Baseball Wins Extended Season-Opener 10-0

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Following an overnight suspension that caused the completion of the game to delayed overnight, the No. 5 Texas A&M baseball team defeated Illinois-Chicago 10-0 in its season-opener at Blue Bell Park.

On Friday night, the Aggies jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on a two-run home run off the bat of senior first baseman Jacob House. The shot was a screaming line drive that landed in the newly-constructed visitor’s bullpen beyond the outfield wall in right field.

The early advantage was maintained by the strong work of junior starting pitcher Michael Wacha (1-0), who struck out eight batters and only allowed one hit in 5.1 innings of work during his first career-opening day start. The All-American right-hander was impressive early; fanning five of the first seven batters he faced before giving way to lefty Estevan Uriegas in the visitor’s half of the sixth.

Texas A&M, which held a 10-1 advantage in base hits at the time of the game’s postponement, added a pair of runs in the home half of the third on a UIC throwing error and an RBI from senior third baseman Matt Juengel, who was a perfect 3-for-3 during his first three at bats of the contest.

After the Aggies had tacked two more runs onto their lead in the bottom of the fifth, junior left fielder Brandon Wood made the score 7-0 Texas A&M with a solo home run over the left field wall.

Moments after Wood’s blast, a heavy and consistent rain began to fall and following a 30-minute delay, the decision was made to postpone the remainder of the contest until Saturday afternoon.

Play resumed Saturday afternoon with the Aggies scoring three more runs to give the game its final score 10-0.