Kaeden Kent’s grand slam rallies Texas A&M past Oregon 15-9 for super regional sweep, spot in CWS
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Kaeden Kent’s grand slam was just the second hit in a nine-run seventh inning for No. 3 seed Texas A&M and the Aggies fell behind by five before rallying to beat Oregon 15-9, sweeping the Bryan-College Station Super Regional on Sunday night for a spot in the College World Series.
Texas A&M (49-13) has played in the CWS six previous times — most recently in 2022 — but never won it.
The Aggies fell behind by three in the first inning and trailed 8-4 heading to the top of the seventh.
Brock Moore (4-1) pitched two shutout innings in relief of Ducks starter Grayson Grinsell before the wheels fell off.
Texas A&M used one hit, five walks and a hit batter off Moore to knot the score at 8. Jaxon Jordan replaced Moore with the bases loaded and walked Ali Camarillo to give the Aggies the lead. Kent, who singled his first time up for the only other hit in the inning, followed with his bases-loaded shot on a 2-2 pitch for a 13-8 lead.
The Aggies grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning after Jackson Appel led off with a single, stole second and scored on Hayden Schott’s two-out single.
Oregon (40-20) answered with four runs in the bottom of the inning.
Mason Neville led off with a single but was picked off on a steal attempt. Dominic Hellman reached with a single and Chase Meggers sent the next pitch over the fence in right-center field to give the Ducks the lead. Brad Rudis replaced Aggies starter Shane Sdao and promptly surrendered back-to-back home runs to Drew Smith and Anson Aroz.
Oregon pulled off a double steal with two outs in the second to push its advantage to 5-1 with Bryce Boettcher stealing home.
Travis Chestnut, the ninth batter in the lineup for Texas A&M, walked to lead off the third. He stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on Jace LaViolette’s one-out single to make it 5-2.
Hellman had an RBI single in the sixth to give the Ducks a four-run lead.
Zane Badmaev (3-0) got the win for the Aggies, pitching a shutout sixth. Evan Aschenbeck allowed one run over the final three innings to notch his ninth save this season.
Texas A&M, which has hit a school-record 132 home runs this season, won the opener 10-6 on Saturday.
Oregon has played in the CWS just once — in 1954. The Ducks have won two of their three regional championships in the last two seasons. Their other title came in 2012.
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