Kyle Simonds, Hunter Melton shine as Aggies complete sweep of UGA

GAME #32: Texas A&M 10, Georgia 2
RECORDS: Texas A&M 25-7 (7-5 SEC); Georgia 17-16 (4-8 SEC)
WP: Kyle Simonds (6-1)
LP: Bo Tucker (3-3)
BOX SCORE

---

Coming into the weekend, Texas A&M just needed something to go right on the baseball diamond. Wins on Friday and Saturday helped right the ship after dismal trips to Florida and Rice, and Sunday was a continuation of the weekend's theme.

Another electric showing from the Aggie bats and a resurgent performance from Kyle Simonds on the mound allowed the Maroon and White to cruise past Georgia and complete the series sweep of the Bulldogs, 10-2.

Texas A&M's offense struggled to get going out of the gate. Up against Georgia's Bo Tucker, Aggie hitters produced only one hit, a double by Hunter Melton, the first time through the order.

Simply put, Tucker had a horrible third inning. After recording two quick outs, the sophomore issued two walks, threw a wild pitch and committed an error, allowing the top of the Aggie line-up to load the bases.

Melton made him pay a few pitches later, clearing the bases with a towering grand slam that almost landed on top of the Rec Center past left field.

"Credit the guys in front of me," Melton said. "We did it with two outs. (J.B.) Moss had two strikes and drew a walk. (Nick) Banks and Boomer (White) got on base with two outs to set up that inning, and I got a pitch to handle."

Tucker's misery didn't end there.

Though left fielder Keegan McGovern robbed Michael Barash of an extra-base hit with an incredible diving catch to start the inning, the Aggies managed to rough up Tucker for three runs on four singles in the fourth to extend the lead to 7-0.

Texas A&M scored one run each in the fifth, seventh and eighth, including a solo homer from Joel Davis. All told, the Aggies recorded 12 hits on Saturday and brought their weekend run total to 30.

When the offense wasn't scoring, Kyle Simonds was dealing. The senior right-hander looked just as good one the mound as Brigham Hill and Jace Vines did earlier in the weekend, throwing 8.2 innings and allowing only two runs.

Simonds began struggling late in the ninth, and Mark Ecker took the ball to record the game's final out. Head coach Rob Childress thought it was Simonds' performance was his best since the series at Pepperdine.

"He was fantastic today," he said. "(He threw) all three pitches for a strike on both sides of the plate. It's the Simonds that I've seen before. We needed him, just like Brigham Hill on Friday night and Jace Vines on Saturday. They answered the bell."

The pitchers will need to keep answering that bell. After a Tuesday match-up with Abilene Christian at Olsen, they'll travel to Mississippi State for a three-game series next weekend.