COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Ted Burton drove in three runs, four Texas A&M pitchers combined for a nine-hit shutout, and the Aggies defeated Grambling 8-0 on Friday in an opening game of the NCAA baseball tournament.
Bryan-College Station Regional host and No. 3 national seed Texas A&M (45-13) advances to a winners’-bracket game against the winner between Texas and Louisiana.
The Aggies exploded for seven runs in the second inning. Burton doubled and scored, then batted a second time in the inning, driving in two runs with a single. The big inning included five hits by the Aggies and three wild pitches by Grambling starter Mason Martinez (12-3).
Burton added an RBI single in the fourth inning for his third hit. Braden Montgomery also had three hits for the Aggies.
Aggies starter Tanner Jones allowed seven hits but no runs in 3 1/3 innings. Brad Rudis, Weston Moss and Eldridge Armstrong finished in relief, allowing two hits in 5 2/3 innings. Rudis (6-0) entered with one out and the bases loaded in the third but got out of the jam with a strikeout and a flyout.
The Tigers got a runner to third base with less than two outs in three separate innings. They left 14 runners on base.
Grambling (26-27), playing in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2010, got two hits each from Tiger Borom, Ashton Inman and Demarckus Smiley.