College Roundup: Aggies Stay Hot, Cougars Play Spoiler

Strike One: Texas A&M Stays Hot

With a 5-2 victory Saturday at No. 8 South Carolina, No. 2 Texas A&M clinched a series win—its sixth in a row—and moved a half-game ahead of top-ranked Florida in the Southeastern Conference standings. The Aggies (39-10) have won 17 of their past 20 games, and are rolling as the season hits its stretch run.

HOW THE TOP 25 FARED

(1) Florida: lost, 5-0 vs. (12) Vanderbilt

(2) Texas A&M: won, 5-2, at (8) South Carolina

(3) Mississippi State: won, 16-6, at Auburn

(4) Miami: won, 4-3, in 11 innings vs. Pittsburgh

(5) Texas Tech: off

(6) Mississippi: won, 7-5, vs. Kentucky

(7) Florida State: lost, 3-1, at Duke

(8) South Carolina: lost, 5-2, vs. (2) Texas A&M

(9) Louisville: won, 4-2, vs. (13) North Carolina State

(10) Texas Christian: lost, 8-5, at Baylor

(11) Louisiana State: won, 11-3, at Tennessee

(12) Vanderbilt: won, 5-0, at (1) Florida

(13) North Carolina State: lost, 4-2, at (9) Louisville

(14) Rice: suspended vs. (17) Florida Atlantic

(15) Virginia: won, 9-4, vs. Georgia Tech

(16) Oklahoma State: won, 10-9, vs. Oklahoma in Tulsa

(17) Florida Atlantic: suspended at (14) Rice

(18) Tulane: lost, 8-1, vs. Memphis

(19) Southern Mississippi: won, 7-3, vs. Louisiana Tech

(20) Washington: lost, 7-2, vs. Washington State

(21) Arizona: won, 4-2, vs. Arizona State

(22) Cal State Fullerton: won, 18-2, at (24) UC Santa Barbara

(23) Clemson: lost, 7-6, at Georgia Southern

(24) UC Santa Barbara: lost, 18-2, vs. (22) Cal State Fullerton

(25) Creighton: lost, 6-5, at Xavier

Texas A&M stuck to the formula Saturday that has served it so well this season, playing clean defense, pitching well and taking advantage of its opponents mistakes. The Aggies made no errors, held the Gamecocks (37-13) to three hits and made them pay for a pair of errors in the fourth, scoring three runs (two earned) in the inning.

Second baseman Ryne Birk (3-for-4, 3 R) delivered the big hit of the inning, hitting a two-run home run off righthander Braden Webb to give the Aggies the early lead. It was just the fourth homer allowed by the freshman this season.

The Aggies got an exceptional appearance out of the bullpen from righthander Andrew Vinson (4.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K) in relief of Turner Larkins. It was the longest outing of the year for Vinson, a senior, who improved to 2-2, 3.86 in 15 appearances.

“Andrew Vinson is an extreme veteran,” coach Rob Childress said. “He went out in a hostile environment, threw the ball over the plate and made them swing. When they had opportunities to make big plays he made big pitches.”

Texas A&M will go for a sweep Sunday in a game that will have significant implications on the national seed race. Both teams could end up with top eight seeds, but the series finale will give both an opportunity to bolster their resumes even more.

---

Strike Two: Washington State Upsets Apple Cart

Entering the weekend, No. 20 Washington was tied for first place in the Pac-12 Conference and Washington State found itself in the cellar. But in the Apple State’s rivalry series, Washington State has played the role of spoiler, going on the road to win the first two games of the series and knock Washington out of first place.

The Cougars (17-28) won Saturday, 7-2, to clinch their first series win in Seattle since 2004. They took the lead with five runs in the third inning and never looked back.

Washington State sent nine batters to the plate in the third and pounded out six hits. Shane Matheny (3-for-4, 2 R) drove in the first run, on the way to his second straight three-hit game, and J.J. Hancock capped the inning with a two-run, two-out single.

The Cougars’ big inning also inspired their bat boy Jake Lees, son of first-year coach Marty Lees.

