Thursday, April 25
Oxford, Miss
8 p.m.
Texas A&M
at
Ole Miss
Photo by: Russell James/Texas A&M Athletics
SERIES PREVIEW: at No. 19 Ole Miss
Apr 24, 2019 | Baseball
OXFORD, Mississippi – The No. 10 Texas A&M Aggies head to Oxford to face the No. 19 Ole Miss Rebels in a three-game, Thursday-Saturday series at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field. The series starts a regular-season ending, 13-game stretch that features 12 contests against SEC Western Division foes.
The pivotal series features a pair of top 20 teams looking to gain traction after going 5-5 in their last 10 games. Texas A&M (11-6-1 SEC) is a half-game behind Arkansas (12-6) for first place in the SEC West and 1.5 games behind Georgia (13-5) for the overall league lead. Ole Miss (10-8) is tied with Auburn and Mississippi State for fourth place in the SEC West.
Game times for the three-day series are slated for 6:02, 6:32 and 2:02 p.m. Thursday's game airs on the SEC Network. Tom Hart will handle play-by-play while Kyle Peterson provides color. Every game of the series is available for viewing on SEC Network +. SEC Network + provides digital-only events to SEC Network subscribers through WatchESPN and the ESPN app on smartphones, computers, tablets and connected devices (Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Xbox 360 and Xbox One). All three games will air on the radio locally. In the Brazos Valley, the games can be heard on SportsRadio 1150 and/or 93.7 The Zone with Dave South on the call.
The Texas A&M pitching staff is on pace to set a school record for strikeouts in 2019. With 468 strikeouts through 43 games, the Maroon & White are on pace to hang 609 Ks through the 56-game regular-season schedule. The school record for strikeouts in a season is 612 set by the 2010 squad, the only season the Aggies have ever reached the 600-K mark. With a sufficient run at the SEC Tournament and NCAA Championship, the Aggies could flirt with becoming just the second SEC team to post 700 strikeouts in a season, potentially joining Vanderbilt's 2015 squad that recorded 703 strikeouts.
The Aggies rank in the top 20 in the nation in numerous pitching categories, including K-to-BB ratio (1st - 3.63), strikeouts per nine innings (3rd - 11.0), WHIP (6th - 1.15), ERA (5th - 2.94), shutouts (10th - 5), walks allowed per nine innings (12th - 3.03) and hits allowed per nine innings (12th - 7.31).
Individually, Asa Lacy ranks 10th in the nation in hits allowed per nine innings (4.85), 12th in strikeouts (89) and 14th in strikeouts per nine innings (13.50). John Doxakis ranks eighth in the nation in K-to-BB ratio (7.89) and 24th in walks allowed per nine innings (1.29). Lacy and Doxakis rank as the No. 2 strikeout duo in the nation with their 160 strikeouts trailing only Mississippi State's Ethan Small (103) and J.T. Ginn (68) who have 171 on the season. Kasey Kalich ranks seventh in the nation in saves with 10.
With his next save, Kalich will move into a tie with Scott Centala (11 - 1988) for fourth place on the Texas A&M's single-season saves chart. He is chasing the school record of 14 set by Jason Jester in 2013 and equaled by Nolan Hoffman in 2018.
The Aggies own the only pitching staff in the nation to not yield double-digits in the run column in a game in 2019. The last time the Aggies gave up 10 or more runs in a game was the 2018 regular-season finale against South Carolina when the Maroon & White dropped a 10-1 decision.
Braden Shewmake enters the week in eighth place on the Aggies' career RBI list. With 151 career ribbies, he needs six to tie Luke Anders (157 - 2006-09) for seventh place. Shewmake also moved into a tie for 10th place on Texas A&M's career triples list with 10.
NO. 10 TEXAS A&M AGGIES (30-12-1, 11-6-1 SEC) at NO. 19 OLE MISS REBELS (27-15, 10-8 SEC)
Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field (11,477) • Oxford, Mississippi
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS
• THURSDAY: #14 John Doxakis (Jr., LHP, 5-2, 1.782ERA) vs. #20 Will Ethridge (Jr., RHP, 5-3, 2.54 ERA)
• FRIDAY: #35 Asa Lacy (So., LHP, 6-2, 1.97 ERA) vs. #26 Doug Nikhazy (Fr., LHP, 4-3, 3.77 ERA)
• SATURDAY: TBA vs. TBA
The pivotal series features a pair of top 20 teams looking to gain traction after going 5-5 in their last 10 games. Texas A&M (11-6-1 SEC) is a half-game behind Arkansas (12-6) for first place in the SEC West and 1.5 games behind Georgia (13-5) for the overall league lead. Ole Miss (10-8) is tied with Auburn and Mississippi State for fourth place in the SEC West.
