Magic in the Midweek: A&M homers way to win over Rice, 4-3

GAME #33: Texas A&M 4, Rice 3
RECORDS: Texas A&M 31-2; Rice 22-13
WP: Ryan Hendrix (2-0)
LP: Josh Pettitte (1-1)
Box Score

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Through six innings Tuesday night, A&M got out hit and struggled to find any momentum.

But, as the old saying goes, that’s why they play all nine.

The Aggies made full use of the final three frames, notching two seventh inning homeruns on their way to defeating 13th ranked Rice, 4-3 in comeback fashion.

After getting two men aboard in the first inning and going down in order in the second, A&M wasted little time taking the lead in the third.

Michael Barash kicked off the inning with a line drive single into shallow center. A slow ground ball to short was handled later in the inning, but the play allowed Barash to move into scoring position.

He didn’t have to stay there long as Mitchell Nau obliterated an Owl offering to right center. The ball one hopped off the wall, allowing Nau to stride into second and bringing Barash home for the early 1-0 lead.

Rice responded right away with a lead off single up the middle to begin the fourth inning.

With a runner aboard, a grounder to Logan Nottebrok at first moved the Owls into scoring position. He would quickly come around to tie things up after another single through the middle and A&M had a battle on its hands.

Rice would pull ahead in the fifth after opening the inning with a double to left center. Logan Taylor seemed a little slow to the line drive and the Owls took advantage, sliding into second just ahead of the throw. After a single to right put runners on the corners, Rice capitalized with another nearly identical double to left center.

The line drive scored a run and gave the Owls their first lead of the game, 2-1. A soft ground ball to Blake Allemand gave A&M its second out, but another run scored from third and pushed the maroon deficit to two runs.

With their backs against the wall, the Aggie offense displayed power that has seemingly been there every time they’ve needed it.

Much like he did in Houston earlier this year, J.B. Moss came to the plate in a game where A&M had struggled to make things happen. The centerfielder changed the entire feel of the contest in a hurry with a towering solo homerun over the left field wall.

“I was happy to come through and be a spark for the team, get that monkey off our back. We had gone a couple innings in a row without getting a man on base.” Moss said of his late inning homer. “Tonight wasn’t about me. We had guys up and down the lineup who I thought did a really good job for us.”

One of those happened to be the next man up in Logan Nottebrok.

With the score suddenly a run closer, Logan pulverized a 2-0 offering over the 400-foot sign in straight away center field. His powerful presence in the lineup is an important part of the team and nobody knows that better than head coach Rob Childress.

“He is such a great teammate and it is important that he feels connected. We didn’t get to play him on Saturday, so it was important to get him some at bats and keep him game ready.”

Rice tried to throw one more punch, as they put runners on the corners in the eighth. Ryan Hendrix shut that down with a 1-6-3 double play and the momentum kept building during an electric eighth inning that had Olsen Field rocking like a regional. In the bottom half, A&M finally jumped back in the lead. This time, it was for good.

Mitchell Nau drew a one out walk and was quickly moved to third after Nick Banks bounced a grounder over the second baseman’s head. One out later, with runners on the corners, Ronnie Gideon poked a 1-2 pitch through the left side, scoring pinch runner Matt Collins.

A dominant 9th inning from Mark Ecker, who continued an impressive performance from the Aggie bullpen, secured a big win for the maroon and white.

“All the games we play now are big. When you play 30 games in the SEC, I don’t think one game is bigger than the other.” Said Childress when asked about this midweek match up of ranked teams. “I think our guys take it that way. We were ready to go tonight but no more ready than we were on Saturday or last week. We didn’t make more of it than it is and that is one of the benefits of being in the league that we’re in.”