June 3, 2010
2010 NCAA Coral Gables Regional Central
CORAL GABLES, Fla.--The Big 12 Champion Texas A&M baseball team heads to South Florida this weekend where the Aggies (40-19-1) will take part in the NCAA Coral Gables Regional ... A&M is the No. 2 seed in the four-team, double-elimination tournament, and will take on No. 3-seed FIU (36-23) in the opener on Friday at 11 a.m. (central) ... top-seed and host Miami (40-17) will meet No. 4-seed Dartmouth (26-17) later that day at 3 p.m. ... every pitch of the Coral Gables Regional will be televised live in high definition by ESPNU ... the Aggies are making their 26th all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament, and fourth in a row ... head coach Rob Childress has guided A&M to four straight tourney berths for just the third time in school history (1975-78, 1986-89 and 2007-10) ... Texas A&M has won five regional championships (1993, 1999, 2004, 2007, 2008) and advanced to the College World Series four times 1951, 1964, 1993, 1999) ... last season, the Aggies went 1-2 as the No. 2 seed at the Fort Worth Regional ... A&M is one of the country's hottest teams entering postseason play ... the Aggies have won six in a row, 12 of their last 13 and 18 of their last 21 dating back to April 27.
CORAL GABLES REGIONAL FIELD
#1 MIAMI HURRICANES
• BID: At-Large (ACC)
• OVERALL RECORD: 40-17
• ACC RECORD: 20-10 (3rd, Coastal)
• HIGHEST RANKING: 11th (Coll BB)
• STREAK: Lost 2
• LAST 5/10: 1-4 / 4-6
• NCAA APPEARANCE: 39th
• CWS TRIPS: 23
• CWS TITLES: 4 (2001)
#2 TEXAS A&M AGGIES
• BID: Automatic (Big 12)
• OVERALL RECORD: 40-19-1
• BIG 12 RECORD: 14-12-1 (4th)
• HIGHEST RANKING: 20th (Coll BB)
• STREAK: Won 6
• LAST 5/10: 5-0 / 9-1
• NCAA APPEARANCE: 26th
• CWS TRIPS: 4
• CWS TITLES: none
#3 FIU GOLDEN PANTHERS
• BID: Automatic (Sun Belt)
• OVERALL RECORD: 36-23
• SBC RECORD: 17-13 (4th)
• HIGHEST RANKING: NR
• STREAK: Won 5
• LAST 5/10: 5-0 / 7-3
• NCAA APPEARANCE: 7th
• CWS TRIPS: none
• CWS TITLES: none
#4 DARTMOUTH BIG GREEN
• BID: Automatic (Ivy)
• OVERALL RECORD: 26-17
• IVY RECORD: 13-7 (1st, Rolfe)
• HIGHEST RANKING: NR
• STREAK: Lost 1
• LAST 5/10: 3-2 / 6-4
• NCAA APPEARANCE: 7th
• CWS TRIPS: 1 (1970)
• CWS TITLES: none
CORAL GABLES REGIONAL SCHEDULE
• FRIDAY: Game 2: A&M vs FIU, 12 p.m. (ET) Game 1: Miami vs Dartmouth, 4 p.m. (ET)
• SATURDAY: Game 3: Loser 1 vs Loser 2, 12 p.m. Game 4: Winner 1 vs Winner 2, 4 p.m.
• SUNDAY: Game 5: Winner 3 vs Loser 4, 12 p.m. Game 6: Winner 4 vs Winner 5, 4 p.m.
• MONDAY: Game 7: Winner 6 vs Loser 6 (if necessary), 7 p.m.
TELEVISION: ESPNU HD (all games of regional) / Clay Matvick, Eric Byrnes and Kyle Peterson
RADIO: WTAW-AM 1620 / Dave South and Kevin Hurley LIVE AUDIO: aggieathletics.com / radioaggieland.com LIVE STATS: aggieathletics.com / ncaasports.com / hurricanesports.com A&M RANKINGS: 20th (Coll BB); 22nd (BB Amer, Rivals); 27th (NCBWA); RV (USAT/ESPN)
TEAM INFO
streak: Won 6
conference finish: 4th, Big 12 (14-12-1)
Last 5 / Last 10: 5-0 / 9-1
H/A/N: 26-11 / 9-7-1 / 5-1
HEAD COACH: Rob Childress (fifth year)
at school: 196-111-2 (.638)
overall: same
in NCAA Tourney: 8-8
in NCAA Regionals: 8-4
FOLLOWING THE ACTION
• TELEVISION -- ESPNU will broadcast every game of the Coral Gables Regional in high definition ... Clay Matvick, Eric Byrnes and Kyle Peterson will call the action.
