Aggies Become First Team to Punch Ticket for 2022 College World Series

Texas A&M is heading to its seventh CWS.

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Dylan Rock drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh inning and No. 5 overall seed Texas A&M beat 12th-seeded Louisville 4-3 on Saturday to win the College Station Super Regional and become the first team to earn a berth in the College World Series.

Texas A&M (42-18) is heading to its seventh CWS looking for its first championship. Louisville (42-21-1) has made five CWS appearances—four of them since 2013—without a title. The Aggies beat the Cardinals 5-4 in Friday’s opener.

THAT OMAHA FEELING!!@AggieBaseball is the first team to punch a ticket to the 2022 #MCWS!! pic.twitter.com/qqMM7BhHt3

— NCAA Baseball (@NCAABaseball) June 11, 2022

Jacob Palisch took the mound in the ninth for the Aggies after Brad Rudis gave up a lead-off single to Christian Knapczyk. Palisch struck out Metzinger swinging on a full count for the first out and Dalton Rushing flied out to left field for the second. Knapczyk took second on a wild pitch, but Palisch struck out clean-up hitter Jack Payton swinging to end the game with his fifth save.

Louisville jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on Rushing’s two-run homer. The Aggies pulled even in the third on Rock’s bases-loaded walk and a sacrifice fly by Austin Bost.

The Cardinals took a 3-2 lead in the fifth on Payton’s two-out RBI single, but Ryan Targac homered to left-center on the first pitch from Riley Phillips in the sixth to knot the score at 3-3.

The Aggies rallied in the ninth after Trevor Werner was hit by a pitch from Ryan Hawks (5-3) with one out. Jack Moss singled Werner to third and Rock followed with his sac fly.

Will Johnston (3-1) worked a scoreless 1 2/3 innings to get the win.