Photo by Abigail Cook, TexAgs
Texas A&M Baseball
Series Preview: #2 Texas A&M vs. #8 Vanderbilt
Who: Vanderbilt Commodores (35-10, 13-8 SEC)
Where: Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park – College Station, Texas
When: Thursday 6:00 pm CT (ESPN2)
Friday 6:00 pm CT (SEC Network)
Saturday 2:30 pm CT (SEC Network)
The Commodores have been a nationally elite team for over a decade under Coach Tim Corbin. This will be Vanderbilt's first time to College Station since the Aggies joined the SEC four seasons ago.
It's quiz time for Aggie fans. When was the last time Corbin coached at Olsen Field? Here's a hint: he came to Vanderbilt after a successful stint as an assistant coach at Clemson. That's right, he was at Olsen Field for the Super Regional and watched Casey Fossum close out the series with a strikeout and threw his glove in the air in celebration.
But those memories won't factor into this weekend's series between SEC powerhouses. While the Commodores are a young squad after their heralded junior and senior classes moved on after the 2015 season, the recipe for success is the same. Vanderbilt still relies on quality starting pitching, a couple of big bats in the batting order, speed on the base paths and hitters that are patient at the plate and willing to take a walk.
It starts on the mound with sophomore ace Jordan Sheffield. It's an understatement to say he's on a roll, in the midst of a 24-inning scoreless streak. His statistics are excellent across the board with a 2.29 ERA and 87 strikeouts compared to only 26 walks in 70 innings. Opposing batters are hitting only .211 against him.
In his last start against Georgia, Wright allowed five hits and three runs in seven innings of work, striking out nine and walking only one batter.
The task at hand is much more daunting for the Texas A&M batters than the Aggie pitchers, but the Commodore lineup does have several dangerous hitters and will put pressure on Michael Barash if runners get on base. They will run.
Jeren Kendall is staring at an All-American season, hitting .344 and leading the team in batting average (tied), runs scored (62), RBI (49) and stolen bases (20). That's incredible run production from the two-hole. He's covered in the three-hole by Bryan Reynolds, who is also hitting .344 and leads the team in runs (49), home runs (10) and slugging percentage (.638).
Offensive production drops off significantly in the lower half of the batting order. The team as a whole is hitting .281 and ranked eighth in the SEC. Only three full-time starters are hitting above .300 — but Vandy is adept at getting the free pass, having walked 220 times in 2016 (compared to 191 for Texas A&M). Despite hitting an anemic .219, Will Toffey has drawn a league-leading 45 walks and his on-base percentage is a very respectable .405. Reynolds ranks second in the conference with 40 base-on-balls.
The Aggie offense continues to lead the SEC in hitting with a .327 team average. Eight of nine starters are hitting over .300, led by Boomer White who leads the entire league with a .437 batting average. He's a hitting machine and is batting over .500 in a very tough league.
Junior shortstop Austin Homan quietly improved his batting average to .370, which is the second highest on the team at the moment. Not only is he getting hits in the nine-hole, but his defense has been better than the coaching staff expected with only three miscues from the toughest position in the field. The Blinn transfer is arguably the biggest surprise this spring.
Nick Banks was in a deep 2-for-24 slump going into game two on Saturday, when he hit the game-winning grand slam against Arkansas that turned a three-run deficit into a one-run lead. He followed that up with a crucial RBI single on Sunday. He's starting to show signs of coming out of his funk, and his return to form will be critical this weekend against a stingy Commodore pitching staff.
Abigail Cook, TexAgs
All eyes will be on Texas A&M's reshuffled rotation, pitting Brigham Hill (pictured) against Vandy's No. 2 and giving Turner Larkins his chance.
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Joel Davis hit .350 with a .600-plus slugging percentage after a big series against Mississippi State. Since then he's seen his batting average drop over 40 points to .304 and his run production has stalled. When he's seeing the ball well and producing runs in the seven-hole, the Texas A&M offense is difficult to slow down; with a good weekend, he'll put a lot of pressure on the Commodore pitching staff.
On the mound, the starting pitching looked like a mess after a weekend at Arkansas in which Brigham Hill lasted only four innings and Jace Vines managed to get one out before being replaced after giving up five runs. Kyle Simonds, however, threw the team's first complete game of the year and cruised to the victory in the rubber match.
The pressure will be on the Texas A&M staff to hold the Commodore offense in check. In addition, the rain delay on Friday combined with the early series start on Thursday forced Rob Childress to push Hill back to game two. That left a void for Thursday's pitching assignment, and the head coach will dial up Turner Larkins' number.
The sophomore right-hander was one of the highest-rated pitchers on the staff coming out of high school and many thought he would quickly slide into the starting rotation as a freshman, but lack of control hampered his development and limited his innings in 2015. While consistency was still an issue early in the season, Larkins has quietly had a good year with a 2.00 ERA — which includes a nice save in the pivotal second game of the Saturday Arkansas doubleheader that turned the series in A&M's favor.
