Texas A&M 10, Ohio State 4: Blake Stouffer doubled in the eighth inning, completing the cycle and leading Texas A&M to a 10-4 victory in an elimination game Sunday afternoon.
Stouffer’s double was his seventh straight hit in the tournament, and it drove in his sixth run of the game.
It was the junior first baseman’s second cycle of the season. Only Derek Nicholson of Florida and Spencer Oborn of BYU in 1998 had previously hit for the cycle twice in the same season. Stouffer posted his first cycle in a win over Jacksonville State.
“It was exciting. You’ve got to live for the moment, soak it up,” Stouffer said. “It is a great feeling, but we still have some more to do.”
He hit a three-run homer, his 11th, in the third to put A&M up 4-0, tripled in Brandon Hicks in the fifth and got it all started with an RBI single in the first.
“He’s just an outstanding hitter, a quality baseball player,” Ohio State coach Bob Todd said. “On two of the at-bats we were trying to pitch around him.”
Kirkland Rivers started for the Aggies, going four innings and giving up three runs.
Gary Campfield came in with two runners on and no outs in the fifth. The Buckeyes got a sacrifice fly out of cleanup hitter Justin Miller, but Campfield struck out Ohio State’s leading home run hitter, Jason Zoeller, to end the inning.
Campfield finished the game and earned the win, getting a key double play on a liner back to the mound in the eighth.
“Gary Campfield came in and did what we needed him to do, and that was for us not to go back into the bullpen,” Childress said.”
Texas A&M 4 Louisiana-Lafayette 1!
It’s necessary!
Texas A&M came back from the losers’ bracket to win two games on Sunday and force a deciding game against Louisiana-Lafayette, the same team the Aggies defeated 4-1 in the second game Sunday night.
“It was an extremely long day, but fun day,” Texas A&M coach Rob Childress said. “The first game it was hot and took a lot out of us.
“But like [Louisiana-Lafayette coach] Tony Robichaux said last night, ‘we haven’t won anything yet.’ “
Scott Migl (7-3) gave the Aggies an opportunity to win the regional by pitching his best game of the season, scattering nine hits while not walking a batter over 7-plus innings. The only inning he allowed the leadoff hitter to reach base was the eighth.
