TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Back at you.
Texas A&M's baseball team recovered from a lopsided loss with an 11-2 victory over Florida State on Monday night, earning its first trip to the College World Series since 1999.
A little more than 24 hours after the Seminoles tied the best-of-3 Super Regional with a 23-9 win, the Aggies turned the tables on FSU.
The Aggies celebrated by dog piling between the mound and first base and the festivities reached a peak when catcher Kevin Gonzalez led a small contingent of players in dousing A&M coach Rob Childress with Powerade.
"I was there half way even before the ball made it to first," Gonzalez said of his takedown of pitcher Nick Fleece. "I told Fleece 'I'm coming, getting ready for me to jump on you and you just hit the ground and I'll keep you covered so you don't get hurt.'"
A&M will be making its fifth trip to Omaha, and will be one of eight teams there to christen the new TD Ameritrade Park downtown.
"There are two things I truly enjoy and that's number one sitting on the front of the bus listening to our players laugh after we have won a game on the road, and number two, watching our guys dog pile on the way to Omaha," said Childress, who will be taking the Aggies to the CWS for the first time in his six years as the A&M head coach. "Those two things make me love what I do and I sure enjoyed that [Powerade shower] tonight."
A&M will play South Carolina at 6 p.m. on Sunday.
The Aggies got off to a terrific start as they bettered the Noles' first inning on Sunday by one run, sending 10 batters to the plate and posting six runs in the bottom half of the inning.
FSU coach Mike Martin had to pull his starter, Hunter Scantling, after just 13 pitches, only three of which were strikes.
Tyler Naquin singled on a 1-1 count and then Krey Bratsen, while wanting to bunt, walked on four pitches. Matt Juengel bunted for a single to load the bases before Jacob House walked on four pitches, driving in the first run.
Adam Smith saw one pitch from Scantling before Martin called for reliever Brian Busch, who had just run down to the bullpen. It did little to help, as a wild pitch made it 2-0 and Smith walked to fill the bases again.
Kevin Gonzalez made it 4-0 with a double to right-center. Brandon Wood plated Smith on a ground out and Kenny Jackson singled to left-center to make it 6-0.
A&M finally took its foot off the pedal after Andrew Collazo sacrificed Jackson to second and Naquin grounded out to end the inning.
A&M had scored six runs in the third inning the night before, but it only brought the Aggies within 8-6 and they never got closer.
"I told them we may have lost the battle yesterday, but we are here to win the war," said Childress. "One game doesn't the series win and for us to come out and play the way we did."
The six runs would be enough for pitcher Michael Wacha, who has started three of the Aggies' NCAA Tournament wins in the last 11 days.
Wacha pitched into the eighth inning, getting an out before walking two in a row and leaving for Kyle Martin, who kept the Seminoles at two runs.
Wacha (9-3) gave up only three hits. He had pitched 13 shutout innings in the College Station Regional.
"When Michael is on the mound we know we don't need many runs as well as he pitches," said third baseman Adam Smith. "And whenever we go out an put a six-spot on the board it makes it a lot easier."
Wacha got plenty of support with Smith putting the Aggies up 8-0 in the second with a long home run that hit the parking lot beyond the bullpen in left field.
Smith's homer drove in Jacob House, who had walked as the Seminole pitching staff continued to have trouble throwing strikes, not unlike the Aggies the previous night.
"I had pregame jitters, I wouldn't be human if I didn't," said Wacha. "Just from what I saw yesterday they are a great hitting team and our pitchers walked a few people and left the ball up for them to hit it, so I knew if I went out there and kept the ball low I'd have a chance."
Stuart Tapley, who had two homers on Sunday, hit a solo home run in the third inning for the first hit off Wacha. Rafael Lopez doubled to drive in Taiwan Easterling in the sixth for Florida State's other run.
A&M also scored a run in the fifth and two in the seventh, piling up 11 hits, with House, Smith and Jackson each having two hits.
Smith was also involved in a little skirmish after getting hit in the hip by Busch on the at-bat following his home run.
Smith, who said he knew he was going to get hit, traded comments with Busch as Smith made his way to first. Then Childress and FSU coach Mike Martin had words as the umpires called the two out of their respective dugouts.
After the game Childress spoke very respectively of Martin, who has coached the Seminoles for 32 years. Childress also made sure he let everyone back in College Station know how he felt about what it meant for his team to represent A&M at the CWS.
"I know [the community] is excited, they have supported us here since I've been at Texas A&M and I can't thank them enough for everything they do," said Childress. "I'm proud to be leading this baseball program to Omaha and appreciate the support I've been given since arriving on campus in 2005."
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