March 13, 2008
No. 22 Texas A&M (13-3) begins the 12th season of Big 12 baseball this weekend when the Aggies host Texas Tech (8-6) in a three-game series at Olsen Field.
First pitch on Friday is set for 6:30 p.m. Saturday's game wil start at 2 p.m., with Sunday's finale set for 1 p.m.
A&M has won four straight and 12 of its last 13 overall. The Aggies are coming off a mid-week sweep of Centenary at Olsen Field.
Tech, meanwhile, has seen eight home games this season cancelled for various reasons and has played all but two of its 14 contests on the road. The Red Raiders have won five of their last six games and are coming off a hard-fought win at New Mexico on Tuesday.
A&M is the defending Big 12 postseason champions, having won the school's first Big 12 tournament title last May in Oklahoma City. The Aggies finished last season's Big 12 race in fifth place at 13-13.
Texas Tech, meanwhile, did not qualify for the league tournament and finished 10th in the conference standings at 8-18.
The two schools combined to take the first three Big 12 regular season crowns (Texas Tech, 1997; Texas A&M, 1998 & 1999). The Red Raiders have also won one tournament title (1998).
Fans can listen to Friday's game locally on Sports Radio 1150 The Zone. Broadcasts on Saturday and Sunday will air on either 1150 or News/Talk 1620 WTAW, depending on the A&M men's basketball team's schedule in the Big 12 Championship this week in Kansas City. Check aggieathletics.com for broadcast info.
Dave South, Scott Clendenin and Chuck Glenewinkel will call the action. All broadcasts begin 15 minutes prior to first pitch.
Texas Tech RED RAIDERS (8-6, 0-0) at #22 Texas A&M AGGIES (13-3, 0-0)
Friday, March 14 6:30 p.m. CDT
Saturday, March 15 2 p.m. CDT
Sunday, March 16 1 p.m. CDT
C.E. ?Pat? Olsen Field (7,053) ?* College Station, Texas
RADIO KZNE-AM 1150 (Fri) / WTAW-AM 1620 (Sat-Sun)*
LIVE VIDEO Aggies All-Access (free)
GAMETRACKER aggieathletics.com
* WTAW broadcast pending Big 12 Men's Basketball Championships...check aggieathletics.com for latest info.
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS
FRIDAY - A&M: LHP Brooks Raley (Fr., 2-0, 1.80 ERA) vs. TTU: RHP A.J. Ramos (Jr., 1-2, 5.71 ERA)
SATURDAY - A&M: RHP Barret Loux (Fr., 0-0, 4.85 ERA) vs. TTU: RHP Nate Karns (So., 1-1, 8.10 ERA)
SUNDAY - A&M: RHP Scott Migl (So., 1-0, 3.68 ERA) vs. TTU: RHP Chad Bettis (Fr., 2-0, 3.38 ERA)
PROMOTIONS
The new ?Take Me Out to the Ballgame? ticket promotion is in effect for Sunday's finale, through which kids 12 and under will receive free admission with a paid adult. There is a limit of four kids per adult and all seats are general admission. Kids will also be able to run the bases following the contest, courtesy Subway.
Throughout the season, fans can also take advantage of the "Pick Six for $50" ticket special. For more information contact the Athletic Ticket Office at 888-99-AGGIE or online at aggieathletics.com.
SCOUTING TEXAS A&M
Texas A&M enters the weekend at 13-3 and has won 12 of its last 13, including a pair of victories over Centenary this week at Olsen Field.
The Aggies have pounded out double-figure hits in eight of the last 12 games, including a season-best 16 in Tuesday's win over the Gents. A&M is also finding its power stroke?-after hitting a total of two home runs in the season's first seven games, the Aggies have hit 11 in the last nine contests.
For the season, Texas A&M is hitting .322 and averaging 7.3 runs per game. The offense has already pounded out 54 extra-base hits (27 doubles, 14 triples and 13 home runs) while stealing 33 bases.
Senior third baseman Dane Carter (.492, 3 HR, 15 RBI) leads the team in nine offensive categories and enters the Texas Tech series on a career-long 14-game hit streak. Four other starters (Luke Anders, Jos?© Duran, Kyle Colligan and Brian Ruggiano) are hitting over .300 for the year.
On the mound, the Aggies boast a Big 12-best 2.73 ERA. A&M pitching is averaging 9.44 strikeouts per game and is holding opposing hitters to a .219 average. Sophomore Shane Minks (4-0, 1.93 ERA) leads the team and the league in victories along with fellow sophomore Carson Middleton (3-0, 0.55 ERA). Sophomore Travis Starling (8 appearances, 1.08 ERA) has a team-best five saves. The Aggie bullpen has been very strong on the young season, posting a 5-2 record, five saves, 2.11 ERA and .216 opponent average.
