What a TEAM!
The Texas A&M baseball team kicked off the 2022 College Station Super Regional in magical fashion on Friday night, with a 5-4 win in front of 6.732 members of the 12th man at Blue Bell Park.
It didn’t take long for the Aggies to kick off the scoring, as they pushed a run across in the bottom of the 1st inning, when Troy Claunch was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. But the Cardinals answered quickly, as Logan Beard singled off Aggies starter Nathan Dettmer with the bases loaded to score two, followed by a Ben Bianco sacrifice fly, to put Louisville up 3-1 after 2 innings.
The Aggies didn’t get much production from middle of their order, as Dylan Rock, Austin Bost and Ryan Targac combined to go 1-12 with 5 strike outs, but Jordan Thompson and others picked them up. It was Thompson who started the Aggies rally back, with a 2-out, 2-strike single that scored Brett Minnich in the bottom of the 3rd.
A Ben Metzinger double increased the Cardinals lead to 4-2 in the 5th, and pushed Nathan Dettmer out of the game. But relievers Joseph Menefee and Ryan Palisch slammed the door shut, throwing 4.2 scoreless innings and striking out 5.
Thompson again came up big in the 7th with a two-run homer to tie the game and set up the magic in the 9th.
Trevor Werner got the inning off to a favorable start with a lead off walk, but Jack Moss lined out, and Dylan Rock struck out to leave A&M to their last out. But the Aggies weren’t done, Austin Bost singled and Ryan Targac was hit by a pitch, bringing Troy “Clutch” Claunch to the plate, and he didn’t disappoint.
GOOD MORNING AGGIELAND pic.twitter.com/6nBsIfMavx
— Texas A&M Baseball (@AggieBaseball) June 11, 2022
Claunch’s first pitch walk off single to right field scored Werner and secured the Aggies a game one win.
Game two of the series is Saturday at 2:00 pm CT. Tune in to ESPN2 to see the Aggies attempt to secure their spot in Omaha.
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