Aggies feeling super
Win over Cougars sets up series against Davidson in College Station
Texas A&M’s players let out a collective roar Sunday night in the lobby of the Sheraton Brookhollow and quickly explained to nearby hotel employees that Davidson had just eliminated heavily favored North Carolina from the NCAA baseball tournament.
The Aggies celebrated for a few moments and then turned their attention to their own regional.
On Monday, they got to continue the celebration, but this one lasted much longer after No. 3 seed Texas A&M defeated top-seeded Houston 4-3 in their regional finale at Schroeder Park, sending the Aggies into a superregional matchup against the upstart Wildcats.
While it has not been made official, A&M likely will host Davidson, with the winner of the best-ofthree series advancing to the College World Series.
“This is a great beginning to a great story,” said starting pitcher Stephen Kolek, who held UH to a pair of runs and struck out nine in 81⁄3 innings.
The Aggies (39-21), who entered the NCAA Tour-
nament having lost eight of 10 games, were one of the last four teams to make the 64-team field, according to the NCAA baseball selection committee. A&M responded by winning all three of its regional games — 8-5 over second-seeded Baylor and 3-2 over fourthseeded Iowa before holding on to take a one-run victory Monday.
“We’re not going to apologize to anybody for making it over somebody else,” said center fielder Nick Choruby, who along with Cole Bedford and Blake Kopetsky led the Aggies with two hits against the Cougars.
They don’t need to, considering Texas A&M will be heavily favored against Davidson, the fourth seed in the Chapel Hill Regional, as it tries to make its first trip to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., since 2011. It also was the first time the Aggies have won a regional away from Blue Bell Park in Rob Childress’ 12 seasons as coach.
“When the bell rang, our guys competed hard and made the breaks go their way,” Childress said. “When you win a championship, to sit back in the dugout and see the smiles on their faces, the dog piles and the hats backward — that’s why I do what I do.”
A&M played host to a super regional last season after winning a regional at Blue Bell Park, but TCU won the series to advance to the CWS.
“We had the disappointment of last year when we weren’t able to finish the deal,” Childress said.
They were able to finish the deal Monday, thanks to Kolek, who silenced the UH bats into the ninth inning before giving way to relievers Kaylor Chafin and Cason Sherrod.
A&M entered the final inning with a 4-0 lead after a two-run single in the first inning by Kopetsky, an RBI triple by Choruby in the seventh and a solo homer in the ninth by pinch hitter Baine Schoenvogel.
That final run by Schoenvogel proved to be the difference after the Cougars fought back with three runs in the ninth before Sherrod struck out Connor Wong to end the suspense and the game.
“We could have gone a long way, if one or two things would have gone our way,” said UH starter Nolan Bond, who allowed three runs over 62⁄3 innings. It will take time for the Cougars (42-21) to get over failing to advance out of their regional, while the Aggies will play host to a super regional after being on the road to start the playoffs.
“It’s been a roller-coaster season,” Choruby said. “It’s been a testament to our team that we’ve been able to respond to every bad streak we’ve had with a good streak. We knew Davidson had won, but it was really about taking care of business (against Houston) first because if we didn’t win this regional it wouldn’t mean anything.”
Davidson’s improbable upset of North Carolina in which the Atlantic 10 tournament champion Wildcats (35-24) had to beat the NCAA tourney’s No. 2 overall seeds twice earned A&M’s opponent a tip of the cap from Childress.
“Davidson is an outstanding club; to go into North Carolina and win that regional says a lot about their coaching staff and their program,” he said. “We know we’ll have our hands full with Davidson, for sure.”