2017 Super Regional: Texas A&M Punches Ticket To Omaha

What a game. What an atmosphere. Thank you, #12thMan! Aggies are Omaha bound!! 👍 pic.twitter.com/kZUzZzKQC3

— 12th Man Foundation (@12thManFndtn) June 11, 2017

COLLEGE STATION, Texas—Walker Pennington didn’t even watch the ball after he followed through with his swing. He just looked at Texas A&M volunteer assistant Jake Carlson, and the two exchanged smiles.

Pennington knew it was out as soon as he made contact. And the senior outfielder knew the ninth-inning three-run blast would likely seal what had seemed unlikely months ago.

A trip to Omaha.

With the home run, Pennington pushed the Aggies’ lead to 12-6 over Davidson in the second game of the College Station Super Regional on Saturday—a game that the Wildcats once led, 6-2. In the bottom half of the inning, Kaylor Chafin recorded three quick outs, and the Aggies stormed on the field and dogpiled.

“I can’t stop smiling,” Pennington said after the game. “I know we all know how hard this season has been. We’ve had a lot of adversity. We had a lot of adversity this game. I think that this game summed up our whole season on how it’s never been easy, but we found a way to win.”

The win marked Texas A&M’s sixth trip to Omaha and a sort of redemption after falling in super regionals to Texas Christian each of the last two years. The Aggies had an uphill climb after opening Southeastern Conference play 0-5 this spring, and their mid-40s RPI kept them hovering around the bubble near the tail end of the season and pinned them as a No. 3 seed in the Houston Regional.

Of course, the Aggies were matched up against an unlikelier foe in the form of the Wildcats, who were playing in their first NCAA Tournament in 115 years as a program and who had swept the competition as the No. 4 seed in the Chapel Hill regional.

After battling the Aggies for 15 innings Friday before Texas A&M walked off, the Wildcats established their first lead of the super regional with a three-run fifth, and after freshman DH Brett Centracchio hit a home run in the sixth to push the score to 6-2, Davidson seemingly had the game in tow.

However, Davidson’s lead evaporated quickly in the top of the eighth, as the Aggies rallied for seven runs. The pivotal play came with two outs and the Wildcats still leading, 6-5. Pinch-hitter Jorge Gutierrez popped up in the shallow infield, and as second baseman Alec Acosta went to catch the ball, he collided with third baseman Eric Jones. Acosta had the ball in his glove, but when he landed, it rolled out. The umpire ruled no catch, and in the process two runs came across to score.

While the play was a controversial one for spectators and for some within the Davidson dugout, head coach Dick Cooke had no qualms with the ruling.

“Ironically, I chaired the NCAA Rules Committee for a couple of years and was on it for a while,” Cooke said. “It was the correct call. You have to have a voluntary release. He, by definition, had control of that ball, and when he opened the glove, it came out. For an NFL wide receiver, that is probably a catch, but in the way our rule is written, it has to be voluntary release. He has to be making the attempt to release that baseball. If a guy catches a baseball, puts his glove to the side and the ball drops out, that’s technically not a catch. So, they applied the rule exactly as it should be.

“It was a tough play, and it was loud. ‘I got it.’ ‘You take it.’ A bunch of us talking over each other. It was certainly an unfortunate play.”

From there, the Aggies would tack on two more runs on a single by Nick Choruby to take a 9-6 lead—a stunning reversal in score.

While Davidson had mustered several comebacks throughout its Atlantic-10 tournament and NCAA tournament runs, the Wildcats were unable to rally against Chafin, who threw two perfect innings to earn a save, and end Davidson’s storybook run.

“It’s definitely exceeded expectations, but you know it still hurts because it was right there for us,” Centracchio said. “We were chasing Omaha really today. Like we came in as the loosest club in America, but it didn’t work out. Still, you have to see what we did. Probably the best year in Davidson baseball history, so it’s something special and going to try to build on that the next three years.”

For the Aggies, who also swept the Houston Regional, they became the first No. 3 seed since super regionals began in 1999 to sweep their way to Omaha.

Still, the weekend was by no means easy for Rob Childress’ squad, as Davidson proved to be a formidable foe.

“What a hard-fought Super Regional,” Childress said. “Davidson is incredibly talented, incredibly well-coached and incredibly well-prepared. They gave us everything that we could want and then some, and we are just very fortunate to win the weekend. I couldn’t be more proud of our guys from top to bottom. All 27 made an impact the last two weeks and the more I do this, the more I realize that it’s not always about the roster.

“When you look at the roster, you look at the experience. Sometimes it’s when guys on the roster make a decision together to do something special and make their breaks. Everybody on this roster gets credit for that.”

And everyone on that roster will be going to Omaha.