COLLEGE STATION, Texas – In the last Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park start of his career, senior Kyle Simonds pitched the Texas A&M Aggies to a 7-1 win over the TCU Horned Frogs to even the College Station Super Regional at 1-1. The teams will play the deciding game Sunday at 8:04 pm on ESPN2.
Simonds (11-3) allowed just one run on four hits and three walks while striking out six to earn the win. The Grand Island, Nebraska native finished the year 7-1 on Olsen Field, including his complete-game, no-hitter against Vanderbilt.
The Aggies exploded for four home runs on the evening, all solo jobs, with Michael Barash, Hunter Melton, Jonathan Moroney and J.B. Moss all going deep.
Texas A&M (49-15) needed just two pitches to break the scoring seal as Moss hit a 1-0 offering to the scoreboard in leftfield for a leadoff home run. After two outs were recorded, the Aggies resumed the charge with Ryne Birk and Barash singling to put two runners on. The inning appeared to be over when Moroney grounded to third base, but Elliott Barzilli’s throw sailed over the first baseman’s head allowing Birk to score. Joel Davis followed with a single down the leftfield line, plating Barash for the 3-0 lead.
The Aggies tacked on two insurance runs in the sixth. With one out, Moroney put a charge into a 0-1 pitch, sending over the fence in left-center for a solo home run. Davis followed with a double down the leftfield line and scored on a double by Austin Homan, inflating the Texas A&M cushion to 5-0.
Texas A&M added two runs in the eighth with home runs by Barash and Melton.
Jace Vines closed out the game with two strikeouts in 1.1 innings of relief.
Barash went 2-for-5 with two runs and one RBI. Davis batted 2-for-2 with one double, one walk, one run and one RBI. Homan hit his fifth double of the postseason.
Mitchell Traver (1-2) was saddled with the loss for TCU (46-16). He yielded five runs, three earned, on six hits and two walks while striking out four in 5.2 innings.
Evan Skoug and Ryan Merrill managed two hits apiece for TCU with Skoug accounting for the only RBI.
