In its biggest test yet, the No. 11 Texas A&M Aggie baseball team got its 13th win of the season Tuesday, defeating Dallas Baptist 7-5.
Texas A&M head coach Rob Childress discussed the hard-fought win after the game.
“We saw as good a pitching staff as we’ve seen all year, and may see for some time,” Childress said. “There were a lot of punches thrown by both teams and we were fortunate to come out on top.”
After 13 home games in a row, undefeated Texas A&M will finally venture outside the confines of Olsen Field this weekend for a tournament at Minute Maid Park. But so far, the home field has been good to the Aggies.
Like many of their games so far this season, the Aggies erased an early deficit in the win. Childress said he has learned a lot about his team in the 13-game win streak.
“We have come ready to play every game,” Childress said. “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.”
Four runs in the fourth inning off five consecutive hits put the Aggies up 5-2. A solo home run from Logan Taylor gave the Aggies their fifth run, but Dallas Baptist would not give up.
After Dallas Baptist tied the game at 5-5 at the top of the seventh inning, Ryne Birk singled to left field in the bottom of the seventh inning and brought home junior Michael Barash to regain the lead at 6-5 for Texas A&M. The Aggies would add one more in the bottom of the seventh as a walk with the bases loaded enabled Blake Allemand to score and give the Aggies a 7-5 lead.
The game would finish that way as Ryan Hendrix came in the eighth inning to finish the game and getting his third save of the season.
Starter Turner Larkins went 4 2/3 innings, striking out five and giving up four runs, three of them earned.
The Aggies next game will be in Houston on Friday against Nebraska for the Astros College Classic.