March 04, 2004
The 12th-ranked Texas A&M baseball team will make its first weekend road trip of the season when they travel to Los Angeles to play a three-game series with UCLA on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The Aggies are off to their hottest start in 11 seasons and enter the series with a record of 12-1 after winning the 2004 Domino's Pizza Aggie Baseball Classic last weekend. UCLA is also off to a hot start, winning 10 of its first 13 contests, and is currently riding a six-game winning streak.
RECORDS AND RANKINGS
Team BBAm NCBWA ColBB USA/ESPN Texas A&M 12-1 14 14 12 16 UCLA 10-3 NR NR NR RV
LISTEN TO AGGIE BASEBALL ON THE RADIO
Fans who are unable to attend Texas A&M baseball games can listen to all the action live on AM-1620 WTAW. Airtime for all games will be 15 minutes prior to first pitch.
The baseball broadcasting team features legendary broadcaster and "The Voice of the Aggies" Dave South. Joining Dave in the booth will be WTAW sports director Tom Turbiville, baseball media relations director Chuck Glenewinkel and frequent contributor to A&M sports broadcasts Will Johnson.
WATCH AGGIE BASEBALL ON THE WEB
Fans can watch all home and select away Aggie baseball games this season live on-line through Aggie Ultimate Access, a subscription service of AggieAthletics.com. Membership to AUA is $4.95 a month or $49 per year and includes video highlights, features and behind-the-scenes access from football, basketball and baseball, as well as the live baseball games.
Fans can also pay on an a-la-carte basis for $3.95 per game, which includes just the live game coverage. Sign up at AggieAthletics.com.
TICKETS TO AGGIE BASEBALL
Fans can purchase season and individual tickets for all Texas A&M Athletic events by calling the Athletic Ticket Office at (979) 845-2311 or (888) 99-AGGIE. Fans can also purchase ticket on-line at www.12thManFoundation.com.
LISTEN TO THE MARK JOHNSON DAILY SHOW
Every Monday through Friday, Aggie baseball fans can listen to the Mark Johnson Daily Show to get the latest information and analysis straight from the source. The show is hosted by Dave South and airs on AM-1150 WTAW at 7:20 a.m. and is replayed everyday at 5:20 p.m. on AM-1620 WTAW.
POSSIBLE PITCHING MATCHUPS
GAME 1: Friday, March 5 - 7 p.m.
UCLA: Casey Janssen, RHP (3-0, 0.75 ERA) vs. A&M: Robert Ray, RHP (1-0, 3.14 ERA)
Janssen's Last Outing: Janssen allowed just two hits and one run in six-complete innings of work at Hawaii-Hilo. He did not allow a walk and struck out eight hitters.
Ray's Last Outing: Ray struck out a career-high 12 batters and earned his first win of the season against New Mexico. He lasted seven innings, allowing one run on seven hits.
GAME 2: Saturday, March 6 - 3 p.m.
UCLA: Bryan Beck, RHP (1-0, 1.23 ERA) vs. A&M: Justin Moore, RHP (1-0, 2.84 ERA)
Beck's Last Outing: Beck threw a complete game, four-hit shoutout against Hawaii-Hilo. He fanned six and did not allow a free pass.
Moore's Last Outing: Moore did not figure in the decision in the Aggies' 6-4 loss to Arkansas. He pitched five innings, allowing three runs on eight hits while striking out five.
GAME 3: Sunday, March 7 - 3 p.m.
UCLA: Wes Whisler, LHP (1-0, 3.86 ERA) vs. A&M: Zach Jackson, LHP (3-0, 3.00 ERA)
Whisler's Last Outing: Whisler pitched six solid innings and earned his first win of the season at Hawaii-Hilo. He allowed one run on four hits while striking out seven in six innings.
Jackson's Last Outing: Jackson allowed five runs in five five innings of work but earned his third win of the season. He fanned two and allowed eight hits.
TEXAS A&M vs. UCLA HISTORY
All-Time Series Record: A&M leads, 3-0
Texas A&M and UCLA have played three times in the histories of the two schools, with the Aggies winning all three contests.
Two of the games were in last year's Domino's Pizza Aggie Baseball Classic. Logan Kensing threw a seven-inning complete game to down the Bruins 7-3. Robert Ray pitched five solid innings to earn the first win of his career in the Aggies' 3-0 win on the final day of the tournament.
The only other meeting between the two teams was in the NCAA Central Regional held in College Station in 1993. The Aggies defeated the Bruins 11-4 before winning the championship game against North Carolina and advancing to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb. Current big leaguer Kelly Wunsch earned the win and Lee Fedora drove in four runs.
BEST STARTS IN TEXAS A&M HISTORY
The Texas A&M baseball team is off to their best start since the 1993 season. The Aggies ? currently 12-1 ? need just three more wins to match the 15-1 start from 1993. The best start to an A&M season was in 1989 when the Aggies started the season an amazing 26-0. Listed below are the best Aggie starts to the season since Mark Johnson became the head coach in 1985.
- Year ? Record (Through the first 20 games of the season)
1989 ? 20-0 (began the season with a 26-game winning streak)
1988 ? 19-1
1987 ? 17-2-1
1993 ? 18-2
1996 ? 17-3
2003, 1999 and 1985 ? 16-4
TWO-OUT RBIS
The Aggies have driven in 101 runs this season. An amazing 49 ? or 48.6% ? of those runs have been driven in with two outs.
THE BIG INNING
Texas A&M has shown the ability to string together multiple hits in their at bats to create the "big inning." In the Aggies first 13 games of the season, they have scored three or more in 16 innings. Of the 113 runs A&M has plated, 76 ? or 67% ? have come from the "big inning."
