Aggies march to Sunday win, 10-4, for sweep of Dartmouth

GAME #12: Texas A&M 10, Dartmouth 4
RECORDS: Texas A&M 12-0; Dartmouth 0-3
WP: Matt Kent (3-0)
LP: Adam Frank (0-1)
BOX SCORE: Link

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Good things are coming in three’s for Aggie baseball.

A&M began the third month of the year with its third win over Dartmouth, this one a 10-4 decision.

The victory also marked the third sweep of the young season and moved A&M to 12-0 for the first time since 1993.

With fog making visibility tough for everyone on the field, one thing was clear. A&M was determined to get their offense rolling in the early innings, something they have struggled with so far in the series.

After Dartmouth jumped out to a 1-0 lead, the Aggies drew two opening walks and tied things up with Mitchell Nau’s double down the right field line. They continued their hot start when Hunter Melton and Nick Banks both collected first inning RBI’s of their own, putting A&M on top 3-1.

Another inning and two more walks allowed the Aggies to stretch their lead when Blake Allemand doubled into deep right center. Jonathan Moroney came around to score, leaving two men in scoring position.

Groundouts by Ryne Birk and Mitchell Nau scored two more runs and A&M was clicking on all cylinders.

That was just the start A&M head coach Rob Childress was looking for out of his offense in the final game of the series.

“I thought we showed up with a sense of urgency today. Give Dartmouth credit, they punched back,” He said. “But, we were able to respond to their three run inning with one of our own.”

The punch Childress alluded to was thrown in the third inning after two singles put men on the corners. Big Green designated hitter Joe Purritano closed the gap with a double down the right field line and scored two runs, then he advanced to third on the throw home by Moroney.

Dartmouth’s final run of the game came after a ground out scored Purritano from third. After a double play got Matt Kent out of the inning, it was all A&M.

Blake Allemand led off the fourth with a single into center, his second hit of the day. A smoothly executed hit and run single by Ryne Birk moved Allemand to third. With runners on the corners, Mitchell Nau collected his third RBI of the game on a sharp single through the left side.

Nau stated after the game that the Aggie lineup came into Sunday with a game plan to get things rolling. It appeared to work to perfection for the maroon and white.

“We had lost our approach the last few days and really came back into it today,” said Nau. “You run with a plan like that and it will pay off on the scoreboard.”

A&M went on to collect two more runs in the fourth when Hunter Melton singled to right and Nick Banks sacrifice fly to left proved deep enough to score Nau from third.

A final run came for A&M in the next inning and the Aggies had their third sweep wrapped up.

“February went by fast. When you win, things tend to go fast.” Said Childress on his team’s perfect start to the year. “Today is a new month and new challenges lay ahead, but we started March off in a good way.”

A&M will face its biggest challenge so far next weekend in the Astros Classic, but one more hurdle comes to town on Tuesday before the Aggies leave the friendly confines of Blue Bell Park for the first time.

First pitch for Dallas Baptist is set for Tuesday evening at 6:30