No. 18 Aggies Open NCAA Tourney at Fort Worth Regional
May 28, 2009 | Baseball
May 28, 2009
FORT WORTH - The 18th-ranked Texas A&M baseball team opens play in the NCAA Championship this weekend when the Aggies (36-22) travel to TCU to take part in the Fort Worth Regional at Lupton Stadium.
A&M opens play on Friday at 2 p.m. against two-time national champion Oregon State (35-17). TCU (36-16) will face Wright State (33-28) in the 7 p.m. game later that evening. The Aggies will face either the Frogs or Raiders on Saturday, with game time pending the result of Friday's contest with OSU.
Texas A&M will be making its 21st appearance in an NCAA Regional and 25th trip overall to the NCAA Tournament. The Aggies have claimed five regional championships (1993, 1999, 2004, 2007, 2008) and have made four trips to the College World Series (1951, 1964, 1993, 1999).
Last season, A&M won the College Station Regional for the second straight year, eventually falling short at Rice and the Houston Super Regional.
Fans can listen to all the action on WTAW-AM 1620. Those attending the games can hear the A&M broadcast on the low end of the FM dial. Free live audio of the games will be available worldwide on aggieathletics.com and radioaggieland.com.
In addition, gofrogs.com will provide free video of all Fort Worth Regional games on the internet.
A&M vs #25 OREGON STATE BEAVERS (35-17) • Friday, May 29 • 2:00 PM
#13 TCU HORNED FROGS (36-16) vs WRIGHT STATE RAIDERS (33-28) • Friday, May 29 • 7:00 PM
May 30-31 • 2:00 PM & 7:00 PM
June 1 (if necessary) • 7:00 PM
Lupton Stadium (3,500) • Fort Worth, Texas
Television: none
Radio: WTAW-AM 1620 (available inside Lupton stadium on low end of FM dial)
Gametracker: aggieathletics.com/ncaa.com
Free Live Video: gofrogs.com
Free Live Audio: aggieathletics.com/radioaggieland.com
PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
FRIDAY: #30 Brooks Raley (So., LHP, 7-2, 3.74)
SATURDAY: #28 Ross Hales (Fr., LHP, 6-2, 3.98)
REGIONAL SCHEDULE
FRIDAY, MAY 29
2:00 PM Game 2: Texas A&M vs Oregon State
7:00 PM Game 1: TCU vs Wright State
SATURDAY, MAY 30
2:00 PM Game 3: Loser G1 vs Loser G2
7:00 PM Game 4: Winner G1 vs Winner G2
SUNDAY, MAY 31
2:00 PM Game 5: Winner G3 vs Loser G4
7:00 PM Game 6: Winner G4 vs Winner G5
MONDAY, JUNE 1
7:00 PM Game 7 (if necessary): same teams as G6
A&M SNAPSHOT
`09 Record: 36-22, 14-13 Big 12 (6th)
Streak: Won 2
Last 5/10: 2-3/4-6
Rankings: #18 (NCBWA), #25 (USAT)
Head Coach: Rob Childress, 4th year
at A&M: 155-90-1 (.632)
Overall: 155-90-1 (.632)
in NCAA Regionals: 7-2
in NCAA Tourney: 7-6
vs Oregon State: 1-1
vs TCU: 3-0
vs Wright State: 4-0
On the Web: aggieathletics.com
TICKET INFO
All-Session reserved seats for this weekend's Fort Worth NCAA Baseball Regional, hosted by TCU, have been sold out.
The only tickets that remain are for standing-room only (SRO) at the first- and third-base porches, the third-base line and the grass bank down the right field line. These tickets will be sold as single-game only. They are $15 for adults and $10 for youth (ages 3-to-17).
Single-game SRO tickets for Friday's games will be made available Thursday at 8 a.m. via TCU's Web site (www.GoFrogs.com) and through the Horned Frogs' Athletic Ticket Office in Daniel-Meyer Coliseum. SRO tickets for all games after Friday will only be sold the day of the game beginning at 8 a.m. on-line and 10 a.m. at Lupton Stadium. For more information, call (817) 257-FROG.
TEAM NOTES
NCAA TOURNEY HISTORY
A&M vs THE FIELD
TCU SERIES HISTORY
Series Record: A&M leads, 159-85-4
A&M Streak: Won 9
in College Station*: A&M leads, 32-9-1
in Fort Worth*: A&M leads, 26-16
neutral sites*: A&M leads, 3-0
in NCAA Tourney: never faced
Rob Childress vs TCU: 3-0
Jim Schlossnagle vs A&M: 0-3
* since 1971
OREGON STATE SERIES HISTORY
Series Record: A&M leads, 4-2
A&M Streak: Lost 1
in College Station: series tied, 2-2
in Corvallis: never faced
neutral sites: A&M leads, 2-0
in NCAA Tourney: never faced
Rob Childress vs OSU: 1-1
Pat Casey vs A&M: 2-3
WRIGHT STATE SERIES HISTORY
Series Record: A&M leads, 4-0
A&M Streak: Won 4
in College Station: A&M leads, 4-0
in Dayton: never faced
neutral sites: never faced
in NCAA Tourney: never faced
Rob Childress vs WSU: 4-0
Rob Cooper vs A&M: 0-4
UP NEXT
The winner of the Fort Worth Regional will meet the winner of the Austin Regional (Texas, Texas State, Boston College, Army) next weekend in a best two-of-three series (site TBD) with one of the eight College World Series slots up for grabs.
TURNING THE CORNER?
A&M hit a late-season swoon that saw the Aggies pick up just two wins in an eight-game stretch, beginning with an emotional 11-9 loss to Texas on May 8 at Olsen Field.
Over that eight-game span, which included a Big 12 tourney-opening 5-2 setback to Missouri, A&M hit just .252 as a squad and averaged just over five runs per game.