Game times for the three-day series are slated for 6:02, 6:32 and 2:02 p.m. Thursday's game airs on the SEC Network. Tom Hart will handle play-by-play while Kyle Peterson provides color. Every game of the series is available for viewing on SEC Network +. SEC Network + provides digital-only events to SEC Network subscribers through WatchESPN and the ESPN app on smartphones, computers, tablets and connected devices (Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Xbox 360 and Xbox One). All three games will air on the radio locally. In the Brazos Valley, the games can be heard on SportsRadio 1150 and/or 93.7 The Zone with Dave South on the call.
The Texas A&M pitching staff is on pace to set a school record for strikeouts in 2019. With 468 strikeouts through 43 games, the Maroon & White are on pace to hang 609 Ks through the 56-game regular-season schedule. The school record for strikeouts in a season is 612 set by the 2010 squad, the only season the Aggies have ever reached the 600-K mark. With a sufficient run at the SEC Tournament and NCAA Championship, the Aggies could flirt with becoming just the second SEC team to post 700 strikeouts in a season, potentially joining Vanderbilt's 2015 squad that recorded 703 strikeouts.
The Aggies rank in the top 20 in the nation in numerous pitching categories, including K-to-BB ratio (1st - 3.63), strikeouts per nine innings (3rd - 11.0), WHIP (6th - 1.15), ERA (5th - 2.94), shutouts (10th - 5), walks allowed per nine innings (12th - 3.03) and hits allowed per nine innings (12th - 7.31).
Individually, Asa Lacy ranks 10th in the nation in hits allowed per nine innings (4.85), 12th in strikeouts (89) and 14th in strikeouts per nine innings (13.50). John Doxakis ranks eighth in the nation in K-to-BB ratio (7.89) and 24th in walks allowed per nine innings (1.29). Lacy and Doxakis rank as the No. 2 strikeout duo in the nation with their 160 strikeouts trailing only Mississippi State's Ethan Small (103) and J.T. Ginn (68) who have 171 on the season. Kasey Kalich ranks seventh in the nation in saves with 10.
With his next save, Kalich will move into a tie with Scott Centala (11 - 1988) for fourth place on the Texas A&M's single-season saves chart. He is chasing the school record of 14 set by Jason Jester in 2013 and equaled by Nolan Hoffman in 2018.
The Aggies own the only pitching staff in the nation to not yield double-digits in the run column in a game in 2019. The last time the Aggies gave up 10 or more runs in a game was the 2018 regular-season finale against South Carolina when the Maroon & White dropped a 10-1 decision.
Braden Shewmake enters the week in eighth place on the Aggies' career RBI list. With 151 career ribbies, he needs six to tie Luke Anders (157 - 2006-09) for seventh place. Shewmake also moved into a tie for 10th place on Texas A&M's career triples list with 10.
NO. 10 TEXAS A&M AGGIES (30-12-1, 11-6-1 SEC) at NO. 19 OLE MISS REBELS (27-15, 10-8 SEC)
Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field (11,477) • Oxford, Mississippi
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS
• THURSDAY: #14 John Doxakis (Jr., LHP, 5-2, 1.782ERA) vs. #20 Will Ethridge (Jr., RHP, 5-3, 2.54 ERA)
• FRIDAY: #35 Asa Lacy (So., LHP, 6-2, 1.97 ERA) vs. #26 Doug Nikhazy (Fr., LHP, 4-3, 3.77 ERA)
• SATURDAY: TBA vs. TBA
| SCHEDULE | Thursday, 6:02 p.m. • Friday, 6:32 p.m. • Saturday, 2:02 p.m. |
| TELEVISION | Thursday – SEC Network; Tom Hart (play-by-play), Kyle Peterson (color) |
| RADIO | SportsRadio 1150/93.7 The Zone • Dave South |
| LIVE VIDEO | SEC Network + (WatchESPN credentials required through cable provider) |
| LIVE AUDIO | RadioAggieland.com |
| LIVE STATS | OleMissSports.com |
| RANKINGS | Texas A&M – 6 (D1B), 9 (NCBWA), 10 (USAT, BA), 13 (CB) Ole Miss – 19 (USAT, NCBWA, D1B), 22 (CB), 23 (BA) For the sake of consistency, Texas A&M uses the USA Today Coaches Poll in releases. |
| SERIES HISTORY | Texas A&M leads the series 13-12. |
Players Mentioned
LHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
INF
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