Juncbear
04-22-06, 05:21 AM
Aggies nip bobbling BU
Saturday, April 22, 2006
By John Werner
Tribune-Herald staff writer
COLLEGE STATION — With Baylor’s Ryan LaMotta and Texas A&M’s Jason Meyer locked in a classic pitching duel, neither team could afford a defensive slip in Friday’s series opener.
The Bears made three, the Aggies none.
Two critical Baylor outfield errors contributed to two eighth-inning runs as the last-place Aggies snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 4-2 win before 3,845 fans at Olsen Field.
Following their fourth straight Big 12 loss, the Bears (23-16, 7-9) need to win the last two games against the Aggies (20-21, 4-12) at Baylor Ballpark tonight at 6 and Sunday at 2 p.m. to even their conference record.
With 11 Big 12 games remaining, the Bears already have more losses than last year’s team that tied Nebraska for the conference title with a 19-8 record.
“This season reminds me of a couple of years ago when we were losing a lot of close games,” LaMotta said. “The story for me today was that I couldn’t finish them off with two outs. We need to win these last two games against the Aggies at home.”
Meyer (2-1) pitched brilliantly for the Aggies as he scattered six hits and struck out 10 while not walking a batter in eight innings.
But the Bears scratched across a run against Meyer in the eighth when Kevin Sevigny tripled and scored on Beamer Weems’ double to tie the game at 2-2. With Weems at third base, Aggie second baseman Parker Dalton saved a run when he backhanded Matt Sodolak’s grounder up the middle and threw to first to end the inning.
Though LaMotta (5-3) wasn’t as sharp as Meyer, he kept the Bears in the game. But the Aggies started a rally in the bottom of the eighth when Jose Salazar singled and moved to second when Sevigny bobbled the ball in right field.
It was Sevigny’s first error in 108 games dating back to 2004.
“It was an unfortunate time to make an error,” Sevigny said. “I looked up because I wanted to make sure the baserunner (Salazar) didn’t go to second. I took my eye off the ball and it bounced off the heel of my glove.”
With two outs, the right-handed LaMotta intentionally walked left-handed hitting Adam Hale with first base open. But right-handed hitting Kyle Colligan made the Bears pay by drilling a double up the middle to score Salazar for the go-ahead run.
Hale scored from first when Baylor centerfielder Chase Gerdes bobbled the ball to give the Aggies a 4-2 lead. LaMotta allowed eight hits, four walks and three earned runs in eight innings.
Gerdes’ error was Baylor’s third of the game after second baseman Ben Booker committed a third-inning error on Colligan’s hard-hit grounder.
“The errors we made in the outfield weren’t tough plays,” said Baylor coach Steve Smith. “We just didn’t do some things that are fairly routine. But I liked the way our guys competed overall today. Meyer pitched a great game for them but we got some big hits against him in the eighth.”
Matt Ueckert finished off the win for the Aggies by retiring the side in the ninth for his first save of the season.
The Bears scored their only other run off Meyer in the second inning. Meyer hit Zach Dillon with a pitch and he took second on Sodolak’s bunt before moving to third on Tim Jackson’s single.
After Kevin Russo bunted in front of the plate, Aggie catcher Josh Stinson threw to Salazar who tried to step on second base before making the throw to first for an apparent double play. But Salazar missed the second-base bag to allow Dillon to score on the play.
However, the Aggies took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the second when Spencer Jackson drilled a two-run homer over the right-field fence. It was Jackson’s first at-bat since March 2 following a hand injury.
The Bears got no more runs against Meyer until the eighth. Seth Fortenberry went 0-for-4 against Meyer and struck out three times to snap his 13-game hitting streak in Big 12 play. In his first at-bat of the season following knee surgery, Mike Pankratz pinch hit for Baylor in the seventh and was hit by a pitch.
“Baylor has real aggressive hitters and I tried to keep them off-balance by throwing a lot of changeups,” Meyer said. “I also got them to swing on some curveballs in the dirt. I felt more in control today than I have in some other outings.”
Baylor left-hander Cory VanAllen (4-4, 4.82 ERA) will pitch against Texas A&M right-hander Austin Creps (3-3, 1.83) in today’s game.
jwerner@wacotrib.com
757-5716
Cox Newspapers, L.P. - The Waco Tribune-Herald - Our Partners
Saturday, April 22, 2006
By John Werner
Tribune-Herald staff writer
COLLEGE STATION — With Baylor’s Ryan LaMotta and Texas A&M’s Jason Meyer locked in a classic pitching duel, neither team could afford a defensive slip in Friday’s series opener.
The Bears made three, the Aggies none.
Two critical Baylor outfield errors contributed to two eighth-inning runs as the last-place Aggies snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 4-2 win before 3,845 fans at Olsen Field.
Following their fourth straight Big 12 loss, the Bears (23-16, 7-9) need to win the last two games against the Aggies (20-21, 4-12) at Baylor Ballpark tonight at 6 and Sunday at 2 p.m. to even their conference record.
With 11 Big 12 games remaining, the Bears already have more losses than last year’s team that tied Nebraska for the conference title with a 19-8 record.
“This season reminds me of a couple of years ago when we were losing a lot of close games,” LaMotta said. “The story for me today was that I couldn’t finish them off with two outs. We need to win these last two games against the Aggies at home.”
Meyer (2-1) pitched brilliantly for the Aggies as he scattered six hits and struck out 10 while not walking a batter in eight innings.
But the Bears scratched across a run against Meyer in the eighth when Kevin Sevigny tripled and scored on Beamer Weems’ double to tie the game at 2-2. With Weems at third base, Aggie second baseman Parker Dalton saved a run when he backhanded Matt Sodolak’s grounder up the middle and threw to first to end the inning.
Though LaMotta (5-3) wasn’t as sharp as Meyer, he kept the Bears in the game. But the Aggies started a rally in the bottom of the eighth when Jose Salazar singled and moved to second when Sevigny bobbled the ball in right field.
It was Sevigny’s first error in 108 games dating back to 2004.
“It was an unfortunate time to make an error,” Sevigny said. “I looked up because I wanted to make sure the baserunner (Salazar) didn’t go to second. I took my eye off the ball and it bounced off the heel of my glove.”
With two outs, the right-handed LaMotta intentionally walked left-handed hitting Adam Hale with first base open. But right-handed hitting Kyle Colligan made the Bears pay by drilling a double up the middle to score Salazar for the go-ahead run.
Hale scored from first when Baylor centerfielder Chase Gerdes bobbled the ball to give the Aggies a 4-2 lead. LaMotta allowed eight hits, four walks and three earned runs in eight innings.
Gerdes’ error was Baylor’s third of the game after second baseman Ben Booker committed a third-inning error on Colligan’s hard-hit grounder.
“The errors we made in the outfield weren’t tough plays,” said Baylor coach Steve Smith. “We just didn’t do some things that are fairly routine. But I liked the way our guys competed overall today. Meyer pitched a great game for them but we got some big hits against him in the eighth.”
Matt Ueckert finished off the win for the Aggies by retiring the side in the ninth for his first save of the season.
The Bears scored their only other run off Meyer in the second inning. Meyer hit Zach Dillon with a pitch and he took second on Sodolak’s bunt before moving to third on Tim Jackson’s single.
After Kevin Russo bunted in front of the plate, Aggie catcher Josh Stinson threw to Salazar who tried to step on second base before making the throw to first for an apparent double play. But Salazar missed the second-base bag to allow Dillon to score on the play.
However, the Aggies took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the second when Spencer Jackson drilled a two-run homer over the right-field fence. It was Jackson’s first at-bat since March 2 following a hand injury.
The Bears got no more runs against Meyer until the eighth. Seth Fortenberry went 0-for-4 against Meyer and struck out three times to snap his 13-game hitting streak in Big 12 play. In his first at-bat of the season following knee surgery, Mike Pankratz pinch hit for Baylor in the seventh and was hit by a pitch.
“Baylor has real aggressive hitters and I tried to keep them off-balance by throwing a lot of changeups,” Meyer said. “I also got them to swing on some curveballs in the dirt. I felt more in control today than I have in some other outings.”
Baylor left-hander Cory VanAllen (4-4, 4.82 ERA) will pitch against Texas A&M right-hander Austin Creps (3-3, 1.83) in today’s game.
jwerner@wacotrib.com
757-5716
Cox Newspapers, L.P. - The Waco Tribune-Herald - Our Partners