A&M Wraps up Non-Conference Slate at Sam Houston State

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 6 Texas A&M Aggies wrap up the non-conference portion of the regular-season Tuesday with a game at Sam Houston State. The Aggies enter the contest with 18 consecutive wins in midweek action and 30 consecutive regular-season non-conference victories. This season Texas A&M is 13-0 in midweek play and 25-0 in non-conference action. The teams met earlier this season with the Aggies setting an NCAA record for most runs scored in a third inning (11) en route to a 19-4 win on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.

#6 TEXAS A&M AGGIES (42-9, 17-9 SEC) at SAM HOUSTON STATE BEARKATS (27-25, 16-11 Southland)
Don Sanders Stadium (1,164) • Huntsville, Texas

SCHEDULE - Tuesday, 6:35 pm
RADIO - Sports Radio 1150 The Zone • Dave South (play-by-play) 
LIVE TELEIVSION - Time Warner Cable SportsChannel • Brett Dolan (play-by-play) & Jeff Power (color)
LIVE VIDEO - FoxSportsSouthwest.com / FoxSportsGo app
LIVE AUDIO - 12thMan.com • radioaggieland.com (free)
LIVE STATS - GoBearkats.com
RANKINGS - Texas A&M - 6 (USAT), 6 (NCBWA), 7 (D1B), 8 (BA); Sam Houston State - unranked
SERIES HISTORY - Texas A&M leads 88-39-2. The Aggies have won the last two games

PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS
• TUESDAY: #12 Corbin Martin (Fr., RHP, 2-0, 2.92 ERA) vs #25 Alex Bisacca (Sr., RHP, 6-2, 2.63 ERA)

ACROSS THE BOARD IMPROVEMENT
The Aggies are hitting .029 higher than at the same time a season ago and the improvement can be seen sprinkled throughout the lineup. Below is a comparison of batting averages through 51 games from 2014 and 2015. 

BALANCE OF POWER
Coach Childress has the potential to pencil in a lineup that can include eight players with at least five home runs. LOGAN TAYLOR leads the team with 10 home runs, followed by RONNIE GIDEON and HUNTER MELTON with seven. RYNE BIRK and LOGAN NOTTEBROK checks in six home runs apiece, followed by BLAKE ALLEMAND, NICK BANKS and JB MOSS with five dingers each.

TEXAS A&M/SAM HOUSTON STATE SERIES NOTABLES
With campus 55 miles apart, Sam Houston State represents Texas A&M's second-closest Division I rival behind Prairie View A&M (50 miles).

The Aggies and Bobcats have met on 129 occasions with Texas A&M owning a 88-39-2 edge in the all-time series. With the exception of 2007, the teams faced off at least once every year between 1984-2015. 

The teams played met earlier this season. The Aggies posted a few records when they scored 13 runs on 13 hits in their 19-4 win over Sam Houston State. The Aggies started the inning by stringing together 11 consecutive hits. The mark equaled the NCAA Division I record set by Cal State-Los Angeles against UC Santa Barbara on May 21, 1977 and equaled by Oakland against Southern Utah on May 16, 2008. The 13 hits set an obscure mark for "most hits in a third inning" set by UNLV against Alliant International on May 2, 1981 and equaled by Clemson against Maryland on March 21, 1998 and Long Island against Mount St. Mary's on April 10, 2000. The Aggies hit a school-record four home runs during the frame.

MORE ON SAM HOUSTON STATE
The Bearkats are in their first year under head coach Matt Deggs. Sam Houston State is 27-25 overall and 16-12 in the Southland Conference. After starting the season 11-19, the Bearkats have gone 16-6, including an eight-game win streak and a series win against Oklahoma. On the season, Sam Houston State also has series wins against Wichita State, New Orleans, Nicholls, Incarnate Word, Abilene Christian and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

Sam Houston State is hitting .283 as a team, averaging 5.3 runs per game. The Bearkats have three players hitting over .300, including Jake MacWilliam (.371, six doubles, one home run and 18 RBI), Spence Rahm (.306, 12 doubles, six home runs and 36 RBI) and Travis Lee (.301, three doubles, 13 RBI).

The Bearkats pitching staff owns a 3.63 ERA and holding opponents to a .257 batting average. Tuesday's starter Alex Bisacca is 6-2 with a 2.61 ERA. He boasts wins against Wichita State, Nicholls, Northwestern State, Abilene Christian, Oklahoma and Houston Baptist.

The Bearkats have made the NCAA Division I Tournament in nine occasions since making the step up in class from Division II in 1987. Sam Houston State has played in six of the last eight tournaments, including the last three years. The Bearkats appeared in three NCAA Division II Tournaments prior to their promotion.

Sam Houston State boasts 15 former players who have gone on to play Major League Baseball. The group is highlighted by 10-year veteran and 1985 NL All-Star Glenn Wilson. The most recent addition to the list is Matt Langwell who made his debut with the Cleveland Indians in June of 2013 and was later appeared in eight games with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

TUESDAY'S PROBABLE STARTER:  #12 CORBIN MARTIN
Making his first career start... Longest career outing is 2.1 innings against Sam Houston State on March 31... Owns a pair of wins in relief, against Texas-Pan American on March 11 and South Carolina on May 9... Fanned three of the four batters he faced in an inning against Prairie View A&M (March 17). 

MARTIN'S CAREER TOTALS

RECORD-BREAKING INNING
The Aggies posted a few records when they scored 13 runs on 13 hits in their 19-4 win over Sam Houston State. The Aggies started the inning by stringing together 11 consecutive hits. The mark equaled the NCAA Division I record set by Cal State-Los Angeles against UC Santa Barbara on May 21, 1977 and equaled by Oakland against Southern Utah on May 16, 2008. The 13 hits set an obscure mark for "most hits in a third inning" set by UNLV against Alliant International on May 2, 1981 and equaled by Clemson against Maryland on March 21, 1998 and Long Island against Mount St. Mary's on April 10, 2000. The Aggies hit a school-record four home runs during the frame.

BANKS EARNS PRESEASON ALL-AMERICA
NICK BANKS picked up a pair of Preseason All-America honors. The sophomore outfielder was named to the Perfect Game's 2015 Preseason College All-America Second Team and D1Baseball.com Preseason All-America Second Team.

As a freshman, Banks batted .327 with 29 runs, 10 doubles, two triples, two home runs, 26 RBI and seven stolen bases. In 30 SEC contests, Banks ranked fourth in the league with a .360 batting average, going 41-for-114 with seven doubles, one triple, one home run, 15 runs and 16 RBI.

Following his successful rookie campaign, Banks earned Freshman All-America recognition from National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association and Collegiate Baseball. He was named All-SEC Second Team as well as earning a place on the SEC All-Freshman squad. Banks and Florida's Logan Shore were the only two freshmen to earn All-SEC status in 2014.

Banks is living up to the hype in 2015, batting .374 (71-for-190) with 45 runs, nine doubles, three triples, five home runs, 39 RBI and nine stolen bases. He has reached base via walk, hit or HBP in 49 of his 50 games, sporting a .452 on-base percentage. 

ALLEMAND JOINS THE 200-GAMES CLUB
With his appearance against Rice on April 7, BLAKE ALLEMAND became the 17th player in Aggie history to play in 200 games. Six Aggies have appeared in 200 games in the 21st century, including school record holder Krey Bratsen (245 - 2011-014), Kevin Gonzalez (236 - 2008-11), Brodie Green (228 - 2007-10), Kyle Colligan (218 - 2006-09) and Brandon Wood (204 - 2010-13).

With 218 games played, Allemand currently ranks eighth on A&M's career list. For his career, Allemand is hitting .297 (228-for-768) with 27 doubles, six triples, six home runs, 99 RBI and 31 stolen bases. He has made 212 career starts, including 47 in 2012, 61 in 2013 and 53 in 2014.

Allemand hit two home runs in his first 196 games. In the last 22 games, the Boerne, Texas-native has left the yard four times. He ranks eighth on A&M's career walks list with 112 and 15th in hits with 228.

MIDWEEK PERFECTION
The Aggies are 13-0 in midweek action this season, outscoring opponents 92-31. The A&M offense has been highlighted by NICK BANKS, batting .500 (22-for-44) with 11 runs, three doubles and eight RBI, and MITCHELL NAU, hitting .487 (19-for-39) with 11 RBI. RONNIE GIDEON has four home runs and 12 RBI. The pitching staff has a 2.08 ERA and the Aggies have 126 strikeouts in 121.0 innings. TURNER LARKINS has started 10 of the games, posting a 4-0 record with a 3.32 ERA and 37 strikeouts in 40.2 innings. The bullpen is 8-0 with six saves and a 1.46 ERA in midweek action, striking out 73 in 68.0 innings.

