The Texas A&M baseball team started their weekend series with Missouri by capturing a 7-4 victory in front 7,391 at Olsen Field, the largest attendance since the stadium underwent renovations in 2012.
“It was awesome,” said Hunter Melton about playing in front of the record-setting crowd. “They were electric. The 12th Man is always electric. They bring it every night. They bring the house down. It’s big time playing in front of a crowd like that.”
After a four inning pitching deadlock to begin the game, A&M struck on offense in the fourth inning. After Nick Banks smashed a double off the wall in left field, Logan Taylor drove him in to put A&M in front 1-0. The Aggies (26-1) loaded the bases in the next inning, then a two-run single from Mitchell Nau gave the Aggies a 3-0 advantage after five innings of play.
Missouri (19-8) struck back in the sixth. The Tigers hit five straight singles, scoring three runs in the inning to tie the game at 3-3. However, the Aggie lineup responded with RBIs from Hunter Melton and Michael Barash in the bottom half of the inning to give the advantage back to the Aggies, who led 5-3 after six innings of play.
The Aggies added some insurance in the eighth inning, as RBIs from J.B. Moss and Melton gave the Aggies a 7-3 advantage. Melton led the Aggies on offense, going 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBIs on the night.
Grayson Long had a good night on the mound as well for A&M. He pitched five innings, and even though he had three earned runs, he struck out seven Missouri batters on the night, while giving up only five hits.
Andrew Vinson came in with the bases loaded and no outs, but kept the Tigers at bay to keep the game tied at three. Vinson pitched three innings of scoreless baseball to keep the Missouri lineup in check until Ryan Hendrix came in to shut the game down in the ninth inning.
“I was just trying to get one out at a time,” Vinson said. “I was hoping to get the out at home to save a run for Grayson, but its part of the game. It’s fun to come in and fight for your brothers. I know they have my back too.”
It was the biggest three outs of the game for A&M head coach Rob Childress, and he was impressed with the way his junior reliever handled the situation.
“They were huge,” coach Childress said. “[Grayson] is cruising along, we finally grab the lead from McClain, who was fantastic, and just like that, three singles when we had them down in the count and the bases loaded with nobody out, and theres a chance for a really big inning. But, Vinson comes in to get a double play and a strikeout to get us off the field and keep the game tied.”
The win moves the Aggies to 20-0 at home this season, and they are now 7-0 in Friday night games. Last season, the Aggies were 3-11 in series openers. The weekend series continues on Saturday afternoon, with first pitched scheduled for 1:05 pm.
