COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M Aggies had another win in comeback fashion to beat the Dallas Baptist Patriots, 7-5, Tuesday evening on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park. The back-and-forth contest saw the Patriots erase two different Aggie leads but A&M would claw back both times highlighted by a four-run fourth.
Texas A&M (13-0) got the scoring started in the bottom of the first. Blake Allemand tripled high off the right field wall and would come around to score on a groundout to short from Mitchell Nau.
Dallas Baptist (6-2) answered back in the top of the second with a solo shot from David Martinelli that sailed high over the right-center wall. It was Martinelli’s third homer on the season and tied the game at 1-1.
The Patriots took the lead for the first time in the fourth inning. The frame started with a single from Justin Wall. He moved to second after Martinelli was hit by a pitch and made it to third on a deep fly ball from Trooper Reynolds. Wall found his way home as the Aggies tried to catch Martinelli stealing second. The double steal gave DBU a 2-1 lead.
The Aggies outmatched the Patriots with a huge fourth inning of their own. With one out, Nau and Hunter Melton connected on consecutive singles. This brought an end to the night for starting pitcher Jay Calhoun who had retired 10 in a row before the back-to-back singles. Nick Banks doubled off new pitcher Chase Adams plating both runners, giving the Maroon and White a 3-2 lead. Logan Taylor would extend the lead with a two-run dinger. It was Taylor’s fifth home of the season, and it sent A&M ahead 5-2.
Dallas Baptist responded quickly to the Aggies’ rally with two runs in the top of the fifth. Nash Knight got the inning started with a single and was later plated by Camden Duzenack’s single to the right. After a single by Wall knocked in Duzenack to cut the A&M lead to 5-4, the Ags would bring in reliever Kyle Simonds ending Turner Larkins night. Larkins (1-0) went 4.2 innings, fanning five and giving up four runs, three of them being earned.
The back-and-forth night would continue as the Patriots evened the score in the seventh, 5-5. With runners on the corners, Martinelli singled off reliever Ty Schlottmann sending Duzenack home with the equalizer. The Patriots would go onto to load the bases with one out but reliever Andrew Vinson was brought in and retired the final two batters, keeping the score tied.
The tie didn’t last long as the Aggies would take the lead for the third time in the bottom half of the inning. The rally started with a walk to G.R. Hinsley. Hinsley was retired when Michael Barash’s sacrifice bunt attempt was pounced on by DBU catcher Daniel Salters who sent a rifle to second base. A single by Allemand and a wild pitch put runners on the corners for Ryne Birk. The Aggie second baseman poked a single to leftfield, knocking in Barash with the go-ahead run. A Nau walk would load the bases and Melton worked a bases-loaded walk, scoring Allemand and extending the Aggie lead to 7-5.
Ryan Hendrix was brought in the eight and got the Aggies out of a jam with an inning-ending double play. He came back in the ninth inning and completed the save, his third of the season. He gave up one hit in the ninth but another double play would end the game and extend the Aggies perfect season to 13-0.
Vinson (1-0) who was brought in during the seventh earned the win giving him his first win of the season.
Dallas Baptist reliever Drew Smith (0-1) was saddled with the loss after surrendering two runs in the seventh inning and giving the Aggies their final lead of the game.
Allemand had another nice night going 2-for-4 extending his hitting five with a triple and two runs scored. Nick Bank went 2-for-4 with 2 RBI and a pair of doubles bringing his season average up to .444.
The Aggies will take their undefeated record to Minute Maid Park for the 2015 Houston College Classic. They open the tournament Friday with a 3:35 pm game against Nebraska.
Texas A&M Quotes
Head coach Rob Childress
On finishing the homestand 13-0…
“We’ve learned a lot about the team. We have come ready to play every game. We haven’t taken any team lightly. We have 15 guys who are capable of producing at the plate and we have lot of guys who get things done on the mound. Now we’ll see how they react when they are in an unfamiliar surroundings.”
On the win…
“This was a good win over a good team. Dallas Baptist has the talent and coaching to make a deep run in tournament play. They were a great test for this team as we head into the meat of the schedule.”
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics