BaseballMay 25, 2010

No. 4-Seed Aggies Ready for Big 12 Championship

Texas A&M heads north this week to participate in the 14th annual Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship ... the tournament will take place Wednesday through Sunday at AT&T Bricktown Ballpark in dow

May 25, 2010

Complete Release (PDF)

Postseason Supplement (PDF)

OKLAHOMA CITY - Texas A&M heads north this week to participate in the 14th annual Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship ... the tournament will take place Wednesday through Sunday at AT&T Bricktown Ballpark in downtown Oklahoma City ... the Aggies earned the No. 4 seed with a 14-12-1 conference record ... the eight-team field is separated into two four-team pools ... the pool winners face off in Sunday's championship game with an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on the line ... A&M will meet No. 5 seed Texas Tech (27-27) on Wednesday at 9 a.m., No. 8-seed Missouri on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and top-seeded Texas on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. ... A&M is taking part in the event for the 12th time and has an all-time record of 18-19 at the tourney ... the Aggies enter the week as one of the hottest teams in the league and the country, having won 14 of their last 17 games including a series win over No. 23 Kansas State at Olsen Field over the weekend.

TEXAS A&M AGGIES (36-19-1) at PHILLIPS 66 BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP
AT&T Bricktown Ballpark (13,066) • Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

vs NO. 5 TEXAS TECH RED RAIDERS (27-27) • Wednesday, May 26 • 9:00 AM
vs NO. 8 MISSOURI TIGERS (27-25) • Thursday, May 27 • 7:30 PM
VS NO. 1 TEXAS LONGHORNS (46-8) • Saturday, May 29 • 12:30 PM

RADIO: WTAW-AM 1620 / Dave South and Kevin Hurley
LIVE VIDEO: big12sports.com
LIVE AUDIO: aggieathletics.com / radioaggieland.com
LIVE STATS: aggieathletics.com
RANKINGS: A&M - RV (NCBWA, USAT)

TEAM INFO: Texas A&M
streak: Won 2
conference rank: 4th, Big 12 (14-12-1)
RPI (NCAA/Boyd/Nolan): 31/28/26
Last 5 / Last 10: 4-1 / 8-2
Home / Away: 26-11 / 9-7-1

HEAD COACH: Rob Childress (fifth year)
at school: 192-111-2 (.633)
overall: same
at Big 12 Tourney: 6-4

PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS

WED vs TT: #38 Michael Wacha (Fr., RHP, 7-2, 2.41) vs #28 Ben Flora (So., LHP, 3-2, 5.12)

THU vs MU: #50 Barret Loux (Jr., RHP, 9-2, 2.53) vs #21 Kelly Fick (Jr., LHP, 2-1, 3.53)

SAT vs UT: #36 Ross Stripling (So., RHP, 6-3, 3.86) vs #24 Cole Green (Jr., RHP, 10-0, 2.08)

FOLLOWING THE ACTION

TELEVISION -- FSN will broadcast the championship game on Sunday live ... check local listings for more information.

RADIO -- Fans can listen to the game on WTAW-AM 1620 ... Dave South, Scott Clendenin and Kevin Hurley will call the action all season long ... pregame show begins 15 minutes prior to first pitch.

INTERNET -- aggieathletics.com will offer live play-by-play and statistics.

MOBILE PHONE -- listen to the game on your iPhone, Blackberry or PDA free of charge ... log on to radioaggieland.com for more information.

TWITTER -- Follow the team all season long, including live in-game updates, at @aggie_baseball.

WHAT'S ON TAP IN BRICKTOWN

The eight-team field is divided into two "pools" ... Pool 1 consists of No. 1-seed Texas, No. 4 A&M, No. 5 Texas Tech and No. 8 Missouri ... Pool 2 is No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Kansas State, No. 6 Baylor and No. 7 Kansas ... each team is guaranteed three games over the week, with four games scheduled for Wednesday, two for Thursday, two more for Friday and four again on Saturday ... Pool 1 will get Friday off, while Pool 2 will get Thursday off ... the pool winners will meet on Sunday at 1 p.m. in the championship game, with an automatic bid to the NCAA championship at stake.

BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY

The Aggies are appearing for the 12th time in the 14-year history of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship ... A&M is 18-19 overall at the tourney, winning the title in 2007 and earning runner-up finishes in 1998 and 2001 ... last season, the Aggies were the No. 6 seed and tied for first in their pool, but lost the tiebreaker to Missouri for a bid to the championship game ... Texas (9 games) and Oklahoma (9) are A&M's most common opponents at the event, followed by Texas Tech (6), Oklahoma State (4), Baylor (3), Nebraska (3), Missouri (2) and Kansas State (1) ... the Aggies have never faced Kansas in the Big 12 Championship and did not play a game against Iowa State in the event's first five seasons ... A&M is the No. 4 seed in the event for the first time ... a much more detailed Big 12 tourney history, including game-by-game linescores and records, can be found in the postseason supplement.

SERIES AND TOURNEY HISTORY: TEXAS TECH

Texas A&M leads the all-time series with Texas Tech, 91-55 ... the Aggies took two of three from the Red Raiders in the league opener in March at Olsen Field ... A&M and Tech have met six times at the Big 12 Championship, with each team winning three ... all but one of the meetings came prior to 2002 ... the squads faced off last season in the final game of pool play in Oklahoma City, with Texas A&M defeating the Red Raiders, 11-4 ... a much more detailed series history, including boxscores and statistics from the season series, can be found in the postseason supplement.

SERIES AND TOURNEY HISTORY: MISSOURI

Texas A&M leads the all-time series with Missouri, 39-28-1 ... the Aggies took two of three from Missouri in late March at Olsen Field, winning the middle game on a walk-off two-run double by Adam Smith ... A&M and Mizzou have met just twice at the Big 12 Championship, with each team winning once ... the Aggies and Tigers have faced off in pool play in each of the last two seasons, as A&M downed MU 6-2 in 2008 and the TIgers defeated the Aggies last year, 5-2, in the pool play opener for both teams ... that victory by Mizzou would send the Tigers to the championship game, as the teams tied atop Pool 2 in 2009 with identical 2-1 records ... a much more detailed series history, including boxscores and statistics from the season series, can be found in the postseason supplement.

SERIES AND TOURNEY HISTORY: TEXAS

In the most-played series in Aggie baseball history, Texas leads Texas A&M, 232-119-5 ... the Longhorns swept the Aggies in April as part of their record 17-game Big 12 win streak, outlasting A&M 4-3 in 11 innings in Austin before taking the final two games at Olsen Field in College Station ... A&M and Texas have met nine times at the Big 12 Championship, with the `Horns holding a 5-4 advantage ... the last meeting between the schools in Oklahoma City came in 2008, with UT posting a 15-9 victory in pool play ... a much more detailed series history, including boxscores and statistics from the season series, can be found in the postseason supplement.

UP NEXT

Texas A&M awaits its NCAA Tournament fate ... the 16 regional sites will be announced in the afternoon of Sunday, May 30, and the field of 64 will be revealed on Monday, May 31 at 11:30 a.m. live on ESPN.

TEAM NOTES AND NOTABLES: OFFENSE/DEFENSE

Since being swept by Texas in mid-April, the Aggies responded very well ... A&M went 16-5 over the final 21 games of the regular season, sporting a .308 average with 25 home runs, a 3.02 ERA, .237 opponent batting average and a .973 fielding percentage.

Texas A&M is 12-3 in May, a school record for victories in the month ... in May, A&M is hitting .326, averaging 7.3 runs per game and fielding at a .978 clip ... the pitching staff sports a 3.31 May ERA with four saves and a .246 opponent average.

A&M has found a big power stroke in May, smashing 22 of its 50 home runs in the month ... the Aggies have averaged 1.5 home runs per game in May after averaging 0.7 per game from February through April.

The Aggies swiped 47 bases in Big 12 play to lead the conference ... the total is second most all-time in program history to 1997's 56 stolen bases (over 30 league games).

The Aggies' 96 stolen bases is the eighth highest total in school history ... with four more swipes, the 2010 squad will become just the seventh ever to amass 100 steals in a season.

A&M has pounded out 10 or more hits in 32 of 56 games this year ... the Aggies have reached double-digits in hits 14 times in the last 18 games ... the offense is hitting .299 on the year and averaging six runs per game.

