No. 1 Aggies Top Binghamton in NCAA Opener, 4-2

Friday, June 3

College Station

8:00 PM

Texas A&M

46-14

Binghamton

30-24

Binghamton

Texas A&M

Photo by: Sam Craft/Texas A&M Athletics

Jun 03, 2016 | Baseball

Box Score

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 1 Texas A&M Aggies held the Binghamton Bearcats to six hits as the Maroon and White prevailed, 4-2, Friday evening on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park to open play at the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship College Station Regional.

With the win, Texas A&M moves on to play the Wake Forest Demon Deacons Saturday evening at 8:04 pm. Binghamton will face Minnesota in an elimination game Saturday at 3:04 pm. Wake Forest dispatched of Minnesota, 5-3, in Friday's opener.

Kyle Simonds (10-3) picked up the win for the Aggies, yielding two runs, one earned on four hits and one walk while striking out five in 5.1 innings. The senior became the first Texas A&M player to reach double digits in the win column since Ross Stripling won 10 games in 2012.

Andrew Vinson picked up action on the mound in the sixth with two runners on and one out and he recorded two strikeouts to get out of the jam. The senior ended up striking out six of the nine batters he faced in 2.2 innings. It marked his 103^rd career appearance, tying Kyle Thebeau for the Texas A&M record.

Mark Ecker closed out the game with a six-pitch ninth inning, allowing one hit while striking out one to earn his seventh save of the season. He moved into fourth place on Texas A&M's career saves list with 15.

Jonathan Moroney continued to swing a hot bat for the Aggies, going 3-for-3 with one walk, one home run, two runs and two RBI. Michael Barash and Austin Homan added two hits apiece.

The Aggies broke the scoring seal in the bottom of the second inning. With one out, Barash laced a single through the right side of the infield to extend his career-best hit streak to 12 games. Moroney followed by launching a 2-2 offering over the fence in centerfield for a two-run home run, his third dinger of the year. With two hits, Hunter Melton was hit by a pitch, Homan doubled to rightfield and J.B. Moss drew a five-pitch walk to load the bases. The Aggies tacked on a third run, when a throw by shortstop Paul Rufo on a grounder by Nick Banks pulled the first baseman off the bag, staking Texas A&M to a 3-0 lead.

Binghamton (30-24) trimmed a run off the margin in the top of the fourth. Reed Gamache was issued a four-pitch walk to start the frame. He moved to second on a groundout to first base by Brendan Skidmore. After Eddie Posavec swung and missed at strike three for the second out of the inning, Jason Argesti bounced to shortstop where Homan's throw sailed over Melton's head at first, allowing Gamache to round third and score, cutting the Aggie advantage to 3-1.

Texas A&M (46-14) manufactured a run in the bottom of the fifth. Moroney poked a single to leftfield, his third hit of the game, to start the frame and he moved to third on a wild pitch. With one out, a fielding error by third baseman David Schanz on a grounder by Melton put runners on the corners and Homan slapped a single to leftfield, plating Moroney for the 4-1 lead.

The Bearcats trimmed the gap back to two runs in the top of the sixth. Aggie starter Kyle Simonds hit Schanz and Gamache with pitches to start the frame before striking out Skidmore on three pitches. Povasec bounced a single up the middle to drive in Schanz. The hit drove Simonds from the contest, but reliever Andrew Vinson fanned Agresti and Rufo to quell the rally.

Mike Bunal (8-4) was saddled with the loss for Binghamton. He allowed three runs, two earned, on seven hits and four walks while striking out three in 3.2 innings.

Posavec paced the Bearcats with two hits.

NOTES
Binghamton Bearcats

Binghamton will play Minnesota in an elimination matchup on Saturday.
Binghamton falls to 30-24 overall, 1-7 historically in the NCAA Tournament.
Binghamton is now 2-11 against the SEC and this was their first matchup against a ranked opponent since 2013. They are now 0-14 in this situation as a Division I baseball program.
Centerfielder CJ Krowiak failed to extend his 13 game hit streak.
This was the 14^th multi-hit game for catcher Eddie Posavec.