A QUICK GLANCE: TEXAS TECH
Texas Tech has won five of its last six games and brings an 8-6 overall record into the weekend series.
The Red Raiders are no stranger to the road, having lost eight home games this year for various reasons. They have played 12 of their 14 contests in '08 away from Dan Law Field.
The Red Raiders were picked to finish last in the Big 12 by the league's coaches, but they return 17 letterwinners and seven starters from last season (28-27, 8-18 Big 12).
As a team, Tech ranks fifth in the league with a .303 average. The Raiders have hit 14 home runs and driven in 104, averaging 7.8 runs per game. On the mound, the pitching staff has a 4.91 ERA and has fanned 111 batters in 121 innings of work.
Junior outfielder Roger Kieschnick (.417, 7 HR, 24 RBI), the reigning Big 12 Player of the Week, and senior infielder Jason Seefeld (.380, 2 HR, 4 RBI) pace the offense. Junior A.J. Ramos (1-2, 5.71 ERA) and junior Zach Stewart (0.84 ERA, 2 saves) lead the pitching staff.
Texas Tech is led by Larry Hays, the dean of Big 12 coaches, in his 22nd season in Lubbock. He is the nation's third-winningest head coach with an overall record of 1,492-836-4. Hays needs eight wins to reach 1,500 for his career and three to reach the 800-win plateau at Tech.
SERIES HISTORY
Texas A&M leads the all-time series with Texas Tech, 85-50, dating back to the schools' first meeting in 1929. Last season, the schools split a snow-shortened, two-game series in Lubbock.
Some series notables:
?* The Red Raiders did not field a baseball team from 1930-1953, and began Southwest Conference competition in the sport in 1968. For every season except 1976, the Aggies and Tech have faced off in a league series.
?* The Aggies lead in overall series victories, 24-12, while splitting three.
?* A&M has swept the series with Tech 15 times, while the Raiders have swept the Aggies four times.
?* Texas A&M has never lost a conference series to Texas Tech in College Station (16-0-2 overall).
?* The Aggies, meanwhile, are 8-12-1 in series in Lubbock, and have not won one since 1997.
?* The longest win streak in the series is 22 games by Texas A&M (April 13 '84-March 29 '91).
?* Of the 36 games played (including postseason tournaments) since the formation of the Big 12 prior to the '97 season, both teams have won 18 times.
?* A&M is the only team to win back-to-back Big 12 series, having won the first two (1997, 1998).
?* A&M is also the only team to win a Big 12 road series (1997). Last season, the schools split a snow-shortened, two-game series in Lubbock.
?* There have been just three sweeps in Big 12 series play between the Aggies and Raiders. Tech swept a two-game series from A&M in Lubbock in 1999 and a three-game set in 2001, while the Aggies took all three games from Texas Tech in College Station in 2002.
?* Texas Tech is the Aggies' seventh most common opponent, with 135 games played between the schools.
A&M IN BIG 12 OPENERS
Texas A&M will begin its 12th season of Big 12 baseball this weekend against Texas Tech.
Some notes on A&M's Big 12 opener history:
?* The Aggies are 5-6 all-time in their first Big 12 game of the season. Last season's 9-3 win over Kansas snapped a four-game losing streak in Big 12 openers.
?* The Aggies are 7-4 all-time in their first Big 12 series of the season.
?* A&M has swept its first Big 12 series three times (Oklahoma State, 1999; Kansas State, 2000; Texas Tech, 2002).
?* A&M been swept in its first Big 12 series once (Missouri, 2006).
?* A&M has opened the league season at home seven times, on the road once (Texas Tech, 2005) and has started with the split series against Baylor three times (1997, 2001, 2004).
?* Two of the Aggies' Big 12 openers have gone extra innings (L 2-1, 11 innings vs Baylor, 2/24/01; W 7-6, 10 innings vs Tech, 3/1/02).
CENTENARY REVIEW
It was a tale of two games for the Aggies this week against a hot Centenary team, but A&M was able to sweep the series with 9-2 and 3-2 victories at Olsen.
The Aggies used a season-high 16 hits, which included back-to-back home runs by Jos?© Duran and Darby Brown, to fuel a 9-2 win over the Gents Tuesday night. Duran, along with Dane Carter and Brooks Raley, had three hits each. Sophomore Shane Minks improved to 4-0 with a career-high six-strikeout performance.