But this isn't a mid-week appearance or an emergency save situation. The sophomore is going prime-time on ESPN2 against a top-10 team with a lot on the line. This outing will tell us a lot about Larkins moving forward the rest of this season and going into 2017.
Hill was the SEC's ERA leader heading into last weekend, and he struggled against Arkansas. Can he get back into form on Friday on six days of rest? And how will Childress utilize Vines out of the pen, if at all?
The questions also go on to with Ryan Hendrix, who continues to struggle. He threw a simulated game on Tuesday after the coaching staff worked to clean up some mechanical issues in his delivery. Will he be ready to get back into form this weekend?
For now, the only known quantity in the bullpen is Mark Ecker who has transformed himself from a flame thrower into a true pitcher with an array of offerings to keep hitters off-balance.His stats are off the charts. Ecker has allowed just one earned run in 25 innings of action, and he's walked just two batters all season as well. That's plain nasty.
Another weekend, another showdown between nationally ranked SEC squads.
Vanderbilt jumped back into the discussion for a national seed with a weekend sweep of the Georgia Bulldogs to push its conference record to 13-8, just one game behind the Aggies. While most college baseball pundits have Texas A&M ahead of the Commodores in national seed discussions, that could quickly change if Corbin's young bunch can stroll into College Station and win a road series from the No. 2 Aggies.
Matt Sachs, TexAgs
Rob Childress' Aggies control their national seed destiny, and taking the series from Vanderbilt would already carry them halfway to that goal.
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With Florida, South Carolina and Mississippi State all in position for a national seed along with Texas A&M and Vanderbilt, somebody from the SEC is going to be left out when the music stops.
Thus, this is a huge series for both teams. The Aggies can rebound from a series loss with a trip to USC on the horizon, but the easiest assignment is to take care of business at home and don't put yourself in a must-win position in Columbia against another top-10 team. Kendall Rogers of D1Baseball was clear that Texas A&M would earn a national seed if its won two of the final three weekend series versus Vanderbilt, South Carolina, and Ole Miss.
The most direct path is win the two home series and avoid the sweep at South Carolina.
So, the national seed path is clear, and that path goes through Olsen Field. Take care of business in the friendly confines of Blue Bell Park and the national seed is there for the taking.
Where: Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park – College Station, Texas
When: Thursday 6:00 pm CT (ESPN2)
Friday 6:00 pm CT (SEC Network)
Saturday 2:30 pm CT (SEC Network)
Pitching matchups
- Thursday: Turner Larkins (RHP, 2-0, 2.00) vs. Jordan Sheffield (RHP, 7-2, 2.29)
- Friday: Brigham Hill (RHP, 5-0, 2.03) vs. Kyle Wright (RHP, 5-3, 2.11)
- Saturday: Kyle Simonds (RHP, 7-1, 2.83) vs. TBA
Vanderbilt players to watch
The Commodores have been a nationally elite team for over a decade under Coach Tim Corbin. This will be Vanderbilt's first time to College Station since the Aggies joined the SEC four seasons ago.
It's quiz time for Aggie fans. When was the last time Corbin coached at Olsen Field? Here's a hint: he came to Vanderbilt after a successful stint as an assistant coach at Clemson. That's right, he was at Olsen Field for the Super Regional and watched Casey Fossum close out the series with a strikeout and threw his glove in the air in celebration.
But those memories won't factor into this weekend's series between SEC powerhouses. While the Commodores are a young squad after their heralded junior and senior classes moved on after the 2015 season, the recipe for success is the same. Vanderbilt still relies on quality starting pitching, a couple of big bats in the batting order, speed on the base paths and hitters that are patient at the plate and willing to take a walk.
It starts on the mound with sophomore ace Jordan Sheffield. It's an understatement to say he's on a roll, in the midst of a 24-inning scoreless streak. His statistics are excellent across the board with a 2.29 ERA and 87 strikeouts compared to only 26 walks in 70 innings. Opposing batters are hitting only .211 against him.
The task at hand is much more daunting for the Texas A&M batters than the Aggie pitchers, but the Commodore lineup does have several dangerous hitters and will put pressure on Michael Barash if runners get on base. They will run.
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The Commodores will start sophomore Kyle Wright on Friday in game two. The right-hander has a 5-3 record with a paltry 2.11 ERA. His numbers across the board aren't as impressive as Sheffield's, but opposing teams are hitting just .237 against him. In his last start against Georgia, Wright allowed five hits and three runs in seven innings of work, striking out nine and walking only one batter.
The task at hand is much more daunting for the Texas A&M batters than the Aggie pitchers, but the Commodore lineup does have several dangerous hitters and will put pressure on Michael Barash if runners get on base. They will run.
Jeren Kendall is staring at an All-American season, hitting .344 and leading the team in batting average (tied), runs scored (62), RBI (49) and stolen bases (20). That's incredible run production from the two-hole. He's covered in the three-hole by Bryan Reynolds, who is also hitting .344 and leads the team in runs (49), home runs (10) and slugging percentage (.638).
