball. That's been it all year. He throws that fastball at the bottom of the strike zone all the time, but he hasn't been consistent with his off-speed pitches. Today, he threw just enough off-speed pitches for strikes, a couple really good change-ups to lefty's so that's a huge sign for us."

Freshman RHP Chris Cortez
On today's pitching performance…
"All these guys, all these teams, they know I throw hard fastballs. I didn't really have anything all year, but I've been working on [the breaking ball] really hard, so now I've got something else to show and they can't just hit fastballs."

On the studly defense behind him…
"It's awesome. It just makes me want to fill up the zone to get ground balls the whole time to get short counts, keep the pitch count down, and just let them do what they do."

Sophomore third baseman Trevor Werner
On being moved to the top of the order…
"That's something Coach Schlossnagle talked to me about when I was first coming back. It was just an idea at first, but now it actually happened. As long as it's going good for him, I'm good with it. It lets me see pitches from the beginning of the game, gaining information, and I think we do a good job as a whole team relaying information up and down the lineup so, I like being in that leadoff spot."

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