Ducoff walk-off single sinks Vandy 8-7

Ducoff
Photo credit: Bailey Orr

COLLEGE STATION — Jonathan Ducoff hit a walk-off single off the left side to score Ty Condel as the No. 22 Texas A&M Aggies edged the Vanderbilt Commodores 8-7 Saturday at Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.

The graduate transfer went 2-of-2 with three RBI on the afternoon.

“I’m just trying to do something to help us win,” said Ducoff. “Our team was resilient today. Vanderbilt came out and punched us in the mouth, and coming back from 7-2 against a really good ball club meant a lot.”

The Maroon and White stormed the field in celebration.

“We have been fighting a bit this week,” said Aggies coach Rob Childress. “We had a tough loss on the road at Dallas Baptist and again last night. We have had a lot of opportunities with runners in scoring position, and you could sense how bad they wanted it, almost to a fault. It was just nice to get some hits there in the eighth and ninth inning. The dam finally broke open a little bit for us.”

Kasey Kalich picked up the win for the Aggies, his first of the season. Vandy had loaded bases in the ninth inning, and Kalich struck out two batters with just one out before Ducoff’s heroics.

7,104 were in attendance at Blue Bell Park, the eighth-largest crowd since the 2012 renovations. The Aggies improve to 16-5 overall with a 1-1 mark in Southeastern Conference play.

Game three will be Sunday with a 1:02 p.m. first pitch.