Texas A&M brought out the cannon for Military Appreciation Night at Olsen Field.

Brian Ruggianno made sure it didn't go to waste, clubbing two home runs to lead the Aggies to a 9-4 victory over Dallas Baptist on Friday at Olsen Field.

The A&M victory evened the three-game series and upped No. 5 A&M's record to 39-8. The independent Dallas Baptist Patriots dropped to 30-14.

Game 3 is set for 2 p.m. Saturday with A&M's Barret Loux (4-1, 4.02) to face Ryan Millard (3-2, 7.53).

After each of Ruggiano's homers and Luke Anders' solo shot, the canon, set up behind the center field wall, was fired.

"Yeah, I never heard that before," Ruggiano said. "That was kind of neat."

Ruggiano's first home run flew over the right-field fence and brought home Darby Brown for a 3-2 lead in the second. It put the Aggies ahead for good.

It also answered the Patriots, who won Game 1 12-6 on a 20-hit performance and appeared eager to do the same Friday night when they took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second.

"They are a really good hitting team, and we just have to keep coming at them every chance," Ruggiano said. "We had to shut them down every inning, especially after last night because they kind of beat up our pitchers a little bit."

A&M starting pitcher Brooks Raley (6-0) took over after the second, shutting out Dallas Baptist for four straight innings as A&M built a 7-2 lead.

Blake Stouffer led off the third with a double, and Jose Duran made it 4-2 with a single to score Stouffer from third. Anders worked a walk off starter Victor Black (1-4), and after Brown struck out, Ruggiano hit a 2-2 pitch over the left-field fence for a three-run homer, his eighth on the season.

Ruggiano's five RBIs were a career high for the junior who started in right field.

"Yeah, I've never done that before," said Ruggiano of his back-to-back homers. "I was seeing the ball well and getting my foot down early and making good swings on it."

Raley and Kyle Thebeau did the rest of the work, combining to strike out 13 and only giving up two runs after the second.

Thebeau came in in the seventh and cleaned up for Raley, who had given up a two-run double to allow the Patriots to climb within 7-4. Thebeau struck out five of the 10 batters he faced to earn his third save.

"I was really proud of the way we pitched tonight," A&M coach Rob Childress said. "I thought Brooks Raley and Kyle Thebeau were outstanding, and it was important for us to come back and answer the bell after last night's performance."

The Patriots tried to pick up where they left off in Game 1.

Dallas Baptist's Trevor Head was hit by a Raley pitch to open the second. Nick Santos singled, and Ryan Goins advanced both runners with a sacrifice bunt. Brandon Bantz then drove an 0-1 pitch to the left-center field fence for a two-run double.

"I didn't really locate that pitch very well," Raley said of Bantz's double. "I started the inning with putting guys on base, and these guys can hit it."

NOTES -- A&M has won all nine of Brooks Raley's starts, but it was his first victory since April 4. ... More than 100 veterans were recognized before the game, at the fourth annual Military Appreciation Night at Olsen Field ... Luke Anders' homer was his 12th of the season, which matches last year's leaders Craig Stinson and Blake Stouffer. ... Reliever Kyle Thebeau has struck out at least one batter in each of his 22 appearances. ... Dallas Baptist starting pitcher Victor Black is the brother of Kelsey Black, a high school All-American in volleyball who enrolled at A&M as a freshman in January and is an outside hitter for coach Laurie Corbelli's volleyball team.

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