The Aggies loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth as junior catcher Hunter Coleman stepped up to the plate.
Coleman tripled to deep right-center to clear the bases and extend Texas A&M’s lead to 8-3. The Coleman triple helped secure the Aggies’ 10-7 midweek victory against Lamar on Tuesday at Blue Bell Park.
“That definitely felt good, to get things rolling in the right direction,” Coleman said. “Our offense continued to be relentless in tonight’s game. It felt good to finally cash in on some of those opportunities.”
With the win, No. 11 A&M improves to 22-5 and 5-1 in SEC play, while Lamar falls to 9-15 and 2-7 in the Southland conference.
The Aggies deployed a committee of pitchers to face the Cardinals’ hitters as sophomore Dustin Saenz got the start, tossing 2.1 innings and giving up one run on five hits. The A&M bullpen threw 6.2 innings and combined to give up three runs on eight hits.
At the plate, the Aggies were led by Coleman, junior infielder Braden Shewmake and sophomore outfielder Zach DeLoach. Coleman went 2-for-4 with four RBIs, while Shewmake went 1-for-3 with three RBIs and DeLoach rounded out the batters after going 1-for-4 with a two-run home run.
“The coaches gave me an opportunity,” DeLoach said. “I’ve been working hard trying to get my swing back to where it needs to be. I felt good tonight sticking to the approach of staying up the middle and driving the ball.”
Lamar sophomore starting pitcher Jack Dallas tossed four innings, giving up four earned runs on six hits. After Dallas’ four innings were up, Lamar used five more pitchers throughout the game that gave up a combined six runs on seven hits.
At the plate, the Cardinals were led by sophomore outfielder Avery George and junior catcher Jorge Gutierrez and junior infielder Logan Berlof. George went 2-for-4 with an RBI, while Gutierrez, who played for A&M his freshman season, went 1-for-2 with two RBIs and two runs scored and Berlof went 3-for-5 with an RBI.
“You can see how we played here last week — with an awful lot of confidence,” A&M head coach Rob Childress said. “Every time they had an opportunity to grab the momentum, we’d answer right back offensively.”
The Aggies will be back in action this weekend as they host the Missouri Tigers. The first game of the three-game series is scheduled for Friday at 6:30 p.m.