Texas A&M Baseball clinches trip to College World Series

The Texas A&M Baseball team defeated the Davidson Wildcats for the second time in two days to punch their ticket to the 2017 College World Series.

Related Story: Texas A&M defeats Davidson 7-6 (15) in Game 1

It took 15 innings to get the victory in Game 1. The Aggies scored six runs in the first five innings but were held scoreless for the next nine innings until George Janca delivered the game winning swing.

Game 2 – Texas A&M 12 – Davidson 6 (Full Box)

The Aggies only got two balls out of the infield in the first three innings. They made the two exceptions count. George Janca and Logan Foster each smashed balls over the left field wall. The lead didn’t last long. Davidson evened the score at 2-2 on a fly ball to right fielder Blake Kopetsky who slipped and couldn’t field the ball.

It was defense that bit the Aggies again in the fifth. Walker Pennington was unable to make a play at the wall and things starter to crumble. Davidson seized the window and struck for three runs on four hits. That gave the Wildcats there first lead of the weekend, 5-2. A Centracchio home run in the sixth stretched the lead to 6-2.

Texas A&M won’t go quietly

The Aggies waited until the eighth to start their rally. A Coleman double and a Kopetsky single cut the deficit to one. Then it got interesting. With the bases loaded and Texas A&M trailing 6-5 freshman pinch hitter Jorge Gutierrez hit a popup in the infield that should have ended the inning. Instead three Wildcat infielders collided and the go ahead run crossed the dish. Choruby would drive in two insurance runs to give the Aggies the 9-6 advantage.

Texas A&M could not get it together at the plate as a whole for most of the game. At the end of the eighth, four hits and seven runs later, the Aggies had reclaimed the lead in dramatic fashion. If there was any lingering doubt, Walker Pennington put those worries to rest with a three run jack in the ninth.

Kaylor Chafin entered the ninth inning with a 12-6 lead. The most consistent member of the Aggie bullpen slammed the door and punched Texas A&M’s ticket to the College World Series.

Sometimes the stats do lie

There were serious concerns about Corbin Martin coming into the season. He has electric stuff, but had yet to show the command necessary to be a mainstay in the Aggie rotation. On Saturday he pitched Texas A&M into the College World Series. His final line on Saturday didn’t reflect on that, in part because of shaky defense.

Martin went  4.2 innings, allowed eight hits, five runs, one walk with seven strikeouts. He was sharp for most of his day, but like Brigham Hill on Friday the Wildcats struck quickly and emphatically. Martin has been talked about as a potential first round pick. The MLB draft begins on Monday. For now, he’ll have to be content with a trip to Omaha.

In what many have called a rebuilding year the Texas A&M Aggies are headed to the College World Series. On paper they don’t have the talent of the rosters of 2016 and 2015 that were kept out of Omaha by the TCU Horned Frogs. That doesn’t matter now. You can only play the cards you’re dealt and the Aggies fought tooth and nail to earn a trip to the College World Series.

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Next Up

Four Super Regional series kicked off on Friday along with Texas A&M and Davidson. The Aggies will meet Louisville. The other teams on their side of the bracket got underway on Saturday. TCU hosts Missouri State and Florida hosts Wake Forest. Opening Day of the College World series is Saturday, June 17.

***Stats from SEC Sports***