Series Preview: #3 Texas A&M vs. Yale

Above: Watch Rob Childress preview the Yale series.

Who: Yale Bulldogs (0-0) (15-23 in 2015)

Where: Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park – College Station, Texas

When:  Friday 6:30 pm CT (SEC Network+)
             Saturday 2:00 pm CT (SEC Network+)
             Sunday 12:00 pm CT (SEC Network+)

Pitching matchups

• Friday: Jace Vines (RHP, 1-0, 0.90) vs. Mason Kukowski (RHP, 3-2, 3.71) (2015)
  
• Saturday: Tyler Ivey (RHP, 2-0, 0.00) vs. Scott Politz (RHP, 0-0, 0.00)
• Sunday: Kyle Simonds (RHP, 2-0, 1.50) vs. Chasen Ford (RHP, 3-3, 6.89) (2015)
  

Yale players to watch

Friday's contest against the Aggies marks the season opener for the Yale Bulldogs, so not much is known about the Ivy League program in New Haven, Conn. Yale returns three of its top four pitchers from 2015 and five starters in the lineup. However, the 2015 team registered a bloated 7.53 team ERA with opponents hitting .316 against the pitching staff as a whole on a 15-23 squad.

And despite the top Yale pitchers returning in 2016, Texas A&M may not face many arms from last season due to injury and newcomers outperforming the veterans.

One of the staff aces from last season, senior hurler Chris Moates, is recovering from an offseason injury and is not scheduled to pitch. That means last year's closer, Mason Kukowski, will take the ball for the Bulldogs on Friday night. The team's ERA leader in 2015 (3.71) with four saves, the Katy, Texas native will be making just his second collegiate start of his career.

Yale will go with another Texan to start game two of the series on Saturday, Scott Politz. The true freshman from Austin beat out several established veterans to earn a spot in the weekend rotation. While this will be his college debut, Politz no doubt understands the environment at Olsen Field and will be prepared.

The Aggies won't have a good scouting report on Politz, so Saturday's contest could be one to watch if the freshman can overcome the nerves and come out poised and throwing strikes.

Yale will send junior Chasen Ford to the hill on Sunday. In seven starts in 2015, Ford went 3-3 with a 6.89 ERA. He gave up 61 hits, which included a team-most six home runs, in 49 innings.

At the plate, Yale hit .268 as a team and managed a less-than-stellar .339 slugging percentage with only six home runs on the year. In addition, the Bulldogs lost three of their top four hitters to graduation.

The top returning bat is junior infielder Harrison White with a .302 batting average, one home run and 12 RBI. Junior infielder Richard Slenker produced two home runs and 18 RBI with a .290 average at the plate in 2015. Yale is counting on outfielder Nate Adams to have a bounce-back senior season after hitting just .236 with a .264 slugging percentage a year ago.

But what Slenker, Adams, and a few of the newcomers do bring to the diamond is speed and the ability to steal bases. Slenker and Adams combined for 17 stolen bases; as a team, the Bulldogs swiped 49 bases, which ranked second in the Ivy League last year. The coaching staff added more speed for the 2016 season and will look to manufacture runs on the base paths to overcome the lack of team power.    

Texas A&M players to watch

Despite the 8-1 record and No. 3 national ranking, the Texas A&M baseball team still has questions to answer in terms of the starting weekend pitching rotation and the hitting lineup. Two weeks into the season, neither is solidified.

Now, when you have the type of depth Texas A&M has across the board, that's a good problem to have in early March. With that said, SEC play is only two weeks away and I'm sure Rob Childress is hoping to nail down a pitching rotation and a batting order in the next 10 days.

That starts with a handful of players and how they perform this weekend.

On the pitching mound, Childress juggled the starting rotation. Sophomore transfer Jace Vines will take the rubber Friday night in his first weekend start of the young season — and based on early-season results, you can't question the move from the bullpen and mid-week starter to Friday night ace. The Tyler JC product has a sparking stat line at 1-0 with a 0.90 ERA and an opposing batting average of .091. Even more impressive is Vines' 11-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Childress promoted true freshman Tyler Ivey to the Saturday starter role after two outings as the Sunday starter. It was well-deserved after the fish had two near-perfect outings. The Rockwall native owns a 2-0 record with a 0.00 ERA, a 16-3 strikeout-to-walk ratio and an opposing batting average of just .125.

Previous Friday night starter Kyle Simonds will move down to the Sunday spot. After a choppy outing to open the season, Simonds roared back on the road at Pepperdine to throw seven shutout innings while allowing just two hits and three base-runners on the day. Simonds' season numbers aren't too shabby either with a 2-0 record, a 1.50 ERA and a 12-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. 

All-in-all, Yale's hitters have to be wondering what they are getting themselves into this weekend with the A&M rotation's total numbers staring at them.

At the plate, all eyes will be on the return of junior All-American Nick Banks. The Tomball native tweaked his back and has been out of the lineup for over a week for precautionary reasons. Childress told the media his star outfielder could have played if pressed last weekend, but he wanted to play it safe and put any back issues behind him for the season. Banks is a critical piece in the middle of the lineup that makes hitters in front of him and behind him more productive.

For the season, Banks has gotten off to a slow start hitting just .200 with one RBI. It's early and everybody expects Banks to be near to top in most offensive categories, but observers will be watching his progress closely as he returns to the lineup this weekend.

Another veteran that was expected to anchor this offensive lineup is junior Ryne Birk. The Katy product opened the season as the team's leadoff hitter but he's been inconsistent at the plate, hitting a disappointing .250. Childress has moved him around to different areas in the lineup trying to find the ideal spot for him, and that search will continue this weekend.

The staff is also trying to figure out where senior Boomer White belongs in the order — for all the right reasons. The TCU transfer has delivered as expected both in the field and at the plate, batting .393 with several critical hits already in 2016. The question isn't whether White should be in the top half of the lineup, but where he should land.

The coaches like White's ability to be the table-setter and get on-base when they've led him off, and he's been a productive RBI man in the three-hole and a good two-hole hitter. His ultimate spot may depend more on the players around him, because White has proven he's up to the task regardless of his role in the batting order.

That leads us to J.B. Moss and Nick Choruby.

Going into the season, both veterans were expected to battle for playing time in a crowded outfield and platoon for a good portion of the season. Well, they did battle and came out the other side as the team's two leading hitters at .500 and .471 respectively. With Banks returning to the lineup, that means one of Moss, Choruby, Joel Davis, Walker