The weather in College Station might be cold, but Texas A&M baseball stayed hot over the weekend.
The Aggies completed their sweep of Dartmouth (0-3) on Sunday to move their record to 12-0 on the season. It is their best start since 1993, when the Aggies started 14-0.
The 12-0 start feels good, said Blake Allemand, but the Aggies are not looking ahead.
“It’s nice,” said a smiling Allemand. “We take it one day at a time. Every day we are trying to go 1-0. Take it one at a time and play our best baseball. 12-0 feels pretty good.”
The series started with a bang on Friday night, as A&M won a 4-3 thriller. A&M trailed 3-0 heading to the bottom of the eighth inning. The Aggies then saw heroics from Hunter Melton and Logan Taylor, as both hit two-run home runs to give the Aggies a 4-3 advantage. Ryan Hendrix came on in the ninth to record his second save of the season to keep A&M undefeated.
AJ Minter also had his longest outing of the season on the mound Friday night. Minter went six innings, allowing only one earned run while striking out seven.
On Saturday, the Aggies again trailed early, but turned it around with their bats to take an 8-1 win. In the fourth, the Aggies scored three runs to give themselves a lead they would not relinquish. Great hitting from Hunter Melton and Nick Banks sparked the Aggies. Melton went 3-for-4 with two RBIs in the game, and Banks went 2-for-4 with his first home run of the season and two RBIs on the night.
Grayson Long was key in the win. He started on the mound and went six innings, allowing only five hits, one run and struck out four Dartmouth batters on the day.
Sunday afternoon, A&M trailed for the third consecutive game of the weekend. Both teams started hot, scoring a combined 10 runs in the first three innings. However, A&M led 6-4 after three innings of play and tacked on four more runs in the fourth and fifth innings to take a 10-4 lead.
A&M saw great hitting throughout the lineup. Mitchell Nau was the story on offense, going 2-for-5 with three RBIs and a double to his name. Nau is now hitting .472 on the season with 10 RBIs. Ryne Birk, Hunter Melton and Nick Banks contributed two RBIs each in the win.
Through 12 games, Nau said the team has potential.
“I think we are relentless,” Nau said. “As far as offense goes, it’s tough. We don’t have one guy in the lineup where a pitcher can catch their breath. If a pitcher makes a mistake in our lineup, he will get punished.”
Matt Kent was the Aggie starter on the mound, and after a tough start he ended with a solid performance. Kent went six innings, allowed eight hits, three earned runs and struck out eight.
A&M head coach Rob Childress said he was happy about his team’s performance throughout the weekend, especially on Sunday.
“I thought we showed up today with a sense of urgency,” Childress said. “Once this game started, I thought we were very good. [Kent] got us off to a good start. Give Dartmouth credit, they punched back. But we were able to respond.”
The Aggies now need only five more wins to reach 1,000 all-time at Olsen Field.
A&M will return for the final game of its 13-game home stand against Dallas Baptist at 6:35 p.m. Tuesday night.