Story Poster
Rob Childress Pt. 1
Rob Childress Pt. 2
Brigham Hill
Braden Shewmake
Cason Sherrod
Texas A&M Baseball

Brigham Hill leads Aggies past Pepperdine in weekend opener, 3-0

February 24, 2017
8,543

Game #5: Texas A&M 3, Pepperdine 0
Records: Texas A&M 5-0 (0-0), Pepperdine 3-1 (0-0)
WP: Brigham Hill (2-0)
LP: Ryan Wilson (0-1)
BOX SCORE


Pepperdine pitcher Ryan Wilson had a great outing at Olsen Field on Friday night. He went through the Texas A&M lineup with ease for seven innings, mowing down hitters and allowing just one run. There was just one problem.

Aggie pitcher Brigham Hill was better.

In 7 2/3 innings of work, Hill did what Aggie fans expect from their ace. He shut down the opposing offense. Though the A&M bats were fairly quiet until the eighth inning, Hill's performance was more than enough to push the Maroon and White past Pepperdine for a 3-0 victory.

To the credit of the Aggie lineup, they gave Hill a lead to work with early. Braden Shewmake punched a single up the middle in the first inning, and Walker Pennington followed that with a walk. Then Jorge Gutierrez sliced a looping single into right field to score Shewmake and give the Ags a 1-0 lead.

Lexie Hudson, TexAgs Aggie pitcher Brigham Hill was masterful in the win over the Waves, throwing 7 2/3 scoreless innings.
That's all the cushion Hill needed. Over the next 6 2/3 innings, he allowed just two hits and surrendered one walk while striking out 10, utilizing his nasty changeup to keep the Waves at bay at the plate. A&M head coach Rob Childress got exactly what he wanted from the Aggie ace.

"I could have left him out there, and he would have thrown all night," he said. "He was really good ... He was much more efficient (than last week). He used the curve ball, as well. It's a pitch he didn't throw last year that has come on. I thought he was fabulous."

On the other side, Wilson was doing the same to the Aggie bats. The preseason All-WCC selection threw seven innings of one-run baseball, giving up just six hits and two walks and recording five strikeouts.

"It's what we told the guys before the game started," Childress said of Wilson. "'You'd better be ready for a Friday night fight.' Their left-hander can flat-out pitch."

Wilson tired, however, and gave way to right-hander Kiko Garcia. The Aggie bats found their stride against the junior and plated two more runs in the eighth inning on two hits and a walk, including a RBI-double from Shewmake, who went 2-4 on the night. Shewmake was thrilled the team passed the first big test of the 2017 season.

"It's huge for our team to have good competition come in and play us well," he said. (They) forced us to do things (well), forced us to make plays off of mistakes that we made ... We figured out how to hit in key situations, and we got the job done."

Taking over from Hill after an error by center fielder Nick Choruby in the eighth, Cason Sherrod pitched a perfect 1 1/3 innings to end the game, striking out one en route to the victory.

Texas A&M will take the field again tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. in the second game of the weekend series against the Waves.

 
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