Texas A&M
Vanderbilt
Aggies Face Vanderbilt in SEC Tournament Semifinal
May 22, 2015 | Baseball
HOOVER, Alabama - The No. 6 Texas A&M Aggies play in their first-ever SEC Tournament semifinal game on Saturday as they face the No. 9 Vanderbilt Commodores. The Maroon and White are coming off a 6-1 win over the Commodores on Thursday. Vanderbilt played their way into the semifinal game with a 16-1 win against Alabama on Friday.
#3 TEXAS A&M AGGIES (45-10, 18-10 SEC) vs #2 VANDERBILT COMMODORES (41-18, 20-10 SEC)
2015 SEC Baseball Tournament
Hoover Metropolitan Stadium (10,800) • Hoover, Alabama
SCHEDULE - Saturday, 12 pm
TELEVISION - SEC Network
VIDEO - SEC Network+ (WatchESPN credentials required through cable provider)
RADIO - Sports Radio 1150 and The Zone 102.7 FM • Dave South (play-by-play)
AUDIO - 12thMan.com • radioaggieland.com (free)
LIVE STATS - SECSports.com
RANKINGS - Texas A&M - 6 (USAT), 7 (NCBWA), 7 (D1B), 9 (BA); Vanderbilt - 7 (BA), 9 (USAT), 9 (D1B), 10 (NCBWA)
SERIES HISTORY - Texas A&M leads series 4-2
PROBABLE PITCHERS
Saturday - #10 Andrew Vinson (Jr., RHP, 4-1, 1.12 ERA) vs #13 Walker Buehler (Jr., RHP, 3-2, 2.97 ERA)
ACROSS THE BOARD IMPROVEMENT
The Aggies are hitting .022 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 55 games from 2014 and 2015.
| 2014 | 2015 |
.279 | .359 | |
.351 | .369 | |
.226 | .307 | |
.245 | .317 | |
.274 | .374 | |
.272 | .351 |
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 RYNE BIRK with nine. HUNTER MELTON has eight dingers followed by BLAKE ALLEMAND and RONNIE GIDEON with seven apiece. LOGAN NOTTEBROK has six taters followed by NICK BANKS and JB MOSS with five home runs each.
TEXAS A&M/VANDERBILT SERIES NOTABLES
Texas A&M and Vanderbilt have met on seven prior occasions with Texas A&M leading the series, 4-2.
The teams first met at the SEC Tournament in 2013, splitting a pair of games. In the first meeting, A&M won 5-0 behind Parker Ray's best career outing. Ray worked 8.0 scoreless innings, scattering three hits and three walks while striking out three. The Aggies got home runs from HUNTER MELTON, Troy Stein and Cole Lankford. The Commodores turned the tables in an elimination game two days later with a 3-0 win. Tyler Beede worked 7.1 blank frames, scattering two hits and four walks while striking out three.
Last year, Texas A&M won two of three in Nashville in the only series the two teams have met. The Aggies sandwiched 10-4 and 8-2 wins around an 8-5 loss. Krey Bratsen sparked the offense, hitting .545 (6-for-11) with five runs, two doubles, one triple, three RBI and four stolen bases.
SATURDAY'S PROBABLE STARTER: #10 ANDREW VINSON
Making his first career start after 78 relief appearances... Saturday's start will tie him with Nick Fleece for seventh place on A&M's career pitching appearance list with 79... current career ERA (2.31) ranks eighth on A&M's all-time list... he ranks second in the SEC with 30 appearances, trailing only Missouri's Austin Tribby (31)... longest career outing is 4.2 innings against Arkansas on April 19 when he held the Razorbacks to one run on four hits and one walk while striking out five on 68 pitches.
VINSON'S CAREER TOTALS
Year | W-L | ERA | APP/GS | SV | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | AVG |
2014 | 1-1 | 4.05 | 16/0 | 0 | 20.0 | 20 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 20 | .267 |
2014 | 3-2 | 2.95 | 32/0 | 2 | 36.2 | 26 | 14 | 12 | 11 | 34 | .210 |
2015 | 4-1 | 1.12 | 30/0 | 4 | 48.1 | 32 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 48 | .192 |
Career | 8-4 | 2.31 | 78/0 | 6 | 105.0 | 78 | 30 | 27 | 30 | 102 | .213 |
FOUR AGGIES EARN ALL-SEC
The Texas A&M Aggies had four players earn All-SEC honors, the league announced on prior to the league tournament.
MITCHELL NAU picked up All-SEC First Team recognition as a designated hitter. Aggies on the All-SEC Second Team included outfielders NICK BANKS and LOGAN TAYLOR and starting pitcher GRAYSON LONG.
The four honorees set a new high water mark for the program in their third season of SEC play. The Aggies' four All-SEC performers ranked second behind only LSU with six.
DINGER WATCH
The Aggies already have 64 home runs on the season. Last year, A&M hit just 25 home runs on the year. The Aggies had just 24 home runs through 55 games in 2014. The Maroon and White have 16 home runs in their last seven 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. RYNE BIRK has nine home runs followed by HUNTER MELTON with eight.
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 222 games played, Allemand currently ranks seventh on A&M's career list. For his career, Allemand is hitting .298 (233-for-782) with 27 doubles, six triples, eight home runs, 102 RBI and 31 stolen bases. He has made 216 career starts, including 47 in 2012, 61 in 2013 and 53 in 2014.
Allemand ranks 17th among active players in games played at 222.
Allemand hit two home runs in his first 196 games. In the last 26 games, the Boerne, Texas-native has left the yard six times. He ranks seventh on A&M's career walks list with 114 and 14th in hits with 233.