Wednesday featured a pitcher's duel between A&M's Clayton Ehlert and Centenary's Dakota Robinson, one the Aggies would take 3-2 with a three-run rally in the sixth inning. Robinson held A&M hitless through the first four-plus innings, while Ehlert allowed two runs on a bases-loaded flare behind the bag at third in the fifth, but worked out of what could have been a much bigger inning. Ehlert, along with Hank Robertson and Travis Starling, shutout the Gents from that point on.
RALEY NAMED BIG 12 CO-PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Freshman Brooks Raley (Uvalde, Texas) was named the Phillips 66 Big 12 Co-Pitcher of the Week by a select media panel, the league office announced Monday.
Raley struck out 10 over 7 innings of shutout baseball in his first career start on Saturday night to lead the Aggies to a 2-1 win over defending Big East champ Rutgers. He faced four batters over the minimum on the night, and allowed just two baserunners into scoring position?-stranding both. The lefty allowed only eight balls to leave the infield on the night?-the three hits and five fly ball outs.
On the season, Raley sports a 2-0 record and 1.80 ERA. Through 15 innings of work, he has fanned 17 and is holding opponents to a .157 batting average.
He became the 16th pitcher in A&M history to earn the award.
CARTER ON A TEAR
Senior third baseman Dane Carter has started the 2008 season on a hot streak at the plate.
He has hit safely in a career-high 14 consecutive games, 15 of the Aggies' 16 overall, and has reached base safely (hit or walk) in all 16.
In addition, he leads the team in eight offensive categories: average (.492), runs (18), hits (31), triples (4), home runs (3), total bases (52), slugging percentage (.825) and on-base percentage (.542).
He is the Big 12's leader in average, hits, triples and on-base percentage.
The only game in which Carter did not record a hit was the first game of the doubleheader against Northern Colorado on Feb. 23, although he did walk and score a run.
CARTER, CONTINUED
After struggling with injury during 2007, Dane Carter has already bested his totals from last season through the first few weeks of 2008.
dane carter: 2007 vs 2008
CATEGORY 2007 TOTALS 2008 NUMBERS
games played 37 16
games started 19 16
batting average .203 .492
hits 15 31
runs scored 14 18
doubles 2 4
triples 0 4
home runs 1 3
RBI 11 15
slugging pct. .270 .825
DURAN STEPS UP
The Aggies knew entering 2008 that they would have to replace all-conference selection and third-round draft pick Brandon Hicks (.338, 10 HR, 59 RBI) at shortstop.
After a strong battle in the offseason, junior transfer Jos?© Duran won the opening-day nod, and has not disappointed. The Fort Worth native is near the top of the A&M offensive charts in nearly every category.
A comparison between Hicks and Duran, through the first 16 games of their seasons:
duran vs. hicks (through 16 games)
CATEGORY HICKS-2007 DURAN-2008
batting average .352 .381
hits 19 24
runs scored 25 16
doubles 7 3
triples 0 4
home runs 0 2
RBI 10 18
slugging pct. .481 .651
walks 16 8
stolen bases 13-14 6-7
fielding pct. (E) .950 (5) .918 (6)
TRIPLE-FEST
Texas A&M has already hit 14 triples over the first 16 games of the season. A closer look at this accomplishment:
?* Last season's team hit 20 triples in 67 games. If the '08 Aggies were to keep up their current pace they would finish the regular season with 49.
?* The Aggies set a school record in late February with three triples in each of three consecutive games (McNeese State, Ohio State, Arkansas). What makes this feat even more impressive is that the last time a Texas A&M team had three triples in ANY game before last week was on April 11, 1999, when the Aggies defeated Kansas State 7-2 in St. Joseph, Mo.?-a stretch of 519 games.
?* Senior third baseman Dane Carter had two triples in the Feb. 26 win over McNeese State, the first time an Aggie had two triples in one game since Chad Hudson on May 21, 1999 in a 10-3 win over Oklahoma in the Big 12 Tournament in Oklahoma City.
?* Carter, along with Jos?© Duran, has four triples on the season, just five shy of the single-season school record (9, Brian Thomas, 1993).
FLIPPING THE POWER SWITCH
The Aggies have hit 13 home runs on the young season, and most of that power punch has come recently.
Over the first seven games, Texas A&M hit a total of two home runs. In the last nine, the Aggies have totaled 11.
TURN, TURN, TURN...TURN
Texas A&M tied a school record with four double plays in the Feb. 27 win over Nicholls State.
While the feat has been accomplished often, the last time the Aggies did turn four double plays in one game was against Clemson in the NCAA Super Regional championship on June 6, 1999 (499 games ago).
