After two days of heavy rain in Lexington, the Aggies finally took the field on Saturday afternoon against the Kentucky Wildcats. Because of the weather, the three game series was made into a double header with two seven-inning games.
A&M claimed them both to earn its 30th win of the season, and assert themselves as the top team in the nation.
Kentucky (18-13, 4-7 SEC) came in upset-minded after winning the series at former No. 1 LSU last weekend. On Saturday however, the Aggies put those ideas to bed.
In game one, the Aggies (30-2, 9-2 SEC) trailed early after Kentucky scored a run in the first. However, A&M responded in the fourth with RBIs from J.B. Moss and Ronnie Gideon to take a 2-1 advantage.
In the fifth, the A&M offense produced three runs thanks to back-to-back home runs from Blake Allemand and Mitchell Nau, giving the Aggies a 5-1 lead after five frames. Kentucky made it interesting in the seventh inning, but could not capitalize, handing the Aggies a 5-2 victory.
Grayson Long earned the win on the mound for the Aggies to move to 6-0 on the year. Long went 4 1/3 innings, surrendering only one run on six hits while striking out six Wildcats on the afternoon. Andrew Vinson came in behind him to earn his first save of the season in 2 2/3 innings of work.
A&M started fast in game two. In the first inning, Nick Banks hit his third home run of the season to give the Aggies a 2-0 lead after one. Kentucky responded, hitting a solo home run the next inning to cut the Aggie advantage. Mitchell Nau hit his second home run of the day in the third inning to give A&M a 3-1 lead. Kentucky came back in the fourth with two runs to tie the game at 3-all after five.
The sixth inning was the turning point for the Aggies. Logan Taylor came through with a RBI double to give A&M a 4-3 lead. After getting a runner on, J.B. Moss added on to his big day with a two run shot to extend the Aggie lead to 6-3 after six frames.
On the mound, Ryan Hendrix earned the win in relief of the starter Matt Kent. After Kent exited the game, Hendrix went 2 1/3 innings, giving up no runs on two hits. Mark Ecker came in behind him to earn his fourth save of the year.
With the sweep, the Aggies are the first team to win 30 games in collegiate baseball this season. Last year, Texas A&M did not win its 30th game until May 4th against LSU.
A&M will begin a nine game home stand on Tuesday night when they take on the No. 15 Rice Owls.
