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Monday, May 25, 1998

Mississippi St. 10, Texas A&M 9

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - It didn't start out as a pitcher's kind of day. That was before Chris Reinike got into the game.

Mississippi State pounded Texas A&M pitching and Reinike pitched 6 2-3 scoreless innings in relief as the Bulldogs advanced to their seventh College World Series berth with a 11-5 victory over the Aggies on Sunday.

"The story of the game was Reinike because he shut the door," A&M coach Mark Johnson said. "The reports we had on him was that when he was on, he was nails. Tonight, he was nails."

The Aggies fought their way into the NCAA Central Region final with a 6-4 victory over Washington earlier Sunday but were no match for Reinike and the Bulldogs.

Reinike (6-6), who entered the game with one out in the third and the score 5-5, didn't allow a hit until a seventh-inning single by Jason Tyner. He gave up five hits and eight strikeouts overall and fanned Daylan Holt for the final out.

"Everything was just working tonight," Reinike said. "I was hitting my spots and as the game went on I just thanked God that I was still hitting my spots."

It didn't appear from the start that any pitcher for either side had a chance.

The Aggies got John Scheschuk's three-run homer in the first and an RBI single by Scott Sandusky and sacrifice fly by Jason Tyner in the second.

The Bulldogs answered with five runs in the second inning on a pair of two-run homers by Barry Patton and Chris Lotterhos and an RBI single by Brad Freeman.

Reinike stopped the Aggies' scoring after that. Only one Texas A&M reached third on him.

"I told our staff that someone had to step up and, boy, did Chris Reinike step up," said Bulldogs coach Pat McMahon.

Mississippi State, meanwhile, started pulling away in the third on RBI hits by Patton and Lotterhos and Freeman's solo homer that made it 8-5.

The Bulldogs added two runs in the fifth on sacrifice flies by Brian Wiese and Freeman and a run in the sixth on Travis Chapman's double.

Kyle Holle (1-1), the second of four Aggie pitchers, suffered the loss.

"This is tough, but its been a great ride," Johnson said. "We had big hearts and big chemistry and that took us to some victories."