Texas A&M erases four-run deficit, walks off Auburn in 11 innings, 5-4

Game #22: Texas A&M 5, Auburn 4 (11 innings)
Records: Texas A&M (14-8, 3-2), Auburn (16-7, 2-3)
WP: Brad Rudis (1-0)
LP: Chase Isbell (0-1)
Box Score

The magic arrived a little bit late but was enchanting nonetheless.

Shortstop Kole Kaler put the finishing touches on Texas A&M’s dramatic rally with a walk-off sacrifice fly to edge out Auburn, 5-4, on Saturday afternoon in 11 innings.

The Aggies were forced into a comeback situation after allowing four runs in the first two frames, including back-to-back homers from the Tigers in the top of the second.

Brooke Homfeld, TexAgs

Despite allowing four early runs, Dallas settled in to provide seven solid innings and struck out a career-high ten batters.

Despite coughing up the early lead, starting pitcher Micah Dallas’ determination never wavered as he put together a tremendous comeback performance himself. The Texas Tech transfer tossed a season-high ten strikeouts while retiring 16 of his last 17 batters faced in seven innings of work.

“It wasn’t very pretty, but to me, the story of the game was Micah Dallas,” Texas A&M head coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “He had some bad luck in the first inning. We didn’t make a play, and then that led to two runs and some groundball singles — just some bad luck.

“Man, what a competitor. The ultimate competitor that guy. I’ve seen it on the other end so many times, and to have him on our team, what a treat that is.”

Dallas was relieved after allowing his lone walk of the day, but freshmen Will Johnston and Brad Rudis each provided two innings of solid relief to shutout the Tigers during the final four innings.

After Johnston gave up two consecutive leadoff walks to begin the 10th, Rudis entered and led the Aggies out of trouble, stranding two runners in the threatening situation. Rudis earned his first career victory in the win.

“Rudis, man, holy cow,” Schlossnagle said. “First and second, nobody out then you got to go face that big guy — Babe Ruth there in the middle of the lineup — him punching him out on that changeup was huge and just getting out of that inning.”

The Aggie bats fell victim to an idle start before garnering momentum midway through the contest.

Just one inning after Auburn’s Trace Bright worked his way out of a jam, Dylan Rock’s base hit scored Logan Britt to register the team’s first run of the game in the fifth.

That swing from Rock marked the beginning of Texas A&M’s resilient comeback effort.

The Aggies responded with three more runs in the following innings as Ryan Targac pulled the Maroon & White even with a 461-foot bomb over right field to close out the eighth with a knotted score for the first time in the ballgame.

Logan Britt doubled to leadoff the 11th inning and moved to third on a wild pitch. With one out and a five-man infield, Kaler skied a ball to center field to bring Britt home and even the series.

“Britt’s got crazy speed, so I knew we were probably going to test it,” Kaler said. “Hands down to him. He’s one of the best athletes I’ve ever played with, so that was a lot of fun.”

To Kaler, the team’s tenacious recovery was a culmination of one word that Schlossnagle has preached to the team during the preceding weeks.

“Gritty,” Kaler said. “That’s what it is, just wanting it more than the other team. That’s probably the best way to put it: just having that competitive grit. Coach has been talking about it the last couple of weeks, and we definitely had it today.”

The Aggies return to Olsen Field tomorrow afternoon in hopes of notching the series win over Auburn. First pitch is slated for 12:02 p.m. CT with Ryan Prager assuming the starting role.