Feb. 23, 2008

Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Behind strong pitching and great defense, the University of Northern Colorado baseball team swept a doubleheader from 20^th-ranked Texas A&M on the second day of the season. The Bears are now 2-1, while the Aggies are 1-2.

"We came down here to play them (Texas A&M) to set our bar very high," said Head Coach Kevin Smallcomb. "These guys are ranked in the top 20, they're a quality club coming off a championship season, so we feel fortunate to play at a real high level this early. T.R. Keating and Jon Klausing both pitched well - they challenged the strike zone and kept challenging the hitters. We made a couple good plays in right field and a couple of good plays at short stop today as well."

Northern Colorado won the first game of the day in a scheduled seven-inning contest 3-1, and then won the nine-inning affair 4-2 off the strength of three solo home runs.

Senior transfer Klausing threw the entire first game, giving up just one run on five hits, striking out three and walking four to get a victory in his first contest in a Bear uniform.

Northern Colorado got on the board first, scoring one run in the top of the third. Jeff Horn struck out swinging, but reached first base on a wild pitch and moved to second after Sean Zyer walked. Andy Mees singled through the right side to score Horn.

The Bears added two more runs in the top of the sixth. Cody Henry reached first on catcher's interference and advanced to second on an Adam Symons single through the right side. Both moved up one base on a sacrifice bunt by Erik Hegstad. The Aggies intentionally walked Erik Whinery to load the bases and on the first pitch by reliever Starling, everyone advanced on a wild pitch. A throwing error by the third baseman, Carter, scored Symons after Chad Murray grounded the ball sharply to the left side of the infield.

The Aggies tried to do what they did all last season, rally late, but were able to manage only one in the bottom half of the inning as the Bears held on for the 3-1 win.

In the nightcap, T.R. Keating started on the hill for the Bears, pitching a solid six innings. He gave up just two runs on four hits, striking out five and walking just one - and that came in his final inning of work. Sean Peery pitched the final three scoreless innings, allowing just three hits, while striking out four and walking one.

The Aggies took the lead in the bottom of the third inning, scoring two. Brian Ruggiano led off the inning with a long home run to left-centerfield and then back-to-back doubles by Kyle Colligan and Dane Carter pushed the second run across the plate.

In the top of the fourth inning, Cody Henry answered for the Bears with a solo home run over the video production truck in left field for the 2-1 score. In the top of the fifth, Kevin Sandberg led off with a home run that hit the left field light standard about 50 feet high to knot the score at 2-2.

Sandberg again hit a solo shot, this time to center field on the first pitch of the inning to give the Bears a 3-2 lead. The next batter, Horn, walked on five pitches and promptly stole second for the Bears first steal of the season. A Zyer ground out advanced Horn to third and he scored on a sacrifice fly to right field by Cory Morales.

Texas A&M again tried to rally in the bottom of the ninth inning. With one out, pinch hitter Keith McInnerney singled up the middle and moved to second on a single to right center by Ruggiano. Raley hit a grounder to Morales at short stop, who flipped to Horn at second for the force putting runners on the corners with two outs, but Peery struck the final batter out swinging for the Bears win.

Northern Colorado and Texas A&M conclude the four-game series tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 p.m. (Central). The Bears then return to Colorado to play at Air Force on Tuesday afternoon.