No. 1 Texas A&M has historic night at plate, whips SHSU 19-4

GAME #30: Texas A&M 19, Sam Houston St. 4
RECORDS: Texas A&M 28-2 (7-2); Sam Houston St. 14-17
WP: Turner Larkins (4-1)
LP: Sam Odom (0-4)
BOX SCORE

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COLLEGE STATION - Over halfway through the 2015 season, the Texas A&M baseball team has been nearly perfect, especially in midweek games. In fact, with a win over Sam Houston State, the Aggies advanced to 9-0 in such contests.

Sometimes, it isn't the fact that you win that impresses people, however. After all, SHSU, now 14-17 on the year, is only a small blip on the radar at this point. Sometimes the impressive thing is the manner in which you win.

And, boy, did the Aggies impress on Tuesday.

The Bearkats started things off, touching up freshman pitcher Turner Larkins for two runs in the first inning. With a 2-0 lead, Sam Houston's upset bid was on track. That is, until the bottom half of the inning arrived.

Blake Allemand led off the bottom of the first with a single to right field. On the very next pitch, Ryne Birk sent a long fly ball over the "375" mark in right field, tying the game and leading into an uneventful second inning.

Then the third inning rolled around.

After retiring the Bearkat hitters in the top half, the Aggies put on an offensive showcase the likes of which few of us have ever seen.

Blake Allemand led the inning off with a solo shot down the line in left field, but that was nothing compared to what was to come. From Allemand to Birk and beyond, the hits just kept coming.

 All told, Texas A&M managed 11 hits in a row, cycling through the entire line-up and tying the NCAA record for hits to start an inning.

They weren't all singles either. After Allemand's homer to start the onslaught, Ronnie Gideon and Logan Nottebrok decided to get in on the action as well, hitting dingers to left center field.

Gideon did it twice. You read that right. In a crazy inning in which the maroon and white hit four home runs, Ronnie Gideon hit two. The big third baseman had never done, or even seen, anything like it.

"It was fantastic. It's something that none of us have ever been a part of," he said. "I don't think anybody's ever been a part of that. To set a record like that -- and that just shows you how great an offense is. We're the best offense."

In the end, the Aggies set the NCAA record for the most runs scored in a third inning with 13 on 13 hits. To put that in perspective, Texas A&M had scored 12 runs in the third inning all year prior to Tuesday. Ryne Birk explained the 40-minute half-inning.

"That was just pretty intense. You know, just a lot of flat balls up the middle and the other way, and we just kept rolling. It was really good for us," Birk said. "I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like that, especially at the (Division 1) level."

The Aggies would go on to tack on four more runs in the eighth, finishing with 19 runs on 18 hits with five total home runs and three walks.

While the hitters had everything under control at the plate, the A&M pitchers put in their fair share of the work, holding Sam Houston to three runs, only one of which came after the first inning.

Turner Larkins started the game and went four innings. He gave up 2 runs on 6 hits, leaving the game with a comfortable 15-2 lead. The bullpen took the lead from there, surrendering only one run over the next five innings and giving up 6 hits en route to a 19-4 win.

Head Coach Rob Childress was just as astounded as his players by the scoring explosion.

"I've never seen anything like that in 25 years of coaching," he said. "Thirteen runs on thirteen hits and eleven consecutive hits, and they were all hard-hit. It was fun to sit back and watch."

The Aggies will hit the road this weekend for only the second time all season. They'll take on the Kentucky Wildcats in a three game series.