Stephen F. Austin
Texas A&M
Early Inning Lifts Aggies Past 'Jacks
4/1/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 1, 2008
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The No. 16 Texas A&M Aggies used a five-run first inning to jump on top of the Lumberjack baseball team and cruised to an 8-1 victory Tuesday night at Olsen Field.
SFA (11-14, 1-7) scraped together eight hits against Aggie pitching, but left 11 runners on base, while the Aggies (22-6, 6-3 Big 12) utilized three extra-base hits and three SFA errors to score three unearned runs to pad their cushion.
Erich Lehmann was one of six Lumberjack pitchers on the night, and gave up all five runs in the first inning to drop his record to 1-3 on the year, while Aggies' starter Clayton Ehlert moved to 3-2 on the season after going six innings with six strikeouts for the win.
The `Jacks bullpen tossed eight innings, giving up only two hits and one earned run to the Aggie lineup, highlighted by Erik Gregersen's 3.2-inning performance that included five strikeouts to tie his career high against only one walk.
After Ehlert got through a scoreless first inning the Aggies greeted Lehmann with three consecutive hits in their half of the first, with Kyle Colligan and Blake Stouffer coming in to score the first runs of the game on a single by Dane Carter. Two batters later Carter got to trot home when Darby Brown connected with his seventh homer of the year over the right-field fence to give Texas A&M a 4-0 lead. The Aggies added an unearned run as well before Kevin Croft and Noel Trevino connected with each other to nail Brooks Raley at the plate on attempted double steal to end the frame.
Gregersen then relieved Lehmann on the mound to start the second and settled things down through the second and third innings before the Aggies struck again in the fourth. Gregersen picked up two of his five strikeouts in the frame, but A&M got a leadoff double from Luke Anders and an RBI single from Colligan to push the lead to 6-0. Two batters later Carter would come through again, this time with a double that brought home Colligan and Ben Feltner who had reached via error to make it 8-0 through four.
The finally `Jacks cracked the scoring column in the top of the fifth when Kevin Croft and Sean Meyers led off with back-to-back singles off of Ehlert for the second straight time. Alex Moshier, who pinch ran for Croft, moved up to third on a fielder's choice two batters later and came in to score when Jeff Brewer laid down a nifty bunt past the pitcher and beat the throw to first to push his personal hit streak to seven games and get the RBI.
SFA threatened to score an inning later when Kevin Crabtree smoked a triple into the right-center field gap - the first extra-base hit for SFA in 67 at-bats - with one out; however, Adam Bosley popped out one batter later and Moshier was robbed of an RBI when Feltner made a diving catch in left field for the final out of the inng to keep the Aggies in front 8-1.
Kyle Watson and Bruce Mayberry combined to cruise through the Aggie lineup in the sixth and seventh innings before SFA looked to start another rally in the eighth. Gabriel Garcia-Serrano led off with a walk before Crabtree followed with his second extra-base hit of the night, a double into the right-field corner to put runners at second and third with nobody out. Unfortunately, Aggie lefty Kirkland Rivers retired the next three Lumberjacks in order to move through the frame unscathed.
Evan Gerald came on to pitch the ninth for A&M, walking Brian Ferguson to lead off but getting the next three `Jacks in order to close things out.
SFA and Texas A&M conclude their series on Wednesday with a 3:00 p.m. start time from Olsen Field. Kevin Thomas is schedule to start for the `Jacks while Shane Minks is slated for the Aggies.
-SFA-
