Texas A&M defeated Kentucky 5-1 to advance through to the national semifinal in Omaha at the Men’s College World Series on Monday.
The Aggies put up five runs in the top of the sixth after both teams went scoreless through five innings. Texas A&M’s run would set the tone for the back half of the ballgame, and the ‘Cats weren’t able to find their bats as Wildcats went on to suffer their first defeat of the NCAA Tournament.
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Hayden Schott got the Aggies’ party started by hitting a single to shallow left, good enough to score the first two runs of the matchup. Texas A&M wasted no time adding to its lead as Ali Camarillo doubled to deep right field to score Schott. Later in the inning, Kaeden Kent‘s single to deep right field added another two runs before Kentucky was able to work itself out of the inning.
Texas A&M pitcher Ryan Prater took a no-hitter into the seventh inning, but finished his day with 6.2 innings of work after letting up two hits before he could secure the final out. He threw 95 pitches during the contest, and can hang his hat knowing his quality start helped stifle the “weird” Wildcats offense.
Josh Stewart relieved Prater in the eighth and where he struck out the first batter he saw to end the inning. Despite a late home run from Kentucky, Stewart finished the game on the mound as well. Prater’s big game allows the rest of his team’s pitching staff an extra day of rest, which gives them a massive advantage given the Aggies’ extra day off on Tuesday.
That means Texas A&M moves on to Wednesday’s semifinal where they’ll await the winner of Kentucky vs. Florida. Either way, it will be a rematch as the Gators defeated NC State 5-4 in an elimination game earlier on Monday to keep its national title hopes alive. Texas A&M defeated Florida 3-2 on Saturday night in their CWS opener, and now have a win over Kentucky as well.
Now, the Aggies are one win away from punching their ticket to the College World Series national final. The winner of Tuesday’s matchup between the Wildcats and Gators will have to beat Texas A&M twice if they want to find themselves in the national championship game.
The first pitch between the Wildcats and Gators is set for Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET, while the Aggies await their scheduled first pitch 24 hours later at 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
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