It’s funny…. I remember having an awful lot to do the night before leaving for Texas A&M three years ago. I remember writing something about the Aggies near or after midnight. And like three years ago, the reality that we were facing an enormous challenge this weekend was really starting to set in… Results wise, Texas A&M isn’t as good as they were last year. The same was probably true in 2013 after they came off an outstanding 2012 season. But these guys have a very deep, experience roster, and are very, very well coached. I gained a lot of respect for Rob Childress in 2013 and 2014. I wouldn’t expect anything less from a Dave Van Horn disciple.
A&M enters play Friday night at 22-7. They began the season with a relatively easy home sweep of Hofstra, then pounded Stephen F. Austin and Prarie View in the midweek by a combined score of 32-1. The Aggies then took off for Malibu to play Pepperdine, where I think we’ll spend a weekend in a few years. After dropping the opener, A&M bounced back to win the next two. A home sweep of Yale saw A&M outscore the Yalies 35-7. A&M followed this up with another home sweep, this time against another set of Bulldogs, these from the less academically prestigious Fresno State.
A midweek game against the Texas Longhorns may dispel the notion that the two schools don’t play in anything any longer. A&M won. I bet Texas hates the SEC.
A&M began the league play with a trip to Auburn, taking 2/3 from the Tigers. Texas A&M then took two at home from LSU. After an easy Thursday night win, the next two were tight.
Then A&M traveled to Gainesville Florida and ran into that juggernaut Florida outfit. Florida won the first two fairly easily. I watched a bit of the Sunday game and left it with A&M leading and it appeared that A&M was on their way to a win. I was surprised to see Florida stormed back and won 10-7. So believe it or not, Texas A&M heads into tomorrow with the same 4-5 league record we are sporting. That’s why those sweeps are such a big deal. A&M has won two series. We’ve only won one, but have the same record.
Friday night, we’ll see Brigham Hill, a right handed, compact sophomore from Nacodoches Texas. Hill has appeared in 14 games so far this year, but only started 3. He has a 1.66 ERA and a 3-0 record. His 38 innings lead the Aggie staff. He has a 30/7 K/BB and opponents are hitting .241 against him.
You know you’re in Texas when you start running into guys named Jace. Jace Vines is the fella we will see Saturday afternoon. The big right hander hails from Prosper Texas. The sophomore is off to a pretty good start on the year. He’s 4-0 with a 4.37 ERA. He’s pitched in 8 games, starting 6. He’s thrown 35 innings and has a 36/12 K/BB. Opponents are hitting .227 against him.
The Aggies have left things TBA for Sunday, as we have. These guys have a lot of right handed arms, which doesn’t bode very well for us. A&M has a staff ERA of 3.17. They are averaging over 1 K per inning as a staff and have only walked 89 in 29 games. Opponents are only hitting .237 against A&M this year and they’ve only allowed 12 HRs.
Offensively, A&M is paced by Hunter Melton. The big senior from Corsicana Texas is hitting .354/.441/.584 with 5 HRs and 31 RBIs. We should see him at 1B.
Boomer White is a junior from Houston who started off at Texas Christian. White is hitting .412/.489/.491 with 1 HR and 22 RBI. We should see White playing and hitting 3rd.
Two years ago in Athens, I remember freshman Nick Banks playing RF and hitting in the middle of their order. Really good looking player as a young guy. Good ABs and pretty good numbers as I recall. So it bugs when I see that he’s hitting .283/.353/.511 because you know that average and OBP will be higher at end of the year. Banks does have 3 HRs. The junior southpaw from Tomball Texas hit .364 a year ago. He’s a guy, and while his numbers aren’t great (relative to the rest of their lineup) I’m sure he’s one of their better hitters still. We’ll see him hitting 5th in all probability and playing in RF.
JB Moss is the Aggie LF. The senior right handed hitter from Tyler Texas is hitting .381/.444/.661 with 1 HR and 22 RBI. We’ll see him most likely at the top.
These guys are experienced. Stricklin mentioned today that they have 19 juniors and seniors on their roster. That’s not only a lot of experience, but it’s a lot of experience winning games… A&M runs a lot too. I remember worrying about that in 2013, though we did a fair enough job with it as I recall that weekend. On the year, they are 43-55. They’ve only allowed opponents to steal at a clip of 23-36. Even a big guy like Melton has 2 steals to his credit.
A&M is fielding .978 as a team.
This is a good looking group. They’re probably better than 22-7 would suggest and definitely better than 4-5 would suggest. These guys are 17-1 in College Station this year too. I’m going to go ahead and call this the most difficult road series we’ve played since we went to Ole Miss in 2014. That Rebel group was loaded that year and wound up playing in Omaha. But we got one on Saturday afternoon (the Robert Tyler game) and played them to extras on Sunday. This is absolutely a large scale challenge, but it’s one in which we should be able to present ourselves well.