A STRONG PEN
The Texas A&M bullpen has been very impressive in the first part of the season.
A total of 13 Aggies have seen action in relief, posting a combined 2.11 ERA and picking up five wins and five saves. In 59 innings of work, opposing teams have managed just 46 hits (.216 average) and 14 earned runs while striking out 64 times.
POUNDING THE ZONE
Texas A&M pitchers have struck out 128 batters while walking 52 in their 142 innings of work thus far, or a 2.9 K/BB ratio?-third best in the Big 12. In 2007, A&M's pitching corps posted a 2.1 K/BB mark for the full season.
The Aggie staff, which has fanned eight or more batters in all but two games in 2008, is averaging a league-best 9.44 strikeouts per nine innings.
It's not just one or two arms that are carrying the strikeout load, however. Brooks Raley and Barret Loux (17 each) top the charts, while Carson Middleton and Kyle Thebeau have 16 apiece and Shane Minks and Scott Migl have fanned 15 each.
STOUFFER ON TRACK
Senior All-American Blake Stouffer had a tough start to the 2008 campaign, but has quietly climbed near the top of the Aggies' RBI leaderboard.
Stouffer started the year hitless in his first 13 at-bats, a stretch which included multiple line-outs to and diving catches by opposing defenders.
Since his first base hit of the year against McNeese State (Feb. 26), the San Antonio native is hitting .333 (12-for-36) with nine runs scored, three doubles and 11 RBI.
A LONG TIME COMING
A pair of Aggie pitchers completed the long road back from shoulder injuries this spring to step back on the mound at Olsen Field.
Senior right-hander Blake Rampy tossed 2 innings on Feb. 26 against McNeese State, allowing three hits and one earned run.
While that might not sound like a big deal, it is for Rampy?-his last outing prior to then was on April 26, 2005, a span of 1,037 days.
Junior Jordan Chambless struck out the only batter he faced in the eighth inning of the March 4 win over Nicholls State--three days before his 23rd birthday. It was his first action since Feb. 27, 2007.
MID-WEEK MAGIC
The Aggie baseball team has won 18 straight mid-week non-conference contests, including the first six on the slate in 2008.
A&M won all 10 mid-week games last season and the final two of the 2006 campaign. The Aggies' last loss in mid-week action was on April 18, 2006, a 9-6 setback to No. 19 Houston at Olsen Field.
30 YEARS OF "OLSEN MAGIC"
The home of Texas A&M baseball, C.E. "Pat" Olsen Field, celebrates its 30th anniversary during the 2008 season.
Olsen Field opened on March 21, 1978, when the Aggies fell 5-2 to Southern California. After losing the first three games ever played at Olsen, the Aggies won 16 straight.
All-time, Texas A&M sports a commanding 823-265-4 (.755) record at the friendly confines. Last season's 34-8 mark was the team's best home record since 1999 and was the sixth most home wins in school history.
AGGIES ON THE TUBE
No stranger to national exposure, the Texas A&M baseball team will appear on television at least seven times in 2008.
The Aggies have won their first three televised games of the year, all on COX Sports Television.
FOX College Sports, available on digital cable outlets across the country, will broadcast the April 13 series finale with Oklahoma and the May 16 series opener at Texas.
In addition, FOX Sports Net will broadcast the April 27 series finale against Missouri live from Olsen Field and CSTV will air the May 10 game between A&M and Nebraska in Lincoln.
As always, fans can get complete and up-to-date television broadcast information on aggieathletics.com.
AGGIES ON THE 'NET
For the sixth straight season, AggieAthletics.com will bring fans around the globe live video of Texas A&M baseball.
Fans will be able to watch, free of charge, all non-televised Aggie home games, along with selected road games, through the new Aggies All-Access.
If live video of an A&M game is not available, free live audio will be provided through All-Access.
The highly-popular Aggies All-Access is in its second season of bringing live game action, television shows, highlights and much more to A&M fans around the world. Aggies All-Access is the most-watched channel on the CSTV.com network.
AGGIES PEGGED FOURTH IN BIG 12 PRESEASON POLL
Texas A&M was picked to finish fourth in the 2008 Big 12 baseball race according to a vote of the league?â„¢s head coaches.
Defending regular-season champion Texas (80 points) was pegged the league favorite for the seventh straight year and received eight of the possible 10 first-place votes. The Longhorns edged out second-place Missouri, which earned 71 points, including one first-place tally. Baylor, who also claimed a first-place vote, was ranked third followed by A&M, Oklahoma State and Nebraska. Filling the remaining spots in the preseason poll were Kansas State, Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas Tech.