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 37 of 132 (71.9 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 have been against teams that advanced to the 2014 NCAA Championship. The gauntlet included 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 23-10 in the stretch.
SEEMS LIKE JUST LAST YEAR
Texas A&M is averaging 1.65 more runs per game and sporting a batting average .022 higher than the same point last season. Here's a comparison of the Aggies offensive numbers through 55 games in 2014 and 2015.
| 2014 | 2015 |
W-L | 32-23 | 45-10 |
SEC W-L | 13-16 | 18-10 |
Batting Average | .287 | .309 |
Runs Per Game | 5.44 | 7.09 |
Runs | 299 | 390 |
Home Runs | 24 | 64 |
RBI | 271 | 368 |
Slugging Percentage | .386 | .475 |
On-Base Percentage | .364 | .401 |
WINNING WAYS
The Aggies are guaranteed their ninth consecutive winning season. The Maroon and White's 45 wins are the most since the 2011 campaign when A&M finished 47-22 en route to the College World Series. At 18-10 in league action, the Aggies recorded their first winning season in the SEC.
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 404-218-2, he trails only Mark Johnson (876 - 1985-2005) and Tom Chandler (660 - 1959-84) in career wins for the Aggies.
HISTORIC START
The Aggies started the season 24-0. It marked the best start for the Maroon and White since the 1989 campaign when A&M set a 26-0 foundation. It also broke the SEC record for longest win streak, topping LSU's 23-game win streak in 2008.
STREAKS AND TRENDS
• The Aggies are 13-2 on the opening nights of series/tournaments in 2015. Last season, A&M was 3-13 on opening night in the regular season, including losing opening games at the SEC Tournament and NCAA Houston Regional.
• In the series finale at LSU, NICK BANKS had his 42-game streak of reaching base (via walk, HBP or hit) snapped. It was the longest stretch for an Aggie since Mikey Reynolds reached in 46 consecutive games in 2013. He had a pair of 13-game hit streaks during the stretch.
• The Aggies are on an 18-game win streak in midweek games, including a 13-0 mark in 2015. The string includes five games at the end of 2014, including wins over then-No. 16 Rice and then-No. 25 Sam Houston State.
• A&M has won their last 30 regular-season non-conference games, including 25 in a row this season.
• BLAKE ALLEMAND is the only Aggie to start all 55 games this season. He has started the last 98 games for A&M.
• BLAKE ALLEMAND has hit in the leadoff spot the last 45 games, batting .368 with a .453 on-base percentage, 47 runs, 12 doubles, two triples, six home runs and 29 RBI.
• RYNE BIRK is on a career-long eight-game hit streak. Over the span, he's batting .364 (12-for-33) with 13 runs, one double, five home runs and nine RBI.
• LOGAN TAYLOR's 10 home runs are the most for an Aggie since 2010 when a trio hit the mark, led by Brodie Greene with 14.
• BLAKE ALLEMAND ranks seventh on A&M's career list for walks (113), seventh for at-bats (782), seventh for games played (222) and 14th for hits (233).
• The Aggies' current .309 batting average would rank as the highest since the Maroon and White batted .322 in 1999. A&M has not batted .300 since 2010.
• The Aggies' current .401 on-base percentage would rank as the highest since the Maroon and White reached at a .407 rate in 2008.
ALL-TIME SEC TOURNAMENT RESULTS
The Aggies are 4-3 all-time at the SEC Tournament. In 2013, A&M entered as the No. 10 seed and went 2-2. Last year, the Aggies were the No. 9 seed and went 0-1.
2013 | vs Florida | W, 6-3 |
| vs Vanderbilt | W, 5-0 |
| vs Mississippi State | L, 4-6 |
| vs Vanderbilt | L, 0-3 |
2014 | vs Arkansas | L, 0-4 |
2015 | vs Alabama | W, 4-3 |
| vs Vanderbilt | W, 6-1 |
AGGIES IN CONFERENCE TOURNAMENTS
The Aggies are 3-3 in the SEC Tournament, earning a berth in 2013 and posting wins against Florida (6-3) and Vanderbilt (5-0) before back-to-back losses to Mississippi State (6-4) and Vanderbilt (3-0). Last season, they lost to Arkansas in the opening round (5-0).
Texas A&M appeared in 14 of 16 Big 12 Tournaments, winning three of the last six. The Aggies won the tournament titles in 2007, 2010 and 2011. The Maroon and White own the second-best winning percentage in tournament history (.563) with a 27-21 mark, trailing only Nebraska (.707) who went 29-12 in their 10 appearances. 2005 and 2006 were the only two seasons the Aggies didn't make the tournament between 1997-2012.
The Aggies won SWC Tournament titles in 1986 and 1989.
BIRK'S POWER TRIP
After hitting three home runs in his first 47 games, Aggie sophomore second baseman RYNE BIRK has experienced a power surge, hitting five home runs in the last six games. The tally includes two home runs in the second game of the South Carolina series, one home run in each game of the abbreviated Ole Miss series and a dinger in Thursday's quarterfinal game at the SEC Tournament.
This season, Birk is hitting .294 with 46 runs, 10 doubles, two triples, nine home runs and 33 RBI in 54 games.
For his career, Birk is batting .299 with 67 runs, 15 doubles, four triples, 11 home runs, 51 RBI and seven stolen bases in 93 games.
UP NEXT
If the Aggies win, they will face either LSU or Arkansas/Florida in the SEC Tournament Championship game on Sunday.
