After winning two games rather comfortably, Texas A&M baseball coach Rob Childress was forced to tip his hand and show what his strategy will be this year in the tight games.
With the score tied 3-3 in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader against Seton Hall, Childress brought in relief pitcher John Stilson to shut down the Pirates and secure an opening-weekend sweep at Olsen Field.
It worked, with Stilson facing the minimum in his four innings as the Aggies (3-0) scored three runs in the eighth for a 6-3 victory that backed up a 13-6 win over the Pirates (0-3) in Saturday's opener.
"He was just outstanding," Childress said. "Once he came in the game it was over and it was just a matter of time for us scoring a run. Hopefully these starters will give us the opportunity and the luxury to keep him at the back end of the pen."
Stilson struck out five of the 12 batters he faced, and only two balls made it to outfielders. The hardest hit ball, a liner to shortstop Adam Smith, came off the bat of Michael Betz, the first batter Stilson faced.
"My fastball and changeup [were working] and I'd throw a slider every now and then, but other than that I just competed," said Stilson, a sophomore transfer from Texarkana College. "It was a great start and I'm just ready for more."
Brodie Greene continued his great start, backing up a 3-for-4 performance in the season opener by going 5 for 7 in the doubleheader and getting the go-ahead RBI in the nightcap.
Greene knocked in Adam Smith, who walked and advanced to second base on Scott Arthur's sacrifice bunt. Greene also had two triples in the first game and scored five runs on the day.
"I was able to just relax up there and it was coming easy and it felt good," Greene said. "I was able to get some balls up and the wind helped, and I got loose on the basepaths."
Greene went to second on the throw home on his big single, stole third and scored on newcomer Andrew Collazo's ground out to make it 5-3.
Joe Patterson then put a capper on what would have been an MVP-type weekend if not for Greene by hitting an opposite-field homer. Patterson was 7 for 11 for the series with four RBIs and three runs scored.
Caleb Shofner had the big blow early, sending a Benny Mejia pitch over the netting in left field and a few rows back in the parking lot for a three-run homer that put A&M up 3-1 in the fourth.
"[Mejia] had buried two good sharp sliders down in the dirt and made me look bad," Shofner said. "Since he did that I thought I'd get another one, so I was sitting on that and he hung it and I was able to get a good swing on it.
"I hit it off the end [of the bat] ... nah, just kidding. I hit that ball well."
A&M led comfortably throughout the first game, scoring four runs in the first inning. Three were unearned and the fourth came on the first homer of the season, a shot over the left-field fence by Collazo.
Two hit batsmen, an error and a squeeze bunt helped the Aggies score twice in the fourth.
In the sixth, Stilson, Greene, Patterson, Shofner and Matt Juengel all singled, with Patterson's driving in two after the Pirates intentionally walked Collazo.
Leading 10-3, the Aggies tacked on three more runs in the eighth. Collazo knocked in Greene, who added a stand-up triple to his previous three-bagger. Patterson was then hit by a pitch, and Shofner made Seton Hall pay by clearing wall in left-center.
Ross Stripling picked up the win on the mound, pitching into the sixth before being relieved after his own error on a throw to first base. Stripling gave up three runs on seven hits, getting help from Greene on a diving, over-the-shoulder basket catch in center field.
"That was about as good as it gets," Childress said. "[Greene] can play anywhere on the field and I feel like his athleticism in center field, you can see better than any position. It was a huge back-breaker for him to catch it. If he doesn't catch that ball they have runners at second and third and one run in and they've got a chance to keep coming at us."
Greene was pleased with the play, but he said not everybody had the same opinion of the catch.
"It was pretty high up there," Greene said. "Joe [Patterson] gave me some heck about it, about running the wrong route or I wouldn't have had to have dove. But I'll take it."
Estevan Uriegas had his second solid outing in relief, and Michael Wacha pitched the final 2 1/3 innings. He gave up three runs in the ninth but was victimized by an error.
For the series, the Aggies reached double digits in hits in each game for a .361 average and came away with an earned run average of 2.00.
Aggie pitchers, who set a school mark for strikeouts last season, continued that trend, totaling 25 in 27 innings.
Every time the Aggies strike out an opposing batter, the scoreboard plays a clip from the old television series The Rifleman starring Chuck Connors, which only added insult to injury to Seton Hall coach Rob Sheppard.
"You know, Chuck Connors is a Pirate, and I was tired of seeing him all weekend," Sheppard said of the actor, who attended Seton Hall.
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NOTES -- Former Houston Astros star Craig Biggio, who played at Seton Hall for Sheppard's father, was in attendance Saturday. ... Wally Moon, who played for A&M and was a major leaguer from 1954-1965, threw out the first pitch in the opening game. ... A&M faces Stephen F. Austin on Tuesday at Olsen.
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