OLSEN MAGIC
Through the years, Olsen Field has been the sight of some amazing and improbable comebacks. In 1989, "Big" John Byington hit homers in the bottom of the ninth ? not once, but twice in one day - to beat Texas and send the Aggie faithful into a frenzy. Since that occurrence, there is a belief in the stands and in the A&M dugout that the Aggies are never out of a game. In 1999, Texas A&M won nine games in their final at bat and advanced to the College World series by hitting two home runs in the ninth off a Clemson reliever who had not surrendered an earned run all season. In fact, the Aggies have come from behind to win so many games at Olsen Field, fans can feel the rallies starting to mount. Some say it is the never-say-die attitude head coach Mark Johnson instills in his teams, but other claim it to be "Olsen Magic."
This season, Texas A&M has already won four games in their last trip to the plate. The Aggies scored a run in the bottom of the last inning against TA-CC (2/15), South Alabama (2/22) and New Mexico (2/28) to squeak out wins.
More impressively, Texas A&M scored five runs in the ninth to defeat Arkansas, 9-7, on the final day (2/29) of the Domino's Pizza Aggie Baseball Classic to clinch the tournament championship.
TEXAS A&M HEAD COACH MARK JOHNSON
Texas A&M head coach Mark Johnson is currently in his 20th season. He is the winningest skipper in Texas A&M history.
Johnson has a career record of 816-385-2 and his winning percentage of .679 ranks him in the top 15 among active Division I coaches. Johnson has led the Aggies to 12 NCAA regional tournaments and nine times Texas A&M has reached the regional championship game. Under Johnson, the Aggies have made two College World Series appearances (1993 and 1999). Five of Johnson's teams have won conference championships (SWC: 1986, 1989, 1993; Big 12: 1998, 1999).
In 1998 and 1999, Johnson was named the Big 12 Coach of the Year. He is also a five-time recipient of the ABCA Regional Coach of the Year award.
In January of 2001, Johnson was inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame and in December of 2002, he was inducted into the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame.
Coach Johnson has led 12 Texas A&M teams to 40-win seasons and five of those teams have won 50 or more games.
Before becoming the head coach at Texas A&M in 1984, Johnson spent 15 years as an assistant with stints at New Mexico (1970-1971), Arizona (1972-1976), Mississippi State (1977-1982) and Texas A&M (1983-1984). Johnson was tutored by some of college baseball's most respected and recognized coaches, including Tom Chandler (Texas A&M), Ron Polk (Mississippi State), Jerry Kindall (Arizona), Frank Sancet (Arizona) and Bob Leigh (New Mexico).
JIM LAWLER: ASST. COACH OF THE YEAR
Longtime Texas A&M baseball coach Jim Lawler was named the 2003 National Assistant Coach of the Year by the American Baseball Coaches Association and Baseball America Magazine.
Lawler, a native of Carroll, Iowa, came to Texas A&M as the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator when Johnson became the head coach in 1985. In 1989, Lawler was promoted to his current position of assistant head coach.
Lawler has seen his recent pitching staffs continue to be among the nation's best. Texas A&M has had a pitcher earn All-America honors in eight of the last 14 seasons.
Four Aggie pitchers under Lawler's tutelage--Chris Clemons, Kelly Wunsch, Jeff Granger and Chance Caple--were drafted in the first round of the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft. Lawler has watched a total of 10 Aggie pitchers get drafted in the first two rounds of the draft, including 2003 second-rounders Brian Finch, Logan Kensing and Scott Beerer. In Lawler's 19 years at A&M, 51 Aggie hurlers have been drafted.
Currently, Lawler has several of his former pitchers in professional baseball, including big-leaguers Ryan Rupe, Casey Fossum and Wunsch.
Lawler came to Texas A&M from the University of Texas-El Paso, where he was the head coach. Prior to his stint there, Lawler was the head coach at Gonzaga, where his 1980 team finished the season ranked ninth in the country.
BIG 12 PITCHER / PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Zach Jackson debuted in an auspicious manner for the 2004 Aggies after transferring to Aggieland from Louisville. The junior lefty needed just 93 pitches to toss a seven-inning no-hitter (complete game due to 10-run rule) with eight strikeouts and one walk in a 15-0 victory over NCAA Division I independent Texas A&M Corpus Christi. It was the 10th no-hitter in history by Aggie pitchers, the sixth (of a current seven) in Big 12 annals and the first solo gem since the Aggies' Matt Blank fired a no-hitter against Texas-Pan American in the 1996 home opener.
Cliff Pennington sizzled to a .647 batting average in four games with an 11-for-17 showing against Sam Houston and South Alabama. The Aggies swept the four contests and moved up to No. 14 in the Collegiate Baseball national poll behind his five RBI, six runs scored, two triples, .882 slugging percentage, and no strikeouts in 18 plate appearances for an on-base percentage of .667.
Justin Moore threw eight innings of two-hit work on the mound in an 8-0 victory over South Alabama. The senior righthander struck out five, walked one and did not allow a runner to reach second base during his eight frames. He needed just 94 pitches to start the combined shutout with teammate and relief ace Jason Meyer.
Austin Boggs was named Most Valuable Player in the Domino's Pizza Aggie Classic at College Station after batting .522 (12-for-23) in the six-game tourney where the Aggies had a 5-1 mark to capture first place. He was 12-for-23 with two doubles, six RBI, four runs scored, one stolen base, a .609 slugging percentage, and .542 on-base percentage.