Baseball Falls 10-4 as No. 14 Texas A&M Completes Series Sweep

Sunday, March 1

College Station, Texas

1:05 PM

Dartmouth College

0-3

Texas A&M

12-0

Dartmouth

Texas A&M

Baseball Falls 10-4 as No. 14 Texas A&M Completes Series Sweep

3/1/2015 3:43:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — The 14th-ranked Texas A&M Aggies finished off a three-game sweep of Dartmouth on Sunday, handing the visiting Big Green a 10-4 defeat on a cold and foggy afternoon at Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park. Mitchell Nau had two hits and three RBIs to lead the 13-hit attack for Texas A&M (12-0), which won its 12th straight game to start the 2015 season.

Junior Joe Purritano drove in two runs with a double for Dartmouth (0-3) while senior Matt Parisi and junior Nick Ruppert both stroked a pair of singles as Parisi also scored twice.

As they did in the first two games of the series, the Big Green jumped out to an early 1-0 lead. Parisi led off the game with an infield hit before Ruppert dropped down a bunt single. After a grounder allowed the two to advance a base, left-hander Matt Kent got the second out on strikes and had an opportunity to escape unscathed. But his next pitch eluded his catcher for a passed ball, allowing Parisi to slide across the plate for the game's first run.

Texas A&M took advantage of some wildness, however, on the part of Dartmouth left-hander Adam Frank, who began the game with a pair of walks. Nau fouled off a pair of 1-2 pitches, then lined a ball into the right-field corner for an RBI double to tie the score. Hunter Melton rapped a grounder to second to plate the second run, and Nick Banks slapped a single to left to drive home Nau for a 3-1 Aggie lead.

The second inning was a case of déjà vu as the first two hitters reached via the base on balls and Blake Allemand ripped an RBI double to right-center. Each of the next two batters chopped the ball for run-scoring grounders to give Texas A&M a 6-1 lead through two.

Yet Dartmouth was unfazed by the five-run deficit and mounted a three-run inning of its own in the third against Kent. Once again, Parisi and Ruppert led off with singles, but this time Purritano yanked a pitch just inside the bag down the first-base line for a two-run double, taking third on the throw to the plate. Senior Nick Lombardi plated Purritano by hitting a grounder to short, making it a 6-4 game. The Big Green threatened to score more when freshman Kyle Holbrook and sophomore Michael Ketchmark singled, but Kent induced a double play to get out of the jam.

Frank got into trouble again in the bottom half of the frame, sandwiching a single between two walks before giving way to right-hander Patrick Peterson. Facing a bases-loaded jam with nobody out, the freshman making his collegiate debut threw just two pitches to get out of the inning without a run crossing the plate. His first offering was hit to Lombardi at third, who stepped on the bag for the first out then fired to the plate to gun down the runner for the second. Peterson's next pitch was hit to Parisi at short, who easily threw across the diamond to retire the side.

Peterson was not so fortunate in the fourth as the Aggies put three more runs on the board as the first three hitters reached base for the fourth consecutive inning. Nau drove in the first run with a single past a diving Parisi, Melton followed by dropping an RBI single into right-center and Banks lofted a sacrifice fly to up the ante to 9-4.

Meanwhile, Kent (3-0) settled in after that double play in the third, allowing just a walk over the next three innings with six strikeouts. The left-hander finished his afternoon having allowed four runs, three earned, on eight hits — all in the first three stanzas — and one walk while punching out eight in six innings of work.

Texas A&M tacked its final run in the fifth when Ryne Birk singled with two outs to drive in Jonathan Moroney, who had led off the inning with a double.

Three Aggie relievers combined to retire the side in order in each of the last three frames to close out the game.

Allemand, Birk, Banks and Logan Taylor joined Nau with two hits for A&M, and Allemand scored three runs from his spot atop the order.

Frank (0-1) was stuck with the loss for yielding six runs on four hits and six walks in two-plus innings on the mound. Freshman Sam Fichthorn shut down the Aggie bats over the last three frames, surrendering just three harmless singles without allowing a run.

Dartmouth next plays next weekend in the Snowbird Classic in Port Charlotte, Florida. The first of four games will take place on Friday against one of last year's College World Series participants, Indiana, on the third field at the North Charlotte Regional Park at 6 p.m. The Big Green will also play Northwestern, Ball State and Bucknell while in the Sunshine State. Texas A&M will attempt to extend its winning streak to 13 when it hosts Dallas Baptist on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. (CST).