• 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, ncaasports.com and hurricanesports.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.
NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Texas A&M is making its 26th appearance all-time in the NCAA Tournament ... the Aggies have a 55-54 overall record ... head coach Rob Childress has guided A&M to four straight tourney berths for just the third time in school history (1975-78, 1986-89 and 2007-10) ... Texas A&M has won five regional championships (1993, 1999, 2004, 2007, 2008) and advanced to the College World Series four times 1951, 1964, 1993, 1999) ... A&M is making its 22nd NCAA Regional appearance this weekend, sporting a 44-35 record in regional play ... the Aggies have advanced to 14 regional championship games in 21 tries ... A&M was the No. 2 seed last season in the Fort Worth Regional, and went 1-2 ... the Aggies fell to Oregon State, 9-8, knocked off Wright State in 11 innings, 6-4, and was eliminated by the Beavers, 13-5 (full recaps and boxscores available later in this packet) ... the trip to south Florida will mark A&M's first outside the state of Texas for NCAA Regional play since 1997 (Palo Alto, California) ... the Aggies' last NCAA tourney games outside of Texas were in the 2004 Baton Rouge Super Regional ... A&M has been to Miami once before for regional play, in 1995 ... Childress is 8-8 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and 8-4 in regional action.
A&M'S NCAA REGIONAL DESTINATIONS
2009: Fort Worth (TCU) ... 2008: College Station (host) ... 2007: College Station (host) ... 2004: Houston (Rice) ... 2003: College Station (host) ... 1999: College Station (host) ... 1998: College Station (host) ... 1997: Palo Alto (Stanford) ... 1995: Coral Gables (Miami) ... 1993: College Station (host) ... 1992: Gainesville (Florida) ... 1991: Baton Rouge (LSU) ... 1989: College Station (host) ... 1988: Starkville (Mississippi State) ... 1987: Starkville (Mississippi State) ... 1986: Tallahassee (Florida State) ... 1984: Stillwater (Oklahoma State) ... 1978: Ann Arbor (Michigan) ... 1977: Norman (Oklahoma) ... 1976: Edinburg (Pan American) ... 1975: Norman (Oklahoma) ... a complete NCAA history is available later in this packet.
STATISTICAL COMPARISON: A&M vs THE FIELD
A look at how Texas A&M and its Coral Gables Regional opponents stack up statistically...
STATISTICAL COMPARISON
Category A&M MIAMI FIU DART
Overall Record 40-19-1 40-17 36-23 26-17
Batting Avg. .301 .293 .339 .304
Runs Per Game 6.1 7.5 8.0 6.6
Home Runs 57 91 64 31
Stolen Bases 104 94 78 34
Earned Run Avg. 3.48 3.68 5.37 5.99
Opponent Avg. .243 .246 .285 .321
Strikeouts 561 507 462 250
Saves 11 11 15 11
Fielding Pct. .963 .970 .955 .974
BIG 12 IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
The Big 12 Conference landed five teams in the field of 64 ... regular-season champion Texas (46-11) is the No. 2 overall national seed and is hosting Rice, Louisiana-Lafayette and Rider in the Austin Regional ... Oklahoma (44-15), which finished second in the league, is playing host to the Norman Regional (Oral Roberts, North Carolina, California) ... Kansas State (36-20) finished third, percentage points ahead of the Aggies, and will travel to Arkansas as the No. 3 seed in the Fayetteville Regional (Arkansas, Washington State, Grambling) ... and Baylor (34-22), a sixth-place finisher in the Big 12, earned the No. 2 seed at the Fort Worth Regional (Arizona, TCU, Lamar) ... 2010 marks the 13th consecutive season that the Big 12 landed at least five teams in postseason play, with a high of eight (set last season).