I remember that scene in The Simpsons, the “Kamp Krusty” episode, where the tough kids (Duff, Jimbo, and Kearny) were the camp counselors. They were trying to set up some canoeing activities from the campers. Lisa Simpson looks at this canoe which appears to be rotted, is half full of water already, and is being whipped around the dock by the waves. Lisa looks at Kearny (or whoever the counselor was) and says “Is this safe?” to which he replies “well it ain’t getting any safer.” I was thinking about that in light of this series. It ain’t getting any easier…
A&M enters play Friday night at 22-7. They began the season with a relatively easy home sweep of Hofstra, then pounded Stephen F. Austin and Prarie View in the midweek by a combined score of 32-1. The Aggies then took off for Malibu to play Pepperdine, where I think we’ll spend a weekend in a few years. After dropping the opener, A&M bounced back to win the next two. A home sweep of Yale saw A&M outscore the Yalies 35-7. A&M followed this up with another home sweep, this time against another set of Bulldogs, these from the less academically prestigious Fresno State.
A midweek game against the Texas Longhorns may dispel the notion that the two schools don’t play in anything any longer. A&M won. I bet Texas hates the SEC.
A&M began the league play with a trip to Auburn, taking 2/3 from the Tigers. Texas A&M then took two at home from LSU. After an easy Thursday night win, the next two were tight.
Then A&M traveled to Gainesville Florida and ran into that juggernaut Florida outfit. Florida won the first two fairly easily. I watched a bit of the Sunday game and left it with A&M leading and it appeared that A&M was on their way to a win. I was surprised to see Florida stormed back and won 10-7. So believe it or not, Texas A&M heads into tomorrow with the same 4-5 league record we are sporting. That’s why those sweeps are such a big deal. A&M has won two series. We’ve only won one, but have the same record.
Friday night, we’ll see Brigham Hill, a right handed, compact sophomore from Nacodoches Texas. Hill has appeared in 14 games so far this year, but only started 3. He has a 1.66 ERA and a 3-0 record. His 38 innings lead the Aggie staff. He has a 30/7 K/BB and opponents are hitting .241 against him.
You know you’re in Texas when you start running into guys named Jace. Jace Vines is the fella we will see Saturday afternoon. The big right hander hails from Prosper Texas. The sophomore is off to a pretty good start on the year. He’s 4-0 with a 4.37 ERA. He’s pitched in 8 games, starting 6. He’s thrown 35 innings and has a 36/12 K/BB. Opponents are hitting .227 against him.
The Aggies have left things TBA for Sunday, as we have. These guys have a lot of right handed arms, which doesn’t bode very well for us. A&M has a staff ERA of 3.17. They are averaging over 1 K per inning as a staff and have only walked 89 in 29 games. Opponents are only hitting .237 against A&M this year and they’ve only allowed 12 HRs.
Offensively, A&M is paced by Hunter Melton. The big senior from Corsicana Texas is hitting .354/.441/.584 with 5 HRs and 31 RBIs. We should see him at 1B.
Boomer White is a junior from Houston who started off at Texas Christian. White is hitting .412/.489/.491 with 1 HR and 22 RBI. We should see White playing and hitting 3rd.
Two years ago in Athens, I remember freshman Nick Banks playing RF and hitting in the middle of their order. Really good looking player as a young guy. Good ABs and pretty good numbers as I recall. So it bugs when I see that he’s hitting .283/.353/.511 because you know that average and OBP will be higher at end of the year. Banks does have 3 HRs. The junior southpaw from Tomball Texas hit .364 a year ago. He’s a guy, and while his numbers aren’t great (relative to the rest of their lineup) I’m sure he’s one of their better hitters still. We’ll see him hitting 5th in all probability and playing in RF.
JB Moss is the Aggie LF. The senior right handed hitter from Tyler Texas is hitting .381/.444/.661 with 1 HR and 22 RBI. We’ll see him most likely at the top.
These guys are experienced. Stricklin mentioned today that they have 19 juniors and seniors on their roster. That’s not only a lot of experience, but it’s a lot of experience winning games… A&M runs a lot too. I remember worrying about that in 2013, though we did a fair enough job with it as I recall that weekend. On the year, they are 43-55. They’ve only allowed opponents to steal at a clip of 23-36. Even a big guy like Melton has 2 steals to his credit.
A&M is fielding .978 as a team.
This is a good looking group. They’re probably better than 22-7 would suggest and definitely better than 4-5 would suggest. These guys are 17-1 in College Station this year too. I’m going to go ahead and call this the most difficult road series we’ve played since we went to Ole Miss in 2014. That Rebel group was loaded that year and wound up playing in Omaha. But we got one on Saturday afternoon (the Robert Tyler game) and played them to extras on Sunday. This is absolutely a large scale challenge, but it’s one in which we should be able to present ourselves well.
I remember that scene in The Simpsons, the “Kamp Krusty” episode, where the tough kids (Duff, Jimbo, and Kearny) were the camp counselors. They were trying to set up some canoeing activities from the campers. Lisa Simpson looks at this canoe which appears to be rotted, is half full of water already, and is being whipped around the dock by the waves. Lisa looks at Kearny (or whoever the counselor was) and says “Is this safe?” to which he replies “well it ain’t getting any safer.” I was thinking about that in light of this series. It ain’t getting any easier…
