OMAHA, Nebraska — As he left the mound in the second inning of Friday's opening round defeat to Oklahoma, Texas A&M starting pitcher Nathan Dettmer knew he had to do better if the Aggies wanted to achieve their goal of a National Championship.
He earned his shot at redemption Tuesday afternoon in an elimination game against Notre Dame, throwing seven shutout innings to lead Texas A&M to a 5-1 win.
This marks the first time Texas A&M has ever won two games in the same College World Series and the only time they have ever advanced to the semifinals.
The Aggies opened the scoring in the third inning, when Dylan Rock hit a high chopper just over the third base bag. Rock reached on a throwing error which allowed Jordan Thompson and Kole Kaler to score and give the Aggies a 2-0 lead.
Ryan Targac then hit a sacrifice fly to right field to extend the lead to three runs.
In the fifth, Texas A&M added some much-needed insurance runs when Trevor Werner homered to left and Rock drove in Jack Moss with an RBI single.
The Aggies led 5-0 at the end of the fifth inning. They never trailed.
Texas A&M advances to the semifinals, where they will meet Oklahoma, who beat them 13-8 in the first game of the College World Series. The Aggies will have to beat the Sooners twice in a row to advance to the Championship Series.
The first game will take place Wednesday afternoon at 1 p.m.