SERIES HISTORY: MIAMI
Miami leads the all-time series, 6-2 ... the last meetings between the schools on the baseball diamond came in the 1995 NCAA Atlantic II Regional, hosted by UM ... the teams advanced to the regional finals before squaring off, as the Aggies forced an "if necessary" game behind a four-run first and a complete-game shutout by Tim Clarkson ... Miami won the decisive game, 5-2, later in the day and advanced to the College World Series ... the Hurricanes have made one trip to College Station and Olsen Field, sweeping a pair of games in 1980 ... A&M has made two regular-season trips to Miami, playing 12 games in the 1979 Hurricane Invitational Tournament and losing a pair of meetings in the same tourney four seasons later.
A&M/MIAMI SERIES BREAKDOWN
Series Record: Miami leads, 6-2
A&M Streak: Lost 1
in College Station: Miami leads, 2-0
in Coral Gables: Miami leads, 4-2
in NCAA Tourney: series tied, 1-1
SERIES HISTORY: FIU
Texas A&M leads the all-time series with FIU, 2-1 ... all three meetings have been on the University of Miami campus ... the squads last met in 1995 in the NCAA Atlantic II Regional at Mark Light Stadium ... the Golden Panthers defeated the Aggies, 9-5, in the tourney opener for both teams ... A&M eliminated FIU one day later, 4-2 ... the first meeting between the schools came in the 1979 Hurricane Invitational ... the Aggies have faced one Sun Belt team this season, falling to Western Kentucky, 5-1 on Feb. 26 in Waco as part of the QTI Baylor Classic ... the last time A&M faced a Sun Belt foe in the NCAA Tournament was in 2007, winning two of three games against Louisiana-Lafayette in the College Station Regional ... Texas A&M and FIU have a regular-season series scheduled next spring at Olsen Field, and the two schools' football teams will face off for the first time at Kyle Field in College Station on September 19.
A&M/FIU SERIES BREAKDOWN
Series Record: A&M leads, 2-1
A&M Streak: Won 1
in College Station: never faced
on FIU campus (Miami): never faced
in NCAA Tourney: series tied, 1-1
neutral sites: A&M leads, 2-1
SERIES HISTORY: DARTMOUTH
Texas A&M has never faced Dartmouth in baseball ... the Aggies have played three games all-time against Ivy League schools ... A&M is 1-1 against Cornell and 1-0 versus Yale, which participated in the 1993 Central Regional at Olsen Field ... the Aggies and Yale faced off to open regional play in a game that began at 11 p.m. local time before a capacity crowd ... A&M won the game, 13-1.
UP NEXT
The winner of the Coral Gables Regional will face the winner of the Gainesville (Fla.) Regional next weekend in Super Regional play, with a trip to Omaha on the line ... Florida (No. 3 national seed), Florida Atlantic, Oregon State and Bethune-Cookman make up the Gainesville Regional field.
A LOOK BACK: 1995 ATLANTIC II REGIONAL
Texas A&M's last trip to the University of Miami came 15 years ago for the 1995 Atlantic II Regional at Mark Light Stadium ... ironically, the Aggies, FIU and Miami were also in that six-team field (joining South Florida, UMass and North Carolina) ... A&M lost the opener to FIU and fought its way out of the loser's bracket ... the Aggies went 4-2 on the weekend, forcing the "if necessary" game but falling to the host Hurricanes by three runs ... ace pitcher Justin Atchley burned the bottom of his foot on the beach that week, but went ahead and started the opener against the Golden Panthers ... he took the loss in a 9-5 FIU win ... freshman Ryan Rupe then followed on the bump, eliminating UMass in a 14-11 Aggie victory ... Dean Mitchell started in the rematch against FIU, with A&M sending the Panthers home in a 4-2 win ... true freshman John Sneed then tossed a complete-game shutout against North Carolina (7-0), moving the Aggies into the regional final ... seldom-used Tim Clarkson stepped up in a big way, giving A&M a 4-0, complete-game shutout to force the "if necessary" game despite only striking out one batter ... Atchley started in the second championship game, but was lifted after three innings ... UM scored five in the first three frames and held on for a 5-2 victory and the trip to Omaha.
