Claunch's Clutch Moment: Texas A&M Seizes Win Over Louisville In Walk-Off Fashion
COLLEGE STATION -- Troy Claunch had seen plenty of walk-off home runs in his day while living in Corvallis, Ore. During his time at Oregon State, the Beavers were known for their ability to come from behind and pick up the win, even when the game seemed lost from the start.
Claunch's clutch moment arrived four hours and 44 minutes after the first pitch. Against Louisville's Michael Prosecky, one of the top closers in college baseball, the senior catcher drilled a single past a diving Cardinals' first baseman, completing the 5-4 comeback for Texas A&M in Game 1 of the Super Regionals.
"Nothing surprises me from our team anymore," A&M coach Jim Schlossnagle said into the early hours of Saturday. "There's nothing they can possibly do the rest of the year to surprise me."
Friday night's heroics from the No. 5 seed Aggies (41-18) might be the pinnacle of A&M baseball from the first year of the Schlossnagle era. Down but not out, A&M struggled to find consistency, yet found its footing at the right moment.
Perhaps it came from the timely hitting by outfielder Jordan Thompson in the seventh inning. Maybe it came from a combined 4 1/3 solid innings of relief pitching from A&M's pair of southpaws. Or, maybe it was the veteranship of Claunch, whose walk-off single now puts the Aggies one win away from returning to Omaha. Neb. for the first time since 2017.
A mix of all? That sounds right. In fact, it sounds like the Aggie baseball that no longer surprises Schlossnagle.
"It was a great game and it's unfortunate we have to lose," Louisville coach Dan McDonnell said. "That's the challenge of being the visitors and playing in this great atmosphere that [A&M] has."
The Aggies took the early 1-0 lead after the first inning after Cardinals' pitcher Jared Poland drilled Claunch with the bases loaded The lead wouldn't come to last as Nathan Dettmer allowed No. 12 Louisville (42-20-1) to take control off a two-run single. Ben Bianco would add another run on a sacrifice fly to centerfield.
A&M would cut the lead to one with an RBI single from Thompson in the bottom frame, but the Cardinals rebounded with a one-out double from Ben Metzinger, forcing Schlossnagle to go to the pen early. Dettmer finished allowing four runs on five hits, four strikeouts and a walk on 77 pitches.
"We can't seem to get a starting pitcher past the fifth inning," Schlossnagle said. "Maybe Micah [Dallas] can do it for us tomorrow."
For the Cardinals, Poland gave them a chance. His heater was on-point, hovering in the mid-90s for most of his four and 2/3 innings. His command with the strikes was erratic, but it didn't stop him from mowing down seven Aggies via the strikeout while allowing just five hits.
A&M awoke following the seventh-inning stretch. A walk to shortstop Kole Kaler put a runner on for Thompson to tie the game with a two-run blast over the left-centerfield wall. Louisville would run through its bullpen, using four pitchers to get the next three outs.
Jacob Palish (6-3) worked out of trouble in the eighth with two Cardinals on the base path. The Aggies had a chance to capitalize with the bases loaded, but Prosecky zipped back-to-back fastballs by Kaler for a strikeout to end the frame.
That was the story for most of the night for A&M. In four innings, the Aggies had bases loaded with at least one out. The Cardinals worked out of the jam each time, striking out five in the process and leaving 17 runners stranded — 13 of which were in scoring position.
"They were one big swing away from putting a crooked number up," said McDonnell. "Our bullpen kept us in it."
Palish returned for the ninth and forced an inning-ending double play. Trevor Werner would walk to open the bottom frame before Austin Bost would single and Ryan Targac would be hit by a pitch.
Claunch could have ended it on a different pitch if he waited. Instead, he swung at the first ball, sending a registered crowd of 6,732 fans home happy and wanting more on Saturday.
Schlossnagle, however, isn't sure the number of fans is correct.
"Are they using an abacus to count it?" Schlossnagle joked of the third-highest attendance in A&M playoff history. "It was an awesome crowd. Again, if you want to play college baseball with an elite atmosphere, Texas A&M is the place to be."
First pitch for Game 2 is scheduled for 2 p.m. with Dallas getting the call for the Aggies. Louisville did not announce who would take the mound in a must-win game.
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