Midweek Marathon: A&M defeats Texas State in 11 innings, 8-7

GAME #45: Texas A&M 8, Texas State 7
RECORDS: Texas A&M 38-7; Texas St 18-25-1
WP: Jason Freeman (3-0)
LP: Tyler Giovanoni (0-1)
BOX SCORE

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During an 11-inning game on a chilly night, every facet of A&M’s squad seemed to doze off at some point.

Pitching sleep walked in, the bats took multiple naps and everyone’s focus began to wane during the four hours of mid-week baseball.

Finally, in the final inning of Tuesday’s 8-7 victory over Texas State, Logan Nottebrok and the A&M offense awoke just long enough to send everybody to bed.

After jumping out early in all three games contested in Louisiana, A&M found itself trailing after the first inning in their return home.

Due in large part to starter Turner Larkins inability to find the strike zone, Texas State rang up three runs in the opening frame. All told, the righty gave up three hits; two walks and fired 19 pitches before he was pulled with one out remaining in the first inning.

Taking his position on the mound would be Matt Kent and from the start, the lefty handled his business.

With two runners in scoring position, Kent executed a full count strikeout and there was no looking back.

Throughout the next five innings, the Waco native sent 15 Bobcats back to their dugout in order. He struck out six, kept his pitch count low and appeared to save A&M from burning through multiple bullpen options after a long weekend. He talked about his mindset coming in.

“You have to be in super attack mode. If you go in passive, they’re already aggressive and have the momentum.” Kent continued on. “I have to be able to go in and take that away from them.”

During that span, the Aggie lineup struggled with men on base, recording three double plays. Despite their issues, they were able to consistently climb out of their early deficit.

After loading the bases during the first, A&M got one run after Hunter Melton fought a full count offering into right field.

The single scored Nick Banks and set the Aggies up for a potential big inning. Ronnie Gideon dashed those hopes two pitches later with a double play ball to short that became a 6,4,3 inning ender.

Down two, A&M tied things up in the third inning without registering a single hit. Two walks led to a pitching change. The reliever immediately balked, moving both Mitchell Nau and Logan Taylor 90 feet closer. Another walk by Ronnie Gideon was sandwiched between sacrifices from Hunter Melton and Ryne Birk.

In the sixth inning, A&M took advantage of an opening error on a hard hit ground ball from Birk. Following a walk by Logan Nottebrok, the Aggies had two men on and scored their fourth run shortly after. Blake Allemand’s two out single to left gave A&M its first lead of the game.

The Ags would go on to score three more runs and seemingly separate themselves for the remainder of the game, building a 7-3 lead.

Then came the decision to remove Kent from his perch atop the mound.

In the top of the seventh, Ty Schlottmann, Corbin Martin and Blake Kopetsky gave up seven hits combined. Mixed into the flow were four runs and a Texas State resurgence that made what should have been a mid week stroll into full fledged marathon.

“Once we built a 7-3 lead, it was time to get (Matt Kent) out.” Said head coach Rob Childress following the game. “The guys we went to just weren’t able to stop it right there. After that, the guys we went to did a really nice job.”

Those extra arms out of the bullpen included Andrew Vinson, Mark Ecker and Jason Freeman who combined threw over four innings of scoreless, one hit ball.

That all set the scene for Logan Nottebrok, who almost won the game in the 10th inning with two long foul balls, to come through in the clutch.

“I told myself to have a good at bat.” Said Nottebrok of his walk off RBI single to right field. “In extra innings, some of the guys are thinking, ‘Oh, let’s go home.’ But, if you keep fighting, you end up with momentum.”

With the walk off win, A&M moved to 25-0 in non conference games this year and a perfect 13-0 in midweek games. Childress talked about what that says for this team.

“We’ve got a team full of winners and they always find a way, each and every time we take the field. They don’t take a game off and that’s a tribute to our senior leadership.”

Now they move towards Knoxville, Tennessee and feel good about the trip following this game.

“A walk off win gives us big momentum going into any weekend.” Said Kent. “Our next game on Friday, we’ll be carrying this with us.”