1995 ATLANTIC II REGIONAL: May 26 - FIU 9, A&M 5 ... May 27 - A&M 14, UMass 11 (UMass eliminated) ... May 28 - A&M 4, FIU 2 (FIU eliminated) ... May 28 - A&M 7, North Carolina 0 (UNC eliminated) ... May 29 - A&M 4, Miami 0 ... May 29 - Miami 5, A&M 2 (Miami advances to CWS).
A LOOK BACK: BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP
Texas A&M was impressive in all facets of the game in going 4-0 last week at the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship and claiming the title in dramatic fashion ... the Aggies faced Baylor on Sunday for the crown and trailed 3-0 heading to the eighth inning ... A&M scored in that at-bat then plated two more in the ninth to force extra innings ... in the 10th, senior shortstop Brodie Greene stepped to the plate with the winning run on first and two outs ... Greene quickly fell behind Bear closer Brooks Pinckard 0-2, but turned on a hanging slider and lined it down the left-field line ... the ball landed in the third row of the bleachers, with the walk-off home run giving the Aggies a 5-3 victory and the championship ... in pool play, 4th-seeded Texas A&M blew through its opposition, defeating No. 5-seed Texas Tech 9-2, No. 8-seed Missouri 7-2 and top-seed and No. 1-ranked Texas, 9-3 ... in the four games in Oklahoma City, A&M hit .336, featured a 2.19 ERA and fielded at a .981 clip ... the Aggies outscored their opponents, 30-10, never allowing more than three runs ... opposing hitters were held to a .216 average ... starting pitchers went seven, seven, seven and six innings, respectively, while the bullpen allowed one unearned run in 10 innings of work ... it was the third league title in four years for A&M (regular season 2008, postseason 2007 and 2010).
TEAM NOTES AND NOTABLES: OFFENSE/DEFENSE
• Texas A&M has won 18 of its last 21 games, with 11 of those victories coming away from Olsen Field ... the Aggies have outscored opponents 152-68 in that span, out-hit them .326-.238, swiped 43 bases and fielded at a .975 mark.
• Texas A&M finished May with a 16-3 record, a school best for victories in the month ... in May, A&M hit .328, averaged 7.3 runs per game and fielding at a .979 clip ... the pitching staff sported a 3.07 May ERA with four saves and a .240 opponent average.
• The low point of A&M's season was a mid-April sweep at the hands of then No. 3 Texas ... the Aggies suffered a tough 4-3, 11-inning loss at UFCU Disch-Falk Field in Austin to open the weekend, then were shut out in back-to-back games (14-0 and 8-0) at a sold-out Olsen Field ... but since that setback, the team has responded tremendously well ... over the ensuing 25 games, A&M is 20-5, sports a .312 average with 32 home runs, a 2.88 ERA, .234 opponent batting average and a .975 fielding percentage ... perhaps most impressive, the Aggies are 11-1 away from Olsen Field in that stretch.
• A&M found a big power stroke in May, smashing over half of its home runs (29 of 57) in the month ... the Aggies averaged 1.5 home runs per game in May after averaging 0.7 per game from February through April.
• A&M has homered in nine straight games and 12 of the last 13 overall ... the last time the Aggies have hit home runs in nine consecutive outings was from March 29-April 11, 2008 ... with a tater against FIU on Friday, it will mark the first time since 1999 that an Aggie team has gone yard in 10 consecutive games (17 straight from April 20-June 4, 1999).
• In the four games at the Big 12 Championship in Oklahoma City, A&M hit .336, featured a 2.19 ERA and fielded at a .981 clip ... the Aggies outscored their opponents, 30-10, never allowing more than three runs ... opposing hitters were held to a .216 average ... the squad's seven home runs set a school tourney record.
• 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).
• Texas A&M's 104 stolen bases is the seventh-highest total in school history (151 in 2007, 133 in 1989, 122 in 1996, 119 in 1993, 111 in 1998, 107 in 1997) ... the 2010 squad became just the seventh ever to amass 100 steals in a season.