On the team's day off in OKC, the Aggies held a team meeting about "getting it done" offensively that seems to have brought big results.
A&M battered the Oklahoma and Texas Tech pitching staffs to close out its stay in Bricktown, including pounding two starters who stymied the Aggies in regular-season matchups--OU's Michael Rocha and Tech's Miles Morgan.
It's just been two games, but the Texas A&M offense is flying high heading into this weekend's regional in Fort Worth.
Below is a comparison of the two stretches of games, including runs per game, hits with runners in scoring position and percentage of hits that were home runs:
BREAKING DOWN THE LAST 10 GAMES
Avg. RPG H w/RISP HR Pct.
first 8 .252 5.1 13 (.186) 19% (13)
last 2 .425 14.0 16 (.444) 3% (1)
RACKING UP THE Ks
With a fourth-inning strikeout of Texas Tech's Justin Berry on May 23 in Oklahoma City, A&M's Ross Hales delivered the pitching staff the all-time school record for punchouts in a season.
Entering NCAA Regional play, the Aggies have fanned 544 batters, more than any other team in program history. The previous record was 536, set by the 1991 and 1999 teams.
The `09 Aggies became only the eighth staff in school history to reach the 500-strikeout plateau.
In addition, one of the things coach Rob Childress preaches is making the opponent earn everything they get. The Aggie staff has done a great job of that as well, posting up to this point the highest strikeout-to-walk ratio not only in the Big 12 but in the history of A&M baseball.
GOING BIG FLY
The Aggie bats have gone on a tear of late to move the `09 squad amongst the school's most proficient home-run hitting teams of all time.
Luke Anders' solo home run against Texas Tech on May 23 in Oklahoma City made the 2009 Aggies just the seventh team in school history to hit 80 home runs in a season.
A&M has hit 23 home runs in its last 13 games.
RALEY, GREENE, PATTERSON HIGHLIGHT ALL-BIG 12 PICKS
Eight Texas A&M players were recognized last week when the Big 12 revealed the annual all-conference teams in Oklahoma City.
Sophomore Brooks Raley (utility) and junior Brodie Greene (second base) were first-team selections, while junior Joe Patterson (DH) was named to the second team.
Five others--Luke Anders, Kyle Colligan, Kevin Gonzalez, Ross Hales and Alex Wilson--earned honorable mention recognition from the league's head coaches.
Greene, a junior from Bullard, led the Aggies with a .352 average during the regular season with 11 home runs, 33 RBIs, 10 stolen bases and a team-best 68 hits.
Raley, from Uvalde, is one of the nation's top two-way players. The sophomore was A&M's Friday-night starter all season long, and led the squad with a 7-2 record, 3.09 ERA and a .216 opponent average. He also hit in the lineup and played the outfield, compiling a .312 batting average and leading the team in four offensive categories.
Patterson, a junior from Tulsa, carried a 10-game hit streak into the Big 12 Championship. In just 118 at-bats, Patterson ranked second on the team with 43 RBIs and smashed 10 home runs, He hit .415 in league play with 24 RBIs, both team highs, as the team's primary designated hitter.
COLLIGAN NAMED TO BIG 12 ALL-TOURNEY TEAM
Texas A&M senior center fielder Kyle Colligan was named to the Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship All-Tournament team by a vote of the media.
Colligan hit .583 (7-for-12) in leading the Aggies to a 2-1 mark in this year's tournament. He had a triple, two RBIs and two runs scored and tallied at least two hits in every game. Colligan helped pace the A&M offense to 28 runs in the team's final two games in Oklahoma City.
RALEY SEMIFINALIST FOR GOLDEN SPIKES AWARD
Texas A&M sophomore Brooks Raley has been named one of 30 semifinalists for the 2009 Golden Spikes Award, USA Baseball announced.
The Golden Spikes Award is in its 32nd season and is given to the top amateur baseball player in the country. A voting panel will select five finalists and the eventual winner, who will be presented with the award at the MLB All-Star FanFest in Saint Louis in July.
Raley joins Missouri's Kyle Gibson, Kansas State's A.J. Morris, and Oklahoma's J.T. Wise as the Big 12 representatives on the list. For a complete list of semifinalists or for more information, visit goldenspikesaward.com.
TOURNEY EXPERIENCE
Six position players and seven pitchers have a combined 75 games worth of experience in the NCAA Tournament entering this weekend's action.
CAREER NCAA TOURNAMENT EXPERIENCE
Player Games Starts
Kyle Colligan 13 13
Luke Anders 13 13
Brodie Greene 13 9
Kevin Gonzalez 6 6
Kyle Thebeau (P) 6 4
Travis Starling (P) 6 0
Barret Loux (P) 2 2
Brooks Raley (P) 2 2
Caleb Shofner 2 0
Clayton Ehlert (P) 1 1
Alex Wilson (P) 1 1
Nick Fleece 1 0
Shane Minks (P) 1 0
PROTECT THE BALL
Continuing the theme of making the opponent earn everything it gets, Texas A&M's defense has done a great job of keeping miscues to a minimum in 2009.
If the season ended today, the Aggies would have the third-highest fielding percentage in school history.
A&M also finished the year with the best Big 12 fielding percentage in school history.
RECORD DAY FOR BIG 12
The Big 12 set a conference record when eight teams were selected to the field of 64 that will compete for this year's national championship.
The league landed two national seeds, No. 1 Texas and No. 7 Oklahoma, with both the Longhorns and Sooners hosting. Three other squads are No. 2 seeds at regionals--A&M (Fort Worth), Kansas State (Houston) and Missouri (Oxford)--while Oklahoma State (Clemson), Kansas (Chapel Hill) and Baylor (Baton Rouge) earned No. 3 seeds.