Texas A&M is fielding at a .978 clip in the month of May ... not surprisingly, the Aggies are 12-3 in those contests ... A&M did not commit an error in the series sweep in Stillwater, the first three-game error-free stretch of the year.

TEAM NOTES AND NOTABLES: PITCHING

Texas A&M leads the Big 12 and ranks third nationally in strikeouts per nine innings (9.16), and is second in the league and ninth nationally in hits allowed per nine innings (8.5) ... the Aggies are also second in the league and eighth nationally in earned run average (3.57) and third in the league and 15th in the country in walks allowed per nine innings (3.02).

Texas A&M's pitching staff enters the postseason with a league-best 518 strikeouts, the sixth highest total in school history ... 2010 marks the seventh time overall and fourth straight year that an Aggie team has reached the 500-strikeout plateau.

A&M pitching has struck out 10 or more batters in 24 games this spring ... the Aggies are averaging 9.16 punchouts per nine innings and feature a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 3.03.

Aggie pitching has held opponents to two runs or less in 18 games.

The bullpen is 12-5 with a 3.28 ERA, five holds and 11 saves ... the pen is 11-for-13 in save opportunities this year ... A&M is 29-2 when leading after six, 30-2 after seven and 34-1-1 after eight ... a full bullpen chart can be found later in this release.

Texas A&M pitchers combined for 18 strikeouts in the March 12 win over No. 25 Washington State ... that tied for the most punchouts in a game by an Aggie staff since Jeff Granger fanned 21 in a win over Lubbock Christian on April 2, 1993 ... A&M also struck out 18 in a win over Texas-Pan American on March 30, 2001.

TEAM NOTES AND NOTABLES: MISCELLANEOUS

Texas A&M has a 12-3 record in the month of May, which is a school record for victories in the month ... only three other teams in school history have won 10 games in May, 1989 (10-3), 1999 (10-4) and 2003 (10-4).

Texas A&M's sweep of Oklahoma State (May 14-16) was the first ever for the Aggies in Stillwater ... it was only the third time in the 29-year history of Allie P. Reynolds Stadium that OSU was swept in a three-game set ... it marked the first league sweep of 2010 for A&M and the first since taking all three against Nebraska last April ... A&M's last road sweep in Big 12 play had been at Kansas in March 2008.

The Aggies are 17 games over .500 (36-19-1) for the first time since the end of the 2008 season.

Texas A&M finished the Big 12 in fourth place at 14-12-1 ... the Aggies were .001 behind third-place Kansas State and finished 1 ½ games out of second.

Four more victories would make the 2010 Aggies the 18th team in school history to reach the 40-win plateau.

Head Coach Rob Childress is eight wins away from his 200th as a head coach, all coming at A&M.

The Aggies finished the regular season with a 26-11 record at Olsen Field, bringing their all-time victory total in the 32-year-old stadium to 899.

A&M was 6-8 in the regular season against ranked opponents ... in the latest WarrenNolan.com report, the Aggies sport a 9-12 record against RPI 1-50 teams and a 20-18-1 mark against RPI 1-100 squads.

Texas A&M is 1-4-1 in 2010 in extra-inning games ... A&M played four extra-inning Big 12 games.

Texas A&M's 6-5 loss to Oklahoma in 13 innings on April 24 was the second-longest Big 12 game in school history ... the longest was a 16-inning win at Nebraska on May 9, 2008.

The 8-8 tie with Kansas on April 3 was just the second Big 12 tie in Texas A&M history ... the first was a 1-1 draw with Kansas State at Olsen Field on May 14, 2006, and was also the most recent tie for the Aggies.

Texas A&M played 20 of its first 23 games at home ... the Aggies' lone trip out of College Station during the span was for the QTI Baylor Classic in Waco ... A&M played the entire month of March at Olsen Field except for the final game of the month in San Marcos ... the Aggies have nine regular-season games scheduled outside the state of Texas (Big 12 series at Kansas, Nebraska and OSU).