• A&M's total of 58 sacrifice bunts is one shy of tying the school record of 59, set in 2007.
• The Aggies have won three straight against ranked opponents and are 7-8 overall on the year.
• A&M has pounded out 10 or more hits in 36 of 60 games this year (60 percent) ... the Aggies have reached double-digits in hits 18 times in the last 22 games ... the offense is hitting .301 on the year and averaging 6.1 runs per game.
• Texas A&M's defense fielded at a .979 clip in the month of May ... not surprisingly, the Aggies went 16-3 in those contests ... A&M had seven error-free games in the month after totaling eight over the first three months of the season ... the Aggies did not commit an error in the series sweep at Oklahoma State (May 14-16), 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 (9.2), and is second in the league and eighth nationally in hits allowed per nine innings (8.41) ... the Aggies are also second in the league and eighth nationally in earned run average (3.48) and third in the league and 21st in the country in walks allowed per nine innings (2.95).
• Aggie pitching held teams to two runs or less in four straight games from May 22-27 ... it marked the first time since 1993 (April 16-20) that an A&M pitching staff has done that (not including 7-inning, in-season tournament games) ... the 2010 Aggies have held teams to two or fewer runs 20 times.
• Texas A&M finished May with a 16-3 record, a school best for victories in the month ... in May, the pitching staff sported a 3.07 May ERA with four saves and a .240 opponent average, and held opponents to an average of 3.3 runs per game.
• In the four games at the Big 12 Championship in Oklahoma City, A&M featured a 2.19 ERA, never allowing more than three runs ... opposing hitters were held to a .216 average ... starters went seven, seven, seven and six innings, respectively, while the bullpen allowed one unearned run in 10 innings of work.
• Texas A&M's pitching staff enters the NCAA Tournament with a league-best 561 strikeouts, the second-highest total in school history ... the Aggies need seven to break the record of 568, set last season ... 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 27 games this spring ... the Aggies are averaging 9.2 punchouts per nine innings and feature a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 3.13.
• The bullpen is 13-5 with a 3.13 ERA, five holds and 11 saves ... the pen is 11-for-13 in save opportunities this year ... A&M is 32-2 when leading after six, 33-2 after seven and 37-1-1 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
• The walk-off home run to beat Baylor on May 30 by Brodie Greene was the first by an Aggie since April 27, 2008, when Kyle Colligan bested Missouri on a solo blast to lead off the 10th inning in a 3-2 win.
• Texas A&M posted a 16-3 record in the month of May, 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.
• Sunday's walk-off win over Baylor was A&M's 40th victory of the year, making the 2010 squad the 18th in school history to reach the 40-win plateau.
• Head Coach Rob Childress is four wins away from his 200th as a head coach, all coming at A&M.
• The Aggies are 21 games over .500 (40-19-1) for the first time since the end of the 2008 season (46-19 final record, +27).
• A&M's 9-3 win over No. 1 Texas on May 29 was the Aggies' first over a top-ranked squad since April 14 of 2009 (a 7-3 win at Rice) ... that was also the last time prior to May 29 that A&M had played a No. 1 team.
• 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.
• 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 7-8 in the regular season against ranked opponents ... in the latest WarrenNolan.com report, the Aggies sport a 11-12 record against RPI 1-50 teams and a 27-18-1 mark against RPI 1-100 squads.
• Texas A&M is 2-4-1 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: ALL-BIG 12 HONOREES
• KEVIN GONZALEZ: 2nd Team (coaches) ... Brodie Greene: 1st Team (Waco Tribune-Herald, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Austin American-Statesman); 2nd Team (coaches) ... Joe Patterson: 1st Team (Waco Tribune-Herald); 2nd Team (Lubbock Avalanche-Journal); Honorable Mention (coaches) ... John Stilson: Newcomer of the Year (coaches, Waco Tribune-Herald), 1st Team (coaches, Waco Tribune-Herald), 2nd Team (Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Austin American Statesman) ... Michael Wacha: Freshman Pitcher of the Year (Lubbock Avalanche-Journal); 2nd Team (Waco Tribune-Herald); Honorable Mention (coaches).
