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Friday, March 13
College Station
6:30 PM

Texas A&M

6
vs
2

Auburn

Melton Leads No. 7 Baseball to Win Over Auburn

Melton Leads No. 7 Baseball to Win Over Auburn

Mar 13, 2015 | Baseball

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Hunter Melton's career-high six RBI powered the Aggies' buzz saw as Texas A&M opened SEC play Friday evening with a 6-2 victory over the Auburn Tigers on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.

Melton went 2-for-4 at the plate with his first career grand slam and a two-run double to account for all of the Aggies' runs as A&M improved to 19-0 for just the second time in school history. The 19-game win streak trails only the 26 consecutive games A&M won to start the 1989 campaign.

Grayson Long (4-0) put in an outstanding performance on the mound to earn the victory. He yielded two runs, one earned, on three hits and three walks while striking out seven over 6.0 innings.

The Aggie bullpen continued to shine, working three scoreless innings. Kyle Simonds tip-toed around three walks while striking out one in 2.0 innings of work. The outing extended his shutout streak in 2015 to 15.2 innings. Ryan Hendrix worked around a hit and a walk while striking out one to blank the Tigers in the ninth.

Auburn (13-5, 0-1 SEC) drew first blood in the top of the first inning. With one out, Damon Haecker was hit by a pitch and Jordan Ebert was issued a base on balls. Daniel Robert hung a run on the board, poking a 1-1 pitch into leftfield to plate Haecker, staking the Tigers to a 1-0 lead.

The momentum of the game took a swing in the home half of the second as the Aggies put up four runs. Nick Banks and Logan Taylor sparked the rally with a pair of infield singles, Banks to the right of a diving Auburn shortstop and Taylor to the left of the shortstop. Tigers' pitcher Keegan Thompson bobbled a sacrifice bunt attempt by Blake Kopetsky to load the bags with Ags. Hunter Melton fell behind in the count, 0-2, but kept his patience at the plate work the count full. Melton tattooed the sixth pitch of the at-bat to right-centerfield where it hit the top of the fence for the sophomore's third whammy of the season, staking the Aggies to a 4-1 lead.

The Tigers trimmed a run off the margin in the top of the fourth. Cody Nulph reached base to start the inning when Melton was unable to field a grounder at third base. Blake Logan made the Aggies' pay for the error by roping a double down the leftfield line, plating Nulph to close the gap to 4-2.

The Aggies missed an opportunity to land a haymaker in the fifth. G.R. Hinsley started the inning with an infield single and Blake Allemand and Ryne Birk both worked walks to load the bases. Thompson quelled the rally by striking out Mitchell Nau and Banks. The inning ended when Logan Taylor grounded to third base.

Texas A&M added two insurance runs in the eighth. Banks and Taylor both poked singles through the right side of the infield and Kopetsky reached on bunt single and the bases were once again saturated with Melton coming to the plate. After looking at a first-pitch ball, Melton smoked the next offering to the hot corner and with the infield drawn in, third baseman Alex Polston was unable to get a glove on the ball. Two runs scored on Melton's double as A&M claimed a 6-2 lead.

Thompson (3-2) was saddled with the loss for Auburn. He allowed six runs, five earned, on 10 hits and four walks while striking out four over 7.0 innings.

Banks continued to be hot at the plate, going 3-for-4, improving his season batting average to .463, adding two runs and a stolen base. Logan Taylor added a pair of hits in four at-bats.

Auburn managed just four hits in the ball game, but added seven walks to the mix. The Tigers were doomed by 12 stranded runners.

The Aggies will try to nail down win No. 1,000 at Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park as the series continues Saturday with a 4:05 pm contest at Blue Bell Park. The contest airs on the SEC Network, marking Aggie Baseball's first appearance on the channel.

TEXAS A&M QUOTES

Texas A&M head coach Rob Childress
On Hunter Melton's performance…
“It was Hunter's night. I had actually talked to him before the game and mentioned there was a weird wind out of the west today. He had a good approach at the plate and that west wind helped him get the grand slam.”

On Grayson Long's performance…
“He has been pitching very well lately, so we have a lot of confidence in him pitching on Friday nights. Tonight, he went toe-to-toe with Keegan Thompson, who is one of the fiercest competitors you're going to come up against and he was up to the challenge. Once Grayson got through that first inning, he was sharp. If he hadn't thrown close to 30 pitches in that first inning, he could've went deeper into the game, but he gave us a solid six innings. And the bullpen did what it's been doing all year.

Junior Starting Pitcher Grayson Long
On the excitement of the first SEC game…
“It is was pretty fun. It really doesn't matter to me what day I'm going to throw. But definitely Friday night opener in the SEC with 6,000 people was pretty special.”

On success of the pitches…
“The balls are really helping me out so I can throw my slider a lot harder than I did last year and it's got more break. That was my main focus throughout the offseason.”

On mound attitude…
“I feel like I'm better than anybody who gets in the box. I rely on Mike (Barash) and coach and the guys behind men.  I do get pumped up whenever I make good pitches.”

Junior third baseman Hunter Melton
On his game tonight…
“I was lucky to be in some good situations. The guys ahead of me in the lineup worked hard to get on base. This team is all about everybody doing their part. And when I came to the plate with bases loaded twice, it was my turn to do my part.”

On his grand slam…
“I fell behind 0-2 and after that I knew the next three pitches he was going to give me something to chase. I was prepared to shorten my swing, look for a pitch to hit and foul off anything close. Once the count was full, I knew he'd have to put something near the strike zone. I got a great pitch to hit. It was a great way to start conference play.”