Dating back to last season, the Aggies have won 18 consecutive midweek games.

DINGER WATCH
The Aggies already have 58 home runs on the season. Last year, A&M hit just 25 home runs on the year. The Aggies had just 20 home runs at this point in the season in 2014. A&M has hit 17 of their 58 home runs in series openers. The Aggies have 10 home runs in their last three games, including five home runs in a 15-14 win against South Carolina. LOGAN TAYLOR leads the Aggies with 10 home runs, the most for an A&M player since three Aggies logged double-digit dingers in 2010.

INHERITANCE TAX
In the Aggies' 3-2 win against Baylor, A&M's bullpen had a string of stranding 18 consecutive inherited runners snapped. The Aggie relievers have still been rather salty on the season, allowing just 35 of 129 (72.9 percent stranded) inherited runners to score. TY SCHLOTTMANN has been the most tested out of the bullpen and he has been up to the task, stranding 23 of his 30 inherited runners (76.7 percent). ANDREW VINSON has left 21 of the 28 ducks he inherited on the pond (75.0 percent). KYLE SIMONDS has stranded eight of the nine runners he has inherited. Against Prairie View A&M, Aggie relievers entered the game with seven baserunners, including bases loaded on two occasions, and they didn't yield a run. In the doubleheader sweep of Kentucky, the Aggies allowed just one of six inherited runners to score. Two weeks ago against Rice, the bullpen stranded six of seven inherited runners.

MEATGRINDER
Starting with the three-game series at Alabama, 23 of Texas A&M's last 33 games will be against teams that advanced to the 2014 NCAA Championship. The gauntlet includes seven SEC weekend series against NCAA tournament teams, including Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State and South Carolina, two games against Sam Houston State and one game against Rice. The Aggies are currently 20-9 in the stretch.

SEPARATION SECOND
The Aggies are outscoring opponents 38-8 in the second innings of games this. Much of the dominance can be attributed to the pitching staff which is holding opponents to a .241 batting average and boasts an 1.24 ERA. In the 51 innings, the Maroon and White have allowed just 10 extra-base hits.

AGGIES PERFECT IN NON-CONFERENCE PLAY
The Aggies are 25-0 in non-conference play this season. In non-league play, the Aggie pitching staff owns a 1.93 ERA and is holding opponents to a .233 batting average. The staff has a 1.09 WHIP and 3.88 K-to-BB ratio during the span. On offense, the Aggies are hitting .316 in non-conference action with MITCHELL NAU (.438) and NICK BANKS (.409) both hitting over .400. Texas A&M owns a 30-game win streak in regular-season non-conference play dating back to 2014.

The last time the Aggies went through a regular-season non-conference slate without a loss was in 1930 when they went 8-0 outside of SWC play.

WINNING WAYS
The Aggies are guaranteed their ninth consecutive winning season. The Maroon and White's 42 wins are the most since the 2012 campaign when A&M finished 43-18. At 17-9 in league action, the Aggies are guaranteed their first-ever winning record in SEC play. 

CHILDRESS JOINS 400-WIN CLUB
With the win in the series finale at Tennessee, ROB CHILDRESS earned his 400th career win. With his current record of 401-217-2, he trails only Mark Johnson (876 - 1985-2005) and Tom Chandler (660 - 1959-84) in career wins for the Aggies.

SEEMS LIKE JUST LAST YEAR
Texas A&M is averaging 1.7 more runs per game and sporting a batting average .029 higher than the same point last season. Here's a comparison of the Aggies offensive numbers through 51 games in 2014 and 2015.

AGGIES IN THE TOP TWENTY
Starting the week, the Aggies were rank in the top 10 in the nation in 12 NCAA categories, including 10 on the offensive side and two on the mound.

UP NEXT
The Aggies wrap up the regular-season with a road trip to Oxford, Mississippi. The three-game runs from Thursday to Saturday with start times of 6:30 pm, 6:30 pm and 1:30 pm.