PLAYER NOTES AND NOTABLES: HITTING
• Senior SS Brodie Greene 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 60 games ... he has recorded a hit in 50 of 60 games this year, and multiple hits in 29 of 60 ... Greene reached safely (hit, BB or HBP) in 26 straight games from Feb. 26-April 10 and 56 of 60 overall ... he matched a career high with four hits in each of the final two games of the Big 12 Championship (May 29 vs No. 1 Texas and May 30 vs Baylor) ... Greene was named the Big 12 tourney's Most Outstanding Player.
• Senior SS Brodie Greene leads the team with a .488 average (20-for-41) over the last 10 games, totaling four doubles, four home runs, 12 RBIs, seven stolen bases and 16 runs scored.
• Over the last 21 games (18-3 record), understandably several players have been hot...including senior SS Brodie Greene (.442, 5 HR, 19 RBI, 28 runs), senior 1B/DH Joe Patterson (.409, 4 HR, 20 RBI), sophomore 1B/DH Matt Juengel (.368, 7 HR, 25 RBI), sophomore 2B Adam Smith (.356, 5 HR, 18 RBI, 23 runs), junior C Kevin Gonzalez (.333, 4 HR, 16 RBI) and freshman RF Tyler Naquin (.305, 2 HR, 10 RBI, 16 runs).
• Senior 1B JOE PATTERSON has hit safely in 19 of the last 22 games ... in those 19 games, he has had two or more hits in 13 ... 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 the month of May, Patterson hit a team-best .430 (34-for-79) with five doubles, four homers, 19 RBIs and 17 runs scored.
• Sophomore DH Matt Juengel is hitting .421 (16-for-38) over the last 10 games with four doubles, four home runs, 14 RBIs and eight runs scored ... Juengel became the first Aggie ever to homer twice in a game in the Big 12 tourney, with a pair of long balls against top-ranked Texas on May 29 ... it was the first multi-HR game of his career.
• Freshman TYLER NAQUIN has become a big part of the Aggie offense of late ... he ended a 2-for-18 slump with four hits in the May 29 win over No. 1 Texas, driving in a career-high three runs ... even including that slump, Naquin is hitting .323 over the last 16 games (14-2 record in that span) with two home runs, eight RBIs and 14 runs scored ... with one of the strongest arms in recent memory, he has recorded five outfield assists over the last 16 and has seven on the season--the most since Cory Patton's eight in 2004.
• Following A&M's 7-1 win over Rice on April 20, sophomore 2B Adam Smith saw his average drop to .209 ... since then (24 games), Smith has raised his average 68 points ... over those 24 contests, the Spring product is hitting .345 with six home runs, 22 RBIs and 25 runs scored ... Smith has played 34 games at second base this season and is fielding at a .987 clip, committing just two errors in 150 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 30), sophomore RP John Stilson ranked second nationally in both earned run average (0.87) and strikeouts per nine innings (13.2), and fourth in hits allowed per nine innings (5.48).
• Three Aggie pitchers rank in the top 31 nationally in earned run average ... John Stilson (2nd, 0.87), Michael Wacha (25th, 2.42) and Barret Loux (31st, 2.53).
• At the latest report (May 30), junior BARRET LOUX ranked fourth nationally in strikeouts (126), eighth in strikeouts per nine innings (11.81), 12th in hits allowed per nine (6.47) and 31st in ERA (2.53) ... 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 2.81 ERA over his last five starts ... Stripling has held opposing hitters to a .252 average over that stretch ... A&M is 5-0 in those games.
• Sophomore John Stilson has made a huge impact in his first season in Aggieland ... Stilson has made 31 appearances in relief so far in 2010, has picked up eight wins and nine saves, and has punched out 106 in just over 72 innings of work (1.5 per inning) ... while not qualifying for a save, he has slammed the door on seven other Aggie victories in 2010 ... has allowed three runs (one earned) over his last 15 outings (29 innings) ... opponents are hitting .172 against him.
• In his last six outings (4 starts, 2 relief), freshman Michael Wacha is 4-0 with a 2.12 ERA ... he has allowed eight runs and 27 hits in those 34 innings, holding hitters to a.216 average ... all four wins have come away from home (at Sam Houston State, at Houston, at Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech in Okla City).