Texas A&M Aggies

Austin Homan extended his hitting streak to eight games, five of those have been multi-hit games (including tonight). Homan is now hitting .545 this postseason.
Jonathan Moroney tied his season-high hit total with three base knocks, including his third homerun of the year. All three occurrences have come since May 19. Moroney's hit streak was also extended to six games.
Texas A&M improved their overall record to 46-14, extending their win streak to five. The Maroon and White are now 65-46 all-time in the NCAA Regional and 34-14 in postseason NCAA games at Olsen Field/Blue Bell Park.
A&M moves to 10-1 against the America East conference and takes the inaugural matchup against the Bearcats.
Andrew Vinson tied the career appearances on the mound mark with his 103^rd.
Michael Barash extended his hit streak to 12, reaching base for a 15^th straight game. This is also his 17^th multi-hit game on the 2016 campaign.
Nick Banks has now reached base 13 consecutive games.
Mark Ecker moved to a tie for 4^th on the A&M career saves list with 15, his 7^th on the season.
Kyle Simonds became the first Aggie to reach double-digits in the win column since Ross Stripling in 2012.
This is Texas A&M's 11^th straight win in the regional opener as host.

QUOTES
Texas A&M Aggies
Head Coach Rob Childress
Opening Statement…
"I was very proud of our team tonight. We had a very tough test with Binghamton. They are very well coached team and fundamentally sound. Their starter did a very nice job; he was up to 92 on the gun with a really good slider. I thought we did a really good job taking a lot of pitches from him and getting to their bullpen. Each guy that they went to did a nice job. We were very fortunate to come out on the winning end tonight. We got a nice start from Kyle Simonds. Andrew (Vinson) and Mark (Ecker) did a really nice job making that stand up. From an offensive standpoint, I thought we did a good job setting up some innings. We just didn't get a whole lot of big hits tonight, but we got enough to win and move on to tomorrow night."

On Jonathan Moroney…
"It doesn't happen if he's not continuing to work and prepare and stay connected to the team. Jonathan has done an amazing job of that for four years. When he's gotten opportunities he's made the most of them. He's a great teammate and a great worker, he's gotten an opportunity here and success follows that. I'm very thankful he's been a part of our program for the four years."

On finishing the emotional game…
"We are doing are best to try to help our guys keep their composure being able to finish off that game the right way. I thought Andrew (Vinson) did a nice job and went out and had that eighth inning when we needed it the most with the big guys coming up. Then, Mark Ecker was very efficient in the ninth. You have to give Binghamton a lot of credit, they were well-prepared. Their first guy and their last guy can pitch for anyone in the country."

Senior designated hitter Jonathan Moroney
Opening Statement…
"I'm just going out there and trying to enjoy myself, because it's my last year playing at this university. I'm just trying to do what I can do to help our team win. Just trying to play the game like I've always played it. I'm really proud of our pitching staff getting us through this game. Any regional win is a big win. Now we, move on to tomorrow, our most important game."

On the Crowd…
"It's always fun to play when you have a packed house screaming. It's a lot of energy and sometimes you have to check it and make sure you are staying within yourself, not try to get to big and make something happen."

Senior pitcher Andrew Vinson
On the crowd…
"When the crowd is as loud as they were tonight and with the energy they were giving out it's easy to feed on the crowd and get into a roll. Coach Childress and Michael Barash did a good job trying to keep me sane, keep my heart rate down and be relaxed out there. Coach Childress sits me down and tells me how to react and what I should do."

Binghamton Bearcats

Head coach Tim Sinicki
Opening Statement…
"Well, I'm incredibly proud of the way our guys competed tonight against one of the premier programs in the country in a great environment. I thought that we showed people hope in the stands and whoever was watching it saw we certainly didn't come here just for a vacation in College Station. I thought we gave them everything they could handle. You know it's an outstanding ball club. You've got to play a perfect game and we were just short of perfect. We made a couple mistakes and it cost us and their pitcher did a great job after giving up a few hits in the first inning, settling down and keeping us offensively in check for the rest of the game so hats off to them. They certainly were a better team tonight but at the same time I'm really proud of the way we competed and happy of our effort in this opening game."

Sophomore pitcher Jake Wloczewski
On his outing…
"When I came in, Coach told me right away 'runner on second, it's a 4-2 game, keep it there. 4-2 we've come back from much bigger than that.' My job was to let the defense play and get that last out when it was giving them their hit. I was just trying to let my defense make the plays like they did all year."

Junior catcher Eddie Posavec
On emotions on the field…
"It's a very high intense situation and it was just two teams trying to win a ballgame. Obviously on this stage with a bunch of people watching, sometimes emotion can get out of check but that's baseball and it happens. No one really did much wrong I just thought two teams trying to win a ballgame."

On game environment…
"Unreal. I don't think any of us on our team has played in front of that many people. They're very energetic the fans up there. Even though they aren't our fans, it's still fun to play in front of a bunch of people like that, just a great experience."