By RICHARD CROOME

Eagle Staff Writer

Reaching 40 is not always a bad thing. For the Aggies on Saturday, it was anything but.

Fifth-ranked Texas A&M overcame a three-run deficit to claim a 5-4 victory in the rubber game of its nonconference series with Dallas Baptist. In the process, the Aggies became the first Division I baseball team to reach 40 victories this season.

A&M collected victory No. 40 in just its 48th game, the fourth fastest trip to No. 40 in school history.

The Patriots, who led in each game of the series and won Game 1, are 30-15.

"It was important [to win the series] because it could have taken away our momentum," A&M head coach Rob Childress said. "Losing on Thursday and to come back and win Friday and Saturday was real big for our program."

A&M had swept five straight Big 12 series before hosting DBU.

The Aggies, who had three homers in Friday's 9-4 victory, produced five singles in six at-bats in the sixth, scoring four runs to grab a 5-4 lead.

Jose Duran started it with a one-out single up the middle. Luke Anders followed with a single that ended DBU starter Ryan Millard's day.

Chris Haney (6-4) entered for DBU, and Darby Brown greeted him with an RBI single to cut DBU's lead to 4-2.

Brian Ruggiano followed with a sharply hit grounder to shortstop Austin Knight, who was unable to field the ball cleanly and was only able to get a force-out at second base.

The Aggies then made their own good fortune by sending the runners with Friday's winning pitcher, pinch-hitter Brooks Raley, at the plate. The left-handed hitter found the hole vacated by Knight for a single that scored Anders and cut DBU's lead to 4-3.

The Aggies then pulled off a double steal, with Ruggiano going to third and Raley to second to set up Kevin Gonzalez's go-ahead, two-run single to left.

"I've been up and down every once in a while getting hits, but today I felt like I needed to step up a bit when the game was looking down for us," said Gonzalez, who hits No. 9 and is batting .242 after his second three-hit game in a week. "I hit a lot better during the daytime because I can see the ball better. I still haven't adjusted [to night games] even though I play a lot. I just feel like I pick up the ball a lot easier during the daytime."

Duran's single that started A&M's four-run rally extended his hitting streak to 18 games, tied for the team high this season with Blake Stouffer.

"The coaches came in and told us to relax and have our best at-bats, which is what we pretty much did," Duran said of the decisive inning. "Everyone went out there and had there best at-bat that inning."

Duran's best work of the day came with his glove. The junior shortstop went into the grass in center field to throw out one runner, then had Evan Bigley talking to himself after diving to snag a one-hopper and throwing out Bigley at first on a ball that looked sure to be a base hit.

The Aggies also got another fielding gem to preserve the win when Raley, playing left field, went back near the track to pull in a hard-hit ball by Ryan Goins to end the game with a runner on second.

"We had a big sixth inning with a lot of heroes today," Childress said. "Kevin Gonzalez had a big day. Brooks Raley comes off the bench and gets a big hit and makes a great play to end the game."

DBU took a 3-0 lead on a three-run homer in the second by its No. 9 hitter, Nick Santos. It was the right fielder's third homer of the year and came off starter Barret Loux, who also gave up Goins' eighth homer of the season, a solo shot in the fifth.

"I thought Barret Loux was good. Take back two pitches and he had a great performance," Childress said.

Clayton Ehlert gave up two hits and retired the last seven batters he faced in three innings of relief. Travis Starling gave up a hit and walked a batter in the ninth but didn't allow a run for his ninth save.

NOTES -- A&M has had 17 40-victory seasons. ... A&M's record for victories is 58 in 1989, when the Aggies went 58-7. ... The Patriots entire starting lineup on Saturday came into the game hitting at least .300. ... A&M will play at Sam Houston State at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.

• Richard Croome's e-mail address is richard.croome@theeagle.com.