Aggies feeling super after regional sweep
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS -- No. 3 Texas A&M came into the Bryan-College Station Regional looking not only to advance, but feel good about themselves again after some late season struggles. Mission accomplished.
Right fielder Braden Montgomery had a homer and 4 RBI and Shane Sdao pitched 5 1/3 innings of 1-run ball as the Aggies (47-13) eliminated Louisiana (42-20) 9-4 Sunday night at Blue Bell Park. A&M would hit five home runs on the night as they broke the single season home run record previously held by the 1999 Aggies. That team advanced to the College World Series.
Short on arms after eliminating Texas earlier Sunday, the Ragin' Cajuns turned to right hander David Christie, who was bombed for 7 runs in just 1 inning of work Friday against the Longhorns. He fared slightly better Sunday, holding the Aggies scoreless for the first two innings. But a walk to second baseman Travis Chestnut to start the third began Christie's unraveling. Chestnut took both second and third on wild pitches, then scored on a hard-hit single to left by Montgomery to give A&M a 1-0 lead. But the Aggies would leave the bases loaded after designated hitter Hayden Schott lined out hard to right.
Louisiana answered back with a run in the bottom half of the third, courtesy of an RBI double by shortstop Brandon DeBarge that scored first baseman Trey LaFleur. Sdao would limit the damage, however, and the A&M offense finally erupted in the top of the fourth.
Freshman left field Caden Sorrell started the inning with his second homer in as many days, a 430-foot shot that cleared the railroad tracks beyond the right field fence and landed on Wellborn Road. After Chestnut bunted for a hit, Louisiana coach Matt Deggs turned to Carson Fluno, his starter in the Friday loss to Texas.
Clearly working on fumes, Fluno retired third baseman Gavin Grahovac before giving up a single to centerfielder Jace LaViolette. Montgomery followed with a lined shot into the Louisiana bullpen in right, giving the Aggies a 5-1 lead.
A&M would batter Fluno for 1 2/3 innings, with the big blow coming off the bat of Schott to lead off the fifth. Schott broke out of a slump with a monstrous home run to straight-away center, hitting halfway up the batter's eye. His homer tied the all-time single season record of 129.
The record would fall in the top of the seventh, when shortstop Ali Camarillo hit an offering from Louisiana reliever Blake Marshall into the right-center stands, giving the Aggies a 7-1 lead. The coup de grace would come in the ninth, when third baseman Gavin Grahovac slugged one into the right field bleachers, breaking the school freshman home run record (set by LaViolette last year) with his 22nd homer of the year.
The Ragin; Cajuns bats had been silenced since the third thanks to Sdao and reliever Chris Cortez, who entered with one out in the bottom of the sixth. Cortez dominated Louisiana's hiitters with a fastball that topped out at 101 mph and a devastating slider, picking up six of his eight outs via the strikeout.
A&M coach Jim Schlossnagle decided to take Cortez out before the bottom of the ninth, allowing left-hander Justin Lamkin to get some work. Lamkin struggled, facing three batters and getting only one out, on a play at the plate. He was credited for allowing 2 runs and Schlossnagle quickly turned to Brad Rudis, who gave up one more run before closing the door on the Ragin' Cajuns' season.
The Aggies already know who they will host in the Super Regional: the Oregon Ducks, the 3-seed in the Santa Barbara regional, who won all three of their games this weekend and shut out UCSB 3-0 Sunday night to advance.