CHART CHASERS: SNAPSHOT
Brodie Greene is two triples shy of tying the career record (14) ... GREENE ranks third in career games played (223), eighth in hits (243), ninth in stolen bases (48) and 11th in home runs (27) ... BARRET LOUX ranks fifth all-time in career strikeouts, and needs 13 to tie Ryan Rupe (281) for third place.
Brodie Greene needs 11 hits to tie the school single-season record (107) ... GREENE needs two triples to tie the school single-season record (9) ... Caleb Shofner can tie the school record (21) if he is hit by five more pitches.
LOUX, STILSON NAMED GOLDEN SPIKES SEMIFINALISTS
Texas A&M pitchers Barret Loux and John Stilson are among the 30 semifinalists for the 2010 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award, the organization announced on June 1. The award is given to the top amateur baseball player in the country.
The list of 30 players will be narrowed to five finalists on Tuesday, June 8, en route to the announcement of this year's winner on Tuesday, July 13. The 2010 GSA will be awarded live at MLB's All-Star FanFest in Anaheim as part of a production by Major League Baseball and MLBAM. Online footage of the event will air live exclusively at GoldenSpikesAward.com.
The Aggies are one of just four schools with at least two players on the list, joining Texas (3), Georgia Tech (2) and Cal State Fullerton (2). For more information, fans can visit goldenspikesaward.com.
THREE NAMED TO BIG 12 ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Senior SS Brodie Greene was named the Big 12 Championship's Most Outstanding Player and two other Aggies earned all-tournament honors in a vote of media members covering the event.
Greene hit .625 with two home runs and six RBIs, as the Aggies went 4-0 to claim the championship and the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. He delivered a two-out, two-strike walk-off home run in the 10th inning of the championship game to lift A&M to a 5-3 win over Baylor.
Sophomore DH Matt Juengel (.429, 3 HR, 8 RBI) and sophomore RP John Stilson (3 games, 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 8 IP, 0 ER, 2 BB, 11 K) joined Greene on the all-tournament team.
SEVEN AGGIES EARN ALL-BIG 12 HONORS
John Stilson highlighted seven Texas A&M honorees as the All-Big 12 Baseball teams were announced by the league on May 25.
Stilson was voted Newcomer of the Year by the league's head coaches, and was joined by teammate and fellow pitcher Barret Loux on the All-Big 12 first team. Shortstop Brodie Greene, catcher Joe Patterson and pitcher Michael Wacha were honorable mention selections.
"I'm happy for all these guys," A&M coach Rob Childress said. "It's nice that their hard work and effort was recognized by the other coaches in the Big 12. This team has battled through a lot this spring, and for these seven to get honored by the league says not only a lot about them as men and as players, but about all the guys surrounding them that make each other and the team better."
Stilson became the sixth Aggie to win the Newcomer of the Year award, joining Craig Kuzmic (1998), Scott Beerer (2003), David Newmann (2007), Brandon Hicks (2007) and Jose Duran (2008).
FIVE AGGIES NAMED TO ACADEMIC ALL-BIG 12 TEAMS
Five members of the Texas A&M baseball team were named to the Academic All-Big 12 teams by the league office on May 18.
Sophomores Tyler Dyer and Clayton Ehlert and junior Barret Loux earned second-team accolades. Loux made the team for the second consecutive year, while Dyler, Ehlert, Stripling and Uriegas are first-time honorees.
Nominated by each institution's director of student-athlete support services and the media relations offices, the baseball academic all-league squad consisted of 43 first team members combined with 26 on the second team. First team members consist of those who have maintained a 3.20 or better GPA, and the second team are those who have a 3.00 to 3.19 GPA.
To qualify student-athletes must maintain a 3.00 GPA or higher either cumulative or the two previous semesters. All position players nominated must have participated in 60 percent of their team's scheduled contests, while pitchers are required to have at least one inning pitched per game played by the team or have appeared in 20 percent of their team's total games. Freshmen and transfers are not eligible in their first year of academic residence. Senior student-athletes who have participated for a minimum of two years and meet all the criteria except percent of participation are also eligible.