Super (Regional) Man: Matt Kent sets Aggies up for walk-off Game 2 win

GAME #63: Texas A&M 2, Texas Christian 1

FORT WORTH — There are so many ways to describe it, but the things Texas A&M has done in this postseason almost leaves you speechless.

Four times the Aggies have had one hand on their throat and all four times they have had the gumption to fight their way out.

Call it relentless, as Blake Allemand would. Call it experience, as Rob Childress may. Call it whatever you’d like, but it may never do justice to what the Aggies did in Sunday’s walk-off, 10-inning, 2-1 win over TCU.

When A&M has to get a win, there seems to be one method more reliable than any other.

Start the lefty.

A&M had no reason to doubt Matt Kent coming in, and throughout his time on the mound the southpaw was simply fantastic.

From the word go, Kent utilized his repertoire of pitches to get ahead in the count and allow his defense to provide the support he has relied on as of late. As he later said, that was always the plan.

“I have to let the defense work. I cannot go out there and blow it by them in any form or fashion,” said Kent. “If I can get the defense involved early, keep them on their toes, the game will take care of itself.”

That’s not to say the Waco native didn’t do some serious work on his own.

In the first inning, TCU scored a leadoff single only to watch as Kent and Michael Barash combined for a critical strike-em-out, throw-em-out double play. It proved to be pivotal as the next man singled to left on what would have been an RBI hit.

After two clean innings in the second and third, Kent issued his first walk of the game to start off the fourth.

Once again, Kent used the men behind him as he forced an 0-2 grounder that rolled just left of the bag at second. Blake Allemand used his momentum and completed the turn himself. With the bases cleared, Kent used one of his five strikeouts to get A&M through four in a scoreless game.

With that kind of performance, it was critical that the A&M offense get on the board any way possible. No easy task against Preston Morrison, who pitched nine stellar innings.

Through five innings, the Aggies got sat down in order twice but showed signs of progress throughout.

In the second, Nick Banks led off with a line drive to the wall in left field for a double. Hunter Melton quickly advanced him to third with a grounder towards the right side, something the Aggies struggled with mightily in the first game.

He was stranded from there and it looked as if A&M would suffer the same fate in the sixth.

In that inning, Blake Allemand doubled on a shot through the left side of the infield. Following a sacrifice bunt, Allemand got caught going home on Mitchell Nau’s sharp grounder to short. Before being tagged, he stalled between bases and allowed for Nau to reach second.

In the end, that proved to be a big development.

With a man on second, up came Logan Taylor — a man who has been looking for a way to bust his slump. He did just that with a two-out double down the left field line that narrowly evaded a sprawled-out left fielder.

A&M had its first lead of the series at 1-0.

It was a big moment and Childress knew it.

“We don’t score in the second inning and that hurt and again the sixth we aren’t able to cash in," he said. "With that same situation, it was Logan Taylor that was able to give us the big two out hit.”

The run would prove to be almost enough as Kent stayed clean through 7.2 innings and kept the TCU run game, which was so influential on day one, in check.

“It’s like he is another coach out there,” Childress said of Kent’s mental capacity. “He just has a great feel for the game. When he is on the mound, you feel like the run game is in check simply because he is on the mound.”

Ryan Hendrix took over late in the eighth and, while he surrendered the tying run in the following inning, gave the Aggies a chance by limiting the damage.

After holding TCU scoreless in the top half of the tenth, Nick Choruby drew a one-out walk. From there, Michael Barash executed a perfect hit and run with a single to left field, setting up runners on the corners for Blake Allemand.

If it was up the senior, that is exactly the spot he’d like to be in.

“If there was anybody I can pick to be at the plate in that situation, I would pick myself because I have a lot of confidence in myself to get the job done.” Blake continued. “I embraced it and just wanted to put a good swing on it.”

The sacrifice fly to left field that sent this series to Monday was more than just a good swing. It was the perfect ending to a fantastic game and led to one massive dog pile near the mound.

Now A&M gets to try for one more.