Texas A&M loses to Baylor on walk-off grand slam, 6-3

GAME #12: Baylor 6, Texas A&M 3

RECORDS: Baylor 11-1, Texas A&M 9-3

WP: Troy Montemayor (1-0)

LP: Corbin Martin (0-2)
BOX SCORE

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To quote the great Yogi Berra, “It was deja vu all over again,” as the Aggies blew a ninth-inning lead for the second night in a row at Minute Maid Park in Houston. This time, it wasn’t on account of the A&M bullpen issuing free passes – the Ags just got hit.

The Aggies fell, 6-3, to the Baylor Bears on a Tucker Cascadden walk-off grand slam off of A&M reliever Corbin Martin.

“We got our hearts ripped out last night and thought that was about as bad as it could be, but I don’t guess it was,” said A&M coach Rob Childress immediately after the game.

The Aggies had a chance to get on Baylor early in the first inning. A Braden Shewmake double, followed by a Joel Davis single and a walk to Walker Pennington loaded the bases with two outs. The next batter could not come through, however, and struck out swinging to end the threat.

A&M did manage to get on the board first, plating two runs in the top of third. Logan Foster led off the inning with a triple into the right-center gap, and freshman Braden Shewmake plated him in the next at-bat with an RBI-double down the left field line. The Aggies added the second run on a walker Pennington RBI-ground out.

Mitchell Kilkenny got the start for A&M and was absolutely fantastic in his seven innings of work. Over those seven innings, he allowed only 4 hits, and 1 ER while striking out 7 and walking one on 100 pitches.

“He (Kilkenny) was fantastic, threw seven innings and left with the lead. Couldn’t ask for anything better from him,” said Childress of his starter's performance.

Kilkenny did a lot to keep the Aggies in the game.

With a taxed bullpen that threw 11 innings the night before, A&M needed a good performance from Kilkenny to have a chance against the Bears.

“I just had to do what I could, get as far in the game and be as efficient as possible,” said Kilkenny.

A&M added its final run of the night on a Joel Davis single that scored Logan Foster from second.

For the second night in a row, the game took a turn in the wrong direction for the Aggies in the ninth inning. After only giving up a weak, ground-ball single in the eighth inning to Baylor lead-off man Steven McLean, Aggie reliever Landon Miner started the ninth frame for Rob Childress.

And after a weak single to the third base side of the mound by Shea Langeliers to start the ninth, Coach Childress decided it was time to hand the ball over to Corbin Martin in the save situation. Martin then gave up an RBI single to center field off the bat of Kameron Esthay, scoring Langeliers to cut the A&M lead to 3-2.

After a sacrifice bunt moved two runners into scoring position, Martin was able to strike out pinch hitter Hunter Seay for the second out of the inning.

Then nine-hole hitter Tucker Cascadden stepped into the box. Cascadden turned on a 1-0 fastball from Corbin Martin that hit off the base of the railroad tracks above the Crawford boxes in left-field. The grand slam to gave Baylor the 6-3 victory.

“We've got to be better (out of the bullpen). It doesn’t matter what it looks like; it's just a matter of getting it done. If you’re the guy finishing the game, you’re either the hero or the goat,” said Childress.

The Aggies finished with three players on the All-Tournament team at the Shriners Classic, including two freshmen. Freshman Braden Shewmake made the team at 2B, hitting .313, with 3 RBI and 1 HR on the tournament. Joining Shewmake was Logan Foster, who hit .412, scored 6 runs, and hit one homer on the weekend.

The final Aggie on the All-Tournament team was ace and Friday-night starter Brigham Hill after his stellar performance on Friday night against Texas Tech. Hill was the only pitcher to beat the Red Raiders on the weekend, going 7.0 innings of scoreless baseball while allowing 3 hits and striking out 8.

The tournament's Most Outstanding Player was TCU first baseman Luken Baker.

The Aggies will be back in action at Olsen field during the midweek this week, playing two games against UT- Rio Grande Valley on Tuesday and Wednesday.