Staying Alive: A&M rides Andrew Vinson to victory over Coastal, 8-1

GAME #59: Texas A&M 8, Coastal Carolina 1
RECORDS: Texas A&M 47-12 (2-1), Coastal Carolina 39-21 (1-2)
WP: Andrew Vinson (5-2)
LP: Bobby Holmes (4-1)
BOX SCORE

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COLLEGE STATION- There wasn’t a lot of sleep, time or talking for A&M following Saturday’s marathon loss to California.

In Sunday’s 8-1 victory over Coastal Carolina in the early elimination game, there was clearly an abundance of one thing.

Determination.

After struggles with runners in scoring position last night, A&M came out of the gates on a mission.

First, Ryne Birk slashed a double to right center and gave the Aggies an early jolt. Things progressed from there as Logan Taylor singled through the left side and gave A&M its first lead on the two out RBI.

Up 1-0, Nick Banks drove the first pitch he saw to the wall in left. Unlike the heartbreaker yesterday, this ball caromed off the wall for a stand up double and scored Taylor from first in the process.

On the other side, Andrew Vinson added to the growing list of impressive performances A&M has seen on the mound so far this weekend.

Despite runners reaching base every inning, Vinson consistently worked his way through the danger. In addition to eight strikeouts, the righty benefited from three double plays along the way.

In the third, fifth and eighth innings, Chanticleers’ made their way to second on Vinson, but that was always the end of their road. A&M head coach Rob Childress talked about the performance of his starter.

“Andrew (Vinson) gave us another heroic performance today on the mound,” Childress continued. “He has had a lot of them in his career at A&M, but none bigger than this one.”

All told, Vinson lasted two outs into the eighth inning when back-to-back singles finally knocked him from his place. Ty Schlottmann took his place and lasted through the final out of the inning.

Due to twin walks in the ninth inning, leading to one run, Kyle Simonds was called into action. As he finished the game, there was little pressure thanks to some resurgent bats.

With a 2-0 lead entering the fourth inning, Nick Banks stepped to the plate and unleashed some obvious frustration with a line drive homerun over the right field wall to widen A&M’s advantage to 3-0.

After such a close call last night, Banks mind was full of emotion.

“I was bummed that we lost. I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night, but baseball is a humbling game,” He said. “I couldn’t wait to rebound today and get back to the field.”

Simply rebounding is one thing. What Nick Banks did is quite another.

The right fielder went 3 for 3, coming up a triple short of the cycle and reached base all five times he came to bat. The effort didn’t surprise anyone on the A&M side, especially its headman.

“That is what great players do. Great players have an awful short memory.” He said of the outfielders mental fortitude coming into the day. “We’re lucky he is in our program and that is why he’s as special as he is.”

Eventually, A&M tacked on two runs in the sixth and three in the eighth to pull away. The most memorable moment coming on a 1-2 pitch in the sixth.

With Banks on first, Logan Nottebrok demolished a hanging breaking ball over the fence in left to put the Aggies ahead by five. As a team, A&M hit .318 with runners on base. That was a vast improvement over the previous outing.

“We have a mature group of hitters,” Said Childress. “They had a great approach all day long and once the game started, you could just see things slowing down for them and getting back to who they are.”

Now A&M prepares for a rematch with the California Golden Bears at 6:00 PM, knowing they need a win tonight and tomorrow to advance.