Eagle Staff Report
WACO -- Texas A&M's Caleb Shofner hit a home run and drove in three runs Sunday as the Aggies claimed a 6-2 victory over the Texas State Bobcats in the finale of the QTI Baylor Baseball Classic.
Kevin Gonzalez also homered and Joe Patterson added a double and scored twice, helping A&M (5-2) close out the tournament with a 2-1 record.
Nick Fleece (1-0) started on the mound for the Aggies and got the victory, lasting five-plus innings and allowing two runs on seven hits while striking out four. Michael Wacha relieved Fleece and held the Bobcats (3-3) scoreless over the final four innings, earning his first save.
A&M, coming off a nonconference victory over Baylor on Saturday, got on the board early thanks to Shofner's two-run homer in the second inning. The Aggies increased their lead to 3-0 in the third without the help of a hit as Patterson drew a leadoff walk, stole second base and came around to score on two sacrifice flies.
Texas State threatened with back-to-back scoring frames in the fifth and sixth before a big defensive play got A&M out of a jam.
Kyle Livingstone's third homer of the year made the score 3-2 in the sixth, and Jason Martinson laced a single up the middle to put the tying run on base and chase Fleece from the game.
Wacha entered in relief, and A&M left fielder Brandon Wood made a diving catch on a ball hit by Shaun Garcia that led to a double play when Martinson failed to tag up. Texas State coach Ty Harrington was ejected after arguing the call. Wacha then got Jordan Kopycinski to fly out to center to close out the inning.
The Aggies put the game away with three runs over the seventh and eighth innings, highlighted by Gonzalez's homer. Wacha retired the Bobcats in order in the seventh and eighth before stranding a runner at second to end the game.
Brian Borski (1-1) took the loss, giving up four runs on seven hits in seven innings.
Texas State's Tyler Sibley went 3 for 4 with a double and an RBI.
Notice about comments:
Theeagle.com is pleased to offer readers the ability to comment on stories. We expect our readers to engage in lively, yet civil discourse. theeagle.com cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in the comments area. Responsibility for the statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not theeagle.com. If you find a comment that is objectionable, please click "report abuse" and we will review it for possible removal. Please be reminded, however, that in accordance with our Terms of Use and federal law, we are under no obligation to remove any third party comments posted on our website. Full terms and conditions can be read here.
Aggiesports.com is proud to offer our users enhanced commenting features. You can now build user-to-user connections, follow friends’ recent posts, add an avatar that fits your personality and more. If you have posted here before you’ll need to sign up again, and if you’ve never posted start now by signing up! If you've already registered for the new comments on www.theeagle.com then just use your Eagle username to log in and start commenting.