Offensive production drops off significantly in the lower half of the batting order. The team as a whole is hitting .281 and ranked eighth in the SEC. Only three full-time starters are hitting above .300 — but Vandy is adept at getting the free pass, having walked 220 times in 2016 (compared to 191 for Texas A&M). Despite hitting an anemic .219, Will Toffey has drawn a league-leading 45 walks and his on-base percentage is a very respectable .405. Reynolds ranks second in the conference with 40 base-on-balls.
Texas A&M players to watch
The Aggie offense continues to lead the SEC in hitting with a .327 team average. Eight of nine starters are hitting over .300, led by Boomer White who leads the entire league with a .437 batting average. He's a hitting machine and is batting over .500 in a very tough league.
Junior shortstop Austin Homan quietly improved his batting average to .370, which is the second highest on the team at the moment. Not only is he getting hits in the nine-hole, but his defense has been better than the coaching staff expected with only three miscues from the toughest position in the field. The Blinn transfer is arguably the biggest surprise this spring.
Nick Banks was in a deep 2-for-24 slump going into game two on Saturday, when he hit the game-winning grand slam against Arkansas that turned a three-run deficit into a one-run lead. He followed that up with a crucial RBI single on Sunday. He's starting to show signs of coming out of his funk, and his return to form will be critical this weekend against a stingy Commodore pitching staff.
Abigail Cook, TexAgs
All eyes will be on Texas A&M's reshuffled rotation, pitting Brigham Hill (pictured) against Vandy's No. 2 and giving Turner Larkins his chance.
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On the mound, the starting pitching looked like a mess after a weekend at Arkansas in which Brigham Hill lasted only four innings and Jace Vines managed to get one out before being replaced after giving up five runs. Kyle Simonds, however, threw the team's first complete game of the year and cruised to the victory in the rubber match.
The pressure will be on the Texas A&M staff to hold the Commodore offense in check. In addition, the rain delay on Friday combined with the early series start on Thursday forced Rob Childress to push Hill back to game two. That left a void for Thursday's pitching assignment, and the head coach will dial up Turner Larkins' number.
The sophomore right-hander was one of the highest-rated pitchers on the staff coming out of high school and many thought he would quickly slide into the starting rotation as a freshman, but lack of control hampered his development and limited his innings in 2015. While consistency was still an issue early in the season, Larkins has quietly had a good year with a 2.00 ERA — which includes a nice save in the pivotal second game of the Saturday Arkansas doubleheader that turned the series in A&M's favor.
But this isn't a mid-week appearance or an emergency save situation. The sophomore is going prime-time on ESPN2 against a top-10 team with a lot on the line. This outing will tell us a lot about Larkins moving forward the rest of this season and going into 2017.
Hill was the SEC's ERA leader heading into last weekend, and he struggled against Arkansas. Can he get back into form on Friday on six days of rest? And how will Childress utilize Vines out of the pen, if at all?
The questions also go on to with Ryan Hendrix, who continues to struggle. He threw a simulated game on Tuesday after the coaching staff worked to clean up some mechanical issues in his delivery. Will he be ready to get back into form this weekend?
For now, the only known quantity in the bullpen is Mark Ecker who has transformed himself from a flame thrower into a true pitcher with an array of offerings to keep hitters off-balance.His stats are off the charts. Ecker has allowed just one earned run in 25 innings of action, and he's walked just two batters all season as well. That's plain nasty.
What's at stake this weekend...
Another weekend, another showdown between nationally ranked SEC squads.
Vanderbilt jumped back into the discussion for a national seed with a weekend sweep of the Georgia Bulldogs to push its conference record to 13-8, just one game behind the Aggies. While most college baseball pundits have Texas A&M ahead of the Commodores in national seed discussions, that could quickly change if Corbin's young bunch can stroll into College Station and win a road series from the No. 2 Aggies.
Matt Sachs, TexAgs
Rob Childress' Aggies control their national seed destiny, and taking the series from Vanderbilt would already carry them halfway to that goal.
{"Module":"photo","Alignment":"right","Size":"large","Caption":"Rob Childress\u0027 Aggies control their national seed destiny, and taking the series from Vanderbilt would already carry them halfway to that goal.","MediaItemID":52809}
Thus, this is a huge series for both teams. The Aggies can rebound from a series loss with a trip to USC on the horizon, but the easiest assignment is to take care of business at home and don't put yourself in a must-win position in Columbia against another top-10 team. Kendall Rogers of D1Baseball was clear that Texas A&M would earn a national seed if its won two of the final three weekend series versus Vanderbilt, South Carolina, and Ole Miss.
The most direct path is win the two home series and avoid the sweep at South Carolina.
So, the national seed path is clear, and that path goes through Olsen Field. Take care of business in the friendly confines of Blue Bell Park and the national seed is there for the taking.
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