Brodie Greene says Texas A&M baseball coaches harp on finishing innings, extracting everything possible from a turn at bat by competing like crazy with two outs.
The Aggies are proving to be terrific finishers, and as a result, fast starters in the Big 12.
A&M scored each of its runs Saturday with two outs, the final one on a triple by Greene in the eighth inning, to rally past Texas Tech 5-4 on a brutally cold and windy Saturday night at Olsen Field.
The 23rd-ranked Aggies (15-3, 2-0 Big 12) rallied to beat the Red Raiders (8-12, 0-2) for the second consecutive game. Nine of A&M's 11 runs in the series have scored with two outs.
"All five runs tonight were with two outs," A&M coach Rob Childress said. "We got big hits all night long. I was really proud of the way we got after it. We had great intensity. We had a lot of fun on a night when the conditions were not the best."
A&M's key offensive innings were the fifth and eighth, each of which developed after Tech retired the first two batters. Greene tripled into right-center in the fifth and scored the tying run when Joe Patterson's opposite-field liner was knocked down by the wind for a single. Caleb Shofner followed with a double, and then consecutive walks pushed in the go-ahead run.
"They were about to get through a clean inning with two outs and nobody on," Childress said. "Just like that, we string four or five great at-bats together."
It was a painful way to lose for the struggling Red Raiders.
"We had a hard time putting them away," Tech coach Dan Spencer said. "They play with a lot of intensity and they're loose, and if you make a pitch and get it up a bit or out over the plate they'll put a good swing on it."
Tech reliever Jay Johnson blanked the Aggies from the sixth until the ninth, when he got a groundout and pop fly. Scott Arthur lined a single to left field, then raced around the bases when Greene drove a triple into the right-field corner.
"Coach talked before the game about whoever wants it more is going to win the game," Greene said. "We battled all the way through it. We had a lot of balls that we hit hard the other way. The last one in the eighth inning was perfect."
The cold night heated up after Greene gave the Aggies a 5-4 lead. As Arthur headed toward the dugout, he said something to Johnson that caused the Tech pitcher to return comment and start toward Arthur. Players from both teams quickly gathered around home plate, but umpires and coaches separated them before any punches were thrown.
Johnson and A&M designated hitter Joe Patterson, who stepped between Arthur and the pitcher, were ejected from the game. Both will be available to play in the series finale at 1:05 p.m. Sunday.
For the second consecutive night, the Red Raiders used a two-run homer to take the lead. No. 8 hitter Kevin Whitehead pulled a wind-resistant shot to right field in the third inning. Tech scored again in the inning on a two-out double by Michael Reed, bringing an early exit for A&M starting pitcher Ross Stripling.
Freshman Jake Feckley provided the Aggies with superb relief pitching. Feckley retired eight consecutive batters before allowing a two-out single in the sixth. Lefty Estevan Uriegas came in to get designated hitter Scott LeJeune on a groundout to end the inning.
Michael Wacha, another freshman, pitched the last three innings to get the win and improve to 3-0. Wacha was touched for an unearned run in the seventh, but he retired the last seven batters.
"When you've got to go to the bullpen in the third inning, you figure you're going to be in trouble the rest of the day," Childress said. "Feckley was the one that gave us a stop, gave us a strong outing. [Uriegas] got the guy he was supposed to get. Michael Wacha gave us three really strong innings."
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NOTES -- At first pitch, the temperature was 41 degrees. The wind of 28 mph with gusts up to 38 produced a wind chill of 30 degrees. ... Greene went 3 for 5 and stretched his hitting streak to a career-best 14 games. Patterson has at least one hit in 17 of 18 games and has reached base in every game this season. ... Wacha had a scoreless streak of 21 2/3 innings that covered six outings snapped on the unearned run in the seventh. ... Adam Smith played left field for the Aggies, making his first start in the outfield. Smith had been the starting shortstop before A&M coaches made defensive changes for the Tech series. ... The probable starting pitchers for Sunday's game are A&M's Clayton Ehlert (1-1, 4.67 ERA) and Tech's Chad Bettis (2-2, 4.34).
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