A&M uses late homers to stun Dartmouth, keep Aggies record perfect

GAME #10: Texas A&M 4, Dartmouth 3
RECORDS: Texas A&M 10-0; Dartmouth 0-1
WP: Schlottmann (1-0)
LP: Burkholder (0-1)
S: Hendrix (2)
BOX SCORE: Link

Some things just can’t be explained.

For nearly the entire night, Dartmouth out hit, outpitched and outperformed A&M.

It looked like they were going to hand the Aggies their first loss of the season, until they didn’t.

Two late home runs by Hunter Melton and Logan Taylor propelled A&M to a 4-3 win and a perfect 10-0 start, but the story didn’t start way.

Playing in their first game of the year, Dartmouth started the season with a single up the middle. A groundout to first and a double down the left field line later, the Big Green had their first lead of the season too.

Trailing by one, the Aggies had a chance to catch or surpass their visitors in the second inning after three walks loaded the bases. With two outs, J.B. Moss popped one up to short and A&M’s best chance so far went by the wayside.

After A.J. Minter issued a walk to Dartmouth’s Nick Ruppert, A&M had a chance to get out of the inning before a hard hit grounder found its way through Ronnie Gideon’s legs and into left field.

The error would prove costly as Dartmouth punched a soft line drive over the outstretched glove of Logan Nottebrok into right. Ruppert came around to score on the hit but when Nick Banks fired to second and Blake Allemand was unable to field it cleanly, another scored from third. Two errors and two runs put the Aggies into their biggest hole of the season, 3-0.

A&M was fortunate to escape the fourth without suffering more damage.

Following a bloop single to left, A.J. Minter fired his first wild pitch of the season. A sac bunt down the first baseline gave Dartmouth another run just 90 feet from home. A fly ball to left got Logan Taylor sliding and he almost came up with a terrific grab. Instead, they got an out in a different way.

The runner, stuck between heading home or back to third decided to head for the plate. The indecision gave Taylor enough time to pick up the ball and fire home in time for Barash to apply the tag and save a run for the maroon and white.

Coach Rob Childress spoke about that moment turning the game in their favor.

“That was a momentum play for us. He got to the ball and it was a tough play,” Said Childress. “For Him (Taylor) To have his whereabouts’ him to get up and throw a strike to home was a gigantic play.”

A&M left 10 men on base throughout the game, but their inability to get runners home finally came to an end in the eighth inning.

With Nick Banks on first, Hunter Melton came to the plate. After a base running error cost the Aggies a chance to score in the sixth, Hunter was looking for a way to redeem himself. In full Lloyd Christmas fashion, Melton hit a two run homer over the left field wall and gave life to the Aggie comeback. He talked about his big moment after the game.

“I took that mistake to the plate and tried to give it a lift,” He said. “I couldn’t have done it without Banks getting that hit. It’s a great feeling.”

When Michael Barash got to first on a catcher’s interference and then all the way to third on a pick off attempt gone awry, you got the sense that it was truly turning the Aggies way. Logan Taylor’s two run homer on the next at bat confirmed it and gave A&M its first lead of the night.

After a 9th inning double off Ty Schlottman gave the Big Green a runner in scoring position, Ryan Hendrix came in and retired three in a row to clinch the victory. Hendrix put a wrap on his performance following the 9th inning.

“Definitely the tightest situation I’ve had since I’ve been here. Guy on second with no outs, it felt great. It was awesome.”

The Aggies will have another chance to extend their streak tomorrow at 2:05 as they go for the series win against Dartmouth.