Indiana’s nine-run first inning seals A&M’s fate.
Rally falls short as Hoosiers’ outburst proves too much to overcome in season-ending loss
AUSTIN — Texas A&M coach Rob Childress said during the NCAA Tournament regional at Disch-Falk Field that his team is as “callused up” as any in the nation, based on a rugged run through Southeastern Conference play to wrap up the regular season.
The Aggies can add a deep bone bruise — one penetrating their core — to their overall condition, a contusion that might subside by the start of next season. Might.
Indiana popped A&M with a nine-run first inning in a regional elimination game Sunday, and the Hoosiers hung on 9-7 to send the Aggies packing in 100-degree heat on Texas’ home field.
“You wake up, you come to the baseball field, and you think you’ve seen it all, and just like that you haven’t,” Childress said. “For us to even have an opportunity (in the game after the first), it was going to take a heroic performance out of everybody.
“We got about as close as you could be to perfect, and you had to be perfect to have a shot.”
Incredibly considering the beginning, the Aggies had the tying run on first base with one out in the bottom of the ninth, but Allonte Wingate drilled a grounder to second base that wound up a season-ending double play.
“He couldn’t have hit it any harder,” Childress said of the last-gasp liner.
The Hoosiers, who moved on to face host UT late Sunday night, roughed up A&M starter Kaylor Chafin for six runs on six hits in a third of an inning. A startled Childress yanked Chafin for Cason Sherrod, who allowed another three runs in the wild half-inning.
“Man, thank God for the first inning for us,” Indiana coach Chris Lemonis said. “It was tight all the way up to the finish.”
It truly tightened beginning in the fifth, when the Aggies closed the gap to 9-5 and then added lone runs in the seventh and ninth.
The Aggies wrap up their season at 40-22, and failed to earn another shot at rival UT in the regional. The Longhorns defeated the Aggies 8-3 on Saturday night to shove A&M into the losers’ bracket.
A&M started the regional on a tear Friday, in defeating Indiana 10-3 in the opener, but faltered early against the Longhorns on Saturday (a three-run homer in the first inning by Kody Clemens) and then again versus the Hoosiers on Sunday, primarily based on Chafin’s nightmare outing.
Childress had said the night prior he would start the senior Chafin or freshman Asa Lacy, both lefthanders, with the season on the line against the Hoosiers.
“We went with the fifth-year senior,” Childress said of his decision. “The experience, the leadership, the elimination game. That’s why we went with him.”
Sherrod and fellow reliever Nolan Hoffman shut down the Hoosiers over the final eight innings, in giving the Aggies a chance at the end.
“You may be down nine to nothing, but there was a lot of baseball left to play,” A&M outfielder Logan Foster said. “You have to pick your head up and do what you can for the team.”
The Aggies, who were coming off an 0-2 showing in the College World Series a year ago, started four juniors, three sophomores and a freshman around Chafin in the finale. Most of the team is expected back next season.
“We’re certainly going to lose some guys on our roster (to the draft) and certainly some guys that we signed,” Childress said. “But we’ve got a strong nucleus of sophomores and juniors coming back, and an awful nice class coming in.”
The Aggies advanced to their 12th consecutive NCAA Tournament under Childress, who wrapped up his 13th season at A&M.
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