Melton and Long shine, lead Aggie baseball over Dartmouth 8-1

GAME #11: Texas A&M 8, Dartmouth 1
RECORDS: Texas A&M 11-0; Dartmouth 0-2
WP: Grayson Long (2-0)
LP:  Louis Concato (0-1)
BOX SCORE: Link

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Logan Taylor and Hunter Melton did it again.

One day after each of them hit eighth-inning home runs to preserve the Texas A&M baseball team's perfect record, they came through with big hits to clinch the series over Dartmouth.

Much like yesterday, the Aggies were quiet at the plate to start the game. Texas A&M put only two runners on base in the first three innings, a product of back-to-back second-inning singles by Taylor and Blake Kopetsky.

The Aggies heated up in the fourth, however. With two men on and no outs, Nick Banks bunted to move the runners over. Instead of going down easily, Banks beat out the throw to first, loading the bases for Taylor.

In a less spectacular version of Friday's events, Taylor stepped up and got a big hit, pushing a single into center field for an RBI. That put the Aggies on the board, but they weren't done yet.

After a Kopetsky strikeout, Hunter Melton followed Taylor's lead shooting a single of his own past the mound and into the outfield. That scored two, giving the Aggies a 3-1 lead. They never looked back. Melton ended up 3-4 with the stick and played solid defense at third all day long.

"Playing defense is the number one key," he said. "Defense wins championships. I feel like if you're good on the dirt, it's going to take your success to the plate."

Texas A&M went on to score insurance runs in the seventh, thanks to a two-run home run from Banks, his first of the season. The maroon and white tacked on three more in the eighth to cap off the 8-1 victory.

As good as the Aggie hitters were on Friday, the pitching staff was even better. Grayson Long, coming off a solid performance last Saturday, started on the mound. He built upon the momentum from last week, throwing six innings of one-run ball.

After allowing a solo home run to end the third, Long settled in and mowed down Dartmouth hitters for the rest of his outing. Long gave up only five hits and two walks to the Big Green, and handed the ball to the bullpen with a 3-1 lead.

"The first inning was kind of rough," Long said of his performance. "That one mistake, you know, that ball kind of leaked over the middle. Good hitters are going to take advantage of your mistakes, and he did. After that I just kind of settled in and kind of got in a groove. It felt good."

Jason Freeman, Ty Schlottman and Mark Ecker rounded out the day on the bump for the Ags. Each of them pitched one inning, with Freeman surrendering the only hit of the bunch. With the win, the Aggies pushed their record to a perfect 11-0 on the season.

Coach Rob Childress was happy with his team's performance in all phases of the game.

"Really proud of us," he said. "I felt like it was our most complete game of the year. It all starts on the mound. We played great defense on the dirt, and you know, offensively, we sure had another great day against a really good starter for Dartmouth."

The Aggies will go for the series sweep tomorrow at noon at Blue Bell Park.