Texas A&M base runners swiped eight bases and sophomore starter Ross Stripling struck out nine en route to a 12-4 drubbing of Winthrop on Saturday at Olsen Field.
Improving to 8-2 and handing the Eagles their second loss of the season, the Aggies had no problem scoring runs, taking a 5-0 lead in the first inning.
After leading the inning off with a walk and taking second base on an error, junior second baseman Andrew Collazo stole his first of three bags.
“Coach always wants me to get in scoring position with one out, two outs, so I just do my job and get to second base,” Collazo said.
After Collazo scored and sophomore right fielder Scott Arthur took third on a sacrifice fly by senior second baseman Brodie Greene, senior designated hitter Joe Patterson hit an RBI single into left field.
Patterson, who is batting .541 with a .605 on base percentage, was 2-for-3 with a walk and was hit by a pitch.
“Everybody in the order, Collazo, Scott and Brodie, are all doing a great job getting on base,” Patterson said. First baseman Caleb Shofner “is backing me up, so I’m getting a lot of good pitches to hit. My job is pretty easy right now.”
Patterson then stole second on a missed hit-and-run play, his first of two stolen bases of the game. Patterson is tied with Collazo for the team lead in stolen bases with four.
“It’s mostly missed hit-and-runs and stuff like that,” Patterson said laughing. “It’s kind of a joke amongst the team—stealing bases isn’t exactly my forte.”
Patterson, who is 6-feet tall and weighs 215 pounds, had one steal in 2009 and none at his previous stops at Oral Roberts and Seminole State.
Arthur was in on the stealing frenzy, earning one in the first inning before the sacrifice fly and taking another in the seventh inning. Arthur was 2-for-5 with his two hits being doubles down the left field line.
The Aggies stretched the lead in the third inning, scoring one run on three consecutive hits from junior third baseman Kenny Jackson, junior left fielder Joaquin Hinojosa and junior catcher Gregg Alcazar.
Stripling, who never started a game as a freshman, was perfect through three innings before a pair of infield errors allowed Winthrop to cut A&M’s lead in half.
Collazo recorded the first error, allowing Eagles’ second baseman Tyler Cook to reach base with one out.
Two batters later, sophomore short stop Adam Smith recorded the second error, throwing the ball high and pulling Shofner off first base.
Smith had three errors in the game, only the first of which actually led to a run. He led the team in errors in 2009 with 19. He was 0-for-5 at the plate.
A single, a balk and a double given up by Stripling allowed Winthrop to score three unearned runs and get back in the game. Stripling overcame the errors, pitching 2.2 more innings.
“You just got to dig down and find your best stuff when that happens,” Stripling said. “I left a couple balls out over the plate after those errors had been made, so they made some good hits and kept going. You just got to push through the inning.”
Stripling struggled in the seventh inning, allowing back-to-back two-out singles and a run, but finished the game with a career-high nine strike outs, no walks, six hits and four runs, one of which was earned.
The Aggie offense picked up two runs in the fourth inning, one run in the sixth, and three runs in the seventh to put the game out of Winthrop’s reach.
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