The @WSUCougars bat boy—aka Mr. Steal Yo Girl—is absolutely the MVP of Saturday 😂😂😂https://t.co/qnJtr7ba0p

— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) May 15, 2016

While this weekend’s series victory will be one of the highlights of Washington State’s season, it is a particularly bad loss for Washington (27-18). The Huskies are only a game out of first place in the conference, but they had also been in the mix to host a regional and this weekend has seen their RPI drop to 47. With only two weeks left, it will be difficult to back to the range necessary to be a host.

---

Strike Three: Western Carolina Powers Up

Western Carolina used eight home runs Saturday to defeat UNC Greensboro, 19-8, and edge past the Spartans into a first-place tie in the Southern Conference with Mercer. UNCG is now a half-game back of the leaders after dropping the first two games of its series at Western Carolina.

Bryson Bowman (3-for-5, 3 R, 2 RBIs), Andrew Bullock (3-for-4, 4 R, 3 RBIs), Kramer Ferrell (3-for-5, 2 R, 7 RBIs) and J.D. Long (3-for-5, 2 R, 5 RBIs,) all hit two home runs for the Catamounts. Bowman leads the team with 16 home runs.

UNCG (35-17) entered the weekend ranked No. 2 in the country in scoring, averaging 8.9 runs per game. But Western Carolina (25-24), which ranked 23rd with 7.5 runs per game, has been able to slug its way to a series win.

The SoCon race will go down to the final weekend of the season. Sunday is Western Carolina’s final conference game of the season, as it will close out the season with a nonconference series against Kent State. Meanwhile, Mercer (33-19) will travel to UNCG to end the year. Plenty more runs should be scored in that series, as the Bears ranked eighth with 8.2 runs per game.

---

The Lineup

Kyle Wright, rhp, Vanderbilt: Behind a three-hit shutout from Wright (9 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 10 K), No. 12 Vanderbilt defeated No. 1 Florida, 5-0, to even their series. The sophomore threw his first career complete game and became the first pitcher to shut out the Gators this season.

Darren McCaughan, rhp, Long Beach State: Facing just two batters more than the minimum, McCaughan (9 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6) was sensational as he led Long Beach to a 2-0 victory against San Jose State. With his first career complete game, the sophomore improved to 8-1, 2.10 and the Dirtbags (30-18) reached the 30-win mark for the second time under coach Troy Buckley.

Kyle Nowlin, of, Eastern Kentucky: In an 8-3 victory against Murray State, Nowlin went 2-for-3 with two home runs and two walks, setting one program record and moving closer to another. With his second walk of the game and 50th of the year, the senior set the Colonels’ single-season walks record. He has also now homered 19 times this season, leaving him one shy of the program record.

Ben Bengtson, ss, Hartford: The Hawks’ offense exploded for 31 runs in a doubleheader sweep of Massachusetts-Lowell, with Bengtson leading the way. He hit a grand slam in each of his first two plate appearances of the day, and finished the doubleheader a combined 2-for-5 with four runs and eight RBIs.

Ruben Cardenas, dh, Cal State Fullerton: Cardenas (4-for-6, HR, 6 RBIs) led No. 22 Cal State Fullerton’s attack in an 18-2 rout at No. 24 UC Santa Barbara. The freshman set career highs in both hits and RBIs, , and is now hitting. 258/.320/.462 this season.

Brett Cumberland, c, California: The Pac-12’s runaway home run leader added two more to his total in California’s 16-0 win at Northwestern. Cumberland (3-for-4, 4 RBIs) now has 14 homers this spring and is hitting .347/.473/.687.

Reggie McClain, rhp, Missouri: On senior day at Missouri, McClain (9 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 12 K) was dominant in his final start at Taylor Stadium. The redshirt senior threw the second shutout of his career to improve to 5-3, 3.77 this season.

Tyler Selesky, 3b, Florida Gulf Coast: In a 19-4 rout at Lipscomb, Selesky (4-for-5, 2 R, 6 RBIs) led the Eagles offense to its best day since 2014 and finished a triple shy of the cycle. The senior is hitting .318/.413/.533 with nine home runs this spring.

Matt Waldron, rhp, Nebraska: Facing Penn State, Waldron (9 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K) became the first Nebraska pitcher to throw a shutout since 2010. The freshman led the Cornhuskers to a 6-0 victory, improving to 6-2, 2.55 in the process.