The loss of John Stilson finally caught up to the Aggies today as California strung together a pair of three-run innings in the fifth and sixth to chase Michael Wacha and end Texas A&M’s season. The Aggies got on the board first with an Adam Smith homer, but California jumped on top of them in the next half-inning as two separate Aggies errors prolonged the suffering. The top of the sixth saw four hits and three more runs, and the Golden Bears finally chased Wacha with another in the seventh.
The A&M bullpen shut down the Bears from there, but the damage had already been done. Matt Flemer threw three scoreless innings for the save, and Bo Porter allowed seven hits and three earned runs to outlast Wacha for the win.
The Aggies will be a strong contender for next year’s college World Series, as they’ll return Wacha and Tyler Naquin, and could very well wind up with Ross Stripling and Stilson back as well after their draft slots were lower than expected. Only seniors Nick Fleece, Kenny Jackson, Kevin Gonzalez, and Steve Martin were drafted. None of them before the 13th round. With Naquin and Wacha they’d have a good start; if they could convince Stripling and Stilson to come back, they could be pre-season favorites.