PLAYER NOTES AND NOTABLES: HITTING

Senior CF Brodie Greene hit safely in 12 of the final 13 games of the regular season ... he leads the team in 11 offensive categories (average, hits, runs, doubles, triples, home runs, RBIs, total bases, stolen bases, slugging percentage and on-base percentage) ... he is the only player on the team to appear in all 56 games ... Greene had a career-high 16-game hit streak snapped March 26 against Missouri ... he has recorded a hit in 46 of 56 games this year, and multiple hits in 27 of 56 ... Greene reached safely (hit, BB or HBP) in 26 straight games from Feb. 26-April 10 and 52 of 56 overall ... his seven triples lead the Big 12 and rank in the top 20 nationally.

Over the last 17 games (14-3 record), understandably several players have been hot...including senior DH Brodie Greene (.400, 3 HR, 13 RBI), sophomore 2B Adam Smith (.356, 4 HR, 16 RBI, 19 runs), sophomore 1B/DH Matt Juengel (.355, 4 HR, 17 RBI), freshman RF Tyler Naquin (.303, HR, 6 RBI, 11 runs) and junior C Kevin Gonzalez (.319, 4 HR, 14 RBI).

Senior DH Joe Patterson has hit safely in 16 of the last 18 games ... Patterson had an 11-game hit streak snapped on May 14 at Oklahoma State, the third double-digit hit streak for Patterson this season (11, 11, 10 games) ... in his last 15 games, he has had two or more hits in 12 ... in the month of May, Patterson is hitting a team-best .476 (30-for-63) with five doubles, four homers, 17 RBIs and 14 runs scored.

Freshman Tyler Naquin has emerged of late in right field ... over the last 12 games, A&M has gone 10-2 and it's no coincidence that Naquin has shined in that span ... the Spring, Texas product is hitting .326 (15-for-46) with a home run, four RBIs and nine runs scored, while recording five outfield assists.

Following A&M's 7-1 win over Rice on April 20, sophomore 2B Adam Smith saw his average drop to .209 ... since then (20 games), Smith has raised his average 61 points ... over those 20 contests, the Spring product is hitting .342 with team highs in home runs (5), RBIs (20) and is second in runs scored (21) ... Smith has played 30 games at second base this season and is fielding at a .993 clip, committing just one error in 134 chances.

Brodie Greene became the 13th player in school history to play in 200 games when he got the starting nod against Oklahoma on April 23 ... Greene also notched his 200th career hit in his first at-bat that evening, an RBI double.

PLAYER NOTES AND NOTABLES: PITCHING

At the latest NCAA report (May 16), sophomore RP John Stilson ranked second nationally in both strikeouts per nine innings (13.20) and hits allowed per nine innings (5.10) ... he ranked third in earned run average (1.05).

Three Aggie pitchers rank in the top 30 nationally in earned run average ... John Stilson (3rd, 1.05), Barret Loux (14th, 2.05) and Michael Wacha (27th, 2.37).

At the latest report (May 16), junior BARRET LOUX ranked fifth nationally in strikeouts (111), seventh in strikeouts per nine innings (11.99), 10th in hits allowed per nine (6.16) and 14th in ERA (2.05) ... Loux has punched out 10 or more hitters five times this year and tossed his first complete game, a shutout, on May 14 at Oklahoma State ... he was named Big 12 Co-Pitcher of the Week for his performance.

Sophomore P Ross Stripling is 3-0 with a 2.77 ERA over his last four starts ... Stripling has held opposing hitters to a .248 average over that stretch.

Sophomore John Stilson has made a huge impact in his first season in Aggieland ... Stilson has made 28 appearances in relief so far in 2010, has picked up seven wins and nine saves, and has punched out 95 in just over 64 innings of work (1.5 per inning) ... while not qualifying for a save, he has slammed the door on five other Aggie victories in 2010 ... has allowed two runs (one earned) over his last 12 outings (21 innings) ... opponents are hitting .172 against him.

Freshman Michael Wacha ranks fifth in the Big 12 in ERA (2.41) ... Wacha is 4-0 with a 1.30 ERA over his last four starts ... over that span, he has fanned 19 and allowed 22 hits over 27.2 innings, holding hitters to a .216 average ... three of those four wins have come on the road (Sam Houston State, Houston, Oklahoma State).