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On a beautiful Saturday afternoon, Aggie right-hander Kyle Simonds took the mound in hopes of holding the Vandy bats at bay. It was the rubber match of a three-game series, and the Ags needed Simonds to bring his A game to hold serve in the tight SEC West race and preserve their shot at a possible Top 8 National Seed. Boy, did he deliver.
Simonds made quick work of the first two batters of the game before SS Austin Homan booted a ground ball from the Vandy three-hole hitter. Simonds made quick work of the next batter and cruised through the rest of the game untouched.
There always seems to be a big defensive play in these types of games, and we got a dandy of a diving catch from CF Nick Choruby in the top of the ninth. Simonds then had to face the Commodores' leadoff hitter, Jeren Kendall, with just one out to go, and Kendall shot a screamer right back at Simonds on the first pitch of the at bat. Simonds snagged the liner for the final out of his first career no-hitter, the 12th no-no in Texas A&M history and the first since Ross Stripling's no-hitter in 2012.
Texas A&M's Kyle Simonds threw his 1st career no-hitter vs No. 5 Vanderbilt: pic.twitter.com/pTHDQJeXDF
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) May 7, 2016
Video: Kyle Simonds on his no-hitter vs. Vandy that featured 3 superb defensive plays to end it: pic.twitter.com/wRkNqw3eHs
— Brent Zwerneman (@BrentZwerneman) May 7, 2016
When your pitcher has a no-hitter going in the 9th... YOU GOTTA MAKE PLAYS!
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) May 7, 2016
Nick Choruby. WOW. #SCTop10 pic.twitter.com/8Eq8AOrusZ
That's how you end a no-hitter. Congratulations to Kyle Simonds for throwing the 12th no-no in Texas A&M hi... https://t.co/2aYp4AJ9ca
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) May 7, 2016
Kyle Simonds tips his hat to the #Aggies crowd following the no-hitter pic.twitter.com/c3N9xhvg3B
— Kendall Rogers (@KendallRogersD1) May 7, 2016
One amazing stat from Simonds' performance was that he did this all on just 83 pitches. Now that is efficient.