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Updated 5:11 AM on Monday, April 30, 2007

Baylor runs down Aggies

Bears avoid sweep with ninth-inning rally to win 16-12

By RICHARD CROOME
Eagle Staff Writer

There has been no relief for the Aggies on Sunday.

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Buy this photo Eagle Photo/Butch Ireland Texas A&M's Blake Stouffer is chased down by Baylor's Dustin Dickerson in the Aggies' 16-12 loss Sunday at Olsen Field. The Aggies won two of three in the series.

For the second straight series finale, the Aggies watched as the visiting team overcame a three-run deficit to spoil a very good offensive showing by Texas A&M.

Against Baylor on Sunday it took four relievers to get the Aggies out of the ninth inning.

By the time the fourth pitcher finally registered the third out, the Bears had rung up seven runs for a 16-12 victory that allowed Baylor to avoid being swept for the third time in Big 12 play. More importantly, the comeback kept Baylor (25-21, 8-13) from falling into last place. The Bears are tied for eighth.

A&M, which could have moved into third with a win, fell to 11-9 in Big 12 play and 35-11 overall.

"At some point we've got to have some pitchers step up that aren't scared to pitch in the bottom of the ninth with a three-run lead," A&M coach Rob Childress said. "This team found a way to have a lead (12-9) in the ninth inning with three outs to go, at home, at Olsen Field, and can't finish it on the mound. It is certainly disappointing."

What made it worse for the Aggies was the Bears were at the bottom of their order to start the inning.

Shaver Hansen lined a shot that first baseman Blake Stouffer was unable to hang onto for an error. Kyle Thebeau, who had the save in Saturday's 5-3 win and came in to end Baylor's threat in the eighth Sunday, then walked No. 9 hitter Paul Miles.

Childress called on lefty Jason Meyer to face the left-handed hitter Ben Booker. Two pitches later the score was tied at 12, with Booker leaving no doubt on his second homer of the year.

"Coach has dressed me pretty good against lefties this year," Booker said. "When they brought him in, I figured he'd throw something offspeed and he just left it up a little bit. He's a good pitcher. It was just one mistake."

Raynor Campbell reached on a bunt single and, after Chase Gerdes struck out, Beamer Weems doubled down the left-field line to drive in Campbell with the winning run. Meyer took the loss, dropping to 4-1.

"Baseball is such a mental game. You have to get the last out: You just can't hold the ball and run the clock out," Baylor coach Steve Smith said. "And again, it's hard to restart a rally [after a home run]. A home run can be as much of a rally killer as anything else."

Baylor kept it going with Dustin Dickerson singling to center to make it 14-12. Tim Jackson doubled off third baseman Brian Ruggiano's glove and then Matt Czimskey singled to drive in the last two runs and send many of the 4,455 fans to the exits.

"When I went out there [to the field], I had no doubt we were going to win," left fielder Ben Feltner said. " I was just getting ready to watch them strike out. You think a team is so discouraged at that point they are not going to get hits.

BAYLOR 16, TEXAS A&M 12 RECORDS: Baylor (25-21, 8-13 Big 12), Texas A&M (35-11, 11-9) WP: Nick Cassavechia (5-1) LP: Jason Meyer (4-1) NEXT: Dallas Baptist at Texas A&M, 6:30 p.m. Thursday

"Once we walked a guy I thought, 'Geez, it's not going to happen again,'" Feltner said.

A&M gave up two runs in each of the last two innings against Oklahoma State to lose 12-11 the previous Sunday.

Ruggiano and Parker Dalton got one-out singles in the ninth as the Aggies tried to respond to the Baylor rally, but Nick Cassavechia (5-1) struck out Brandon Hicks and got Feltner to pop out to end the game.

After trailing 9-4 in the fifth, the Aggies appeared to have the game in hand with Feltner and Craig Stinson hitting solo homers in the eighth to give A&M a 12-9 lead. It was Feltner's first home run of the season and Stinson's seventh.

Feltner was 4 for 6 with three runs and two RBIs, while Stinson was 3 for 5 with two runs and three RBIs.

"Our hitters fought all day long against their guy, Cassavechia," Childress said. "They'd been saving him all weekend to have the opportunity to use him."

Cassavechia came in with eight saves and an ERA of 1.65, but the Aggies put together a six-run seventh against him and Tim Matthews.

Dalton led off with a single and Hicks reached on an error by Hansen. Feltner knocked in Dalton while knocking out Matthews with a single.

Cassavechia walked Luke Anders, and Stinson brought home two with a single. Pinch-hitter Daman Aaron walked and Ruggiano tied the game at 9-9 with a two-run single.

Aaron hustled home from second on an infield error by Hansen to give the Aggies the lead.

"We had a great offensive day all the way around," Childress said. "Twelve runs on 16 hits, what more could you ask for?"

Baylor's five-run sixth came at the expense of Kirkland Rivers, who had only given up a walk in 1 1/3 innings going into the sixth.

An error on Ruggiano at third started the trouble. Hansen followed with a single and Booker bunted to load the bases for Campbell, who drove in three with a double.

Another walk and singles by Weems and Dickerson ended Rivers' day.

"Kirkland's job is to get left-handed hitters out, and the left-handed hitters were coming up - lefty, switch-hitter, left - and he didn't do the job," Childress said. "Same thing with Meyer there in the ninth - left, switch, left. It's his job to get the lefties out and neither one of them did it."

The wild finish took away from the Aggies' hitting and small ball in the first two innings.

Blake Stouffer hit his third homer of the series and seventh overall for the Aggies' two runs in the first. Stouffer, second in the Big 12 in runs batted in, had eight on the weekend.

In the second, Josh Stinson and Kyle Colligan singled and then moved up on a Dane Carter sacrifice. Dalton followed with a bunt to score Stinson, and Colligan raced home on the throw to first.

Weems put the Bears up 2-0 in the first with his team-leading seventh homer. He was given a reprieve when his foul ball dropped between catcher Craig Stinson and third baseman Carter near the Aggie dugout.

The Aggies almost had three runs in the second, but Dalton's long fly just missed hitting the foul pole in left.

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NOTES - The Aggies have 34 homers in their last 24 games and 30 in 20 conference games. ... Feltner has hit safely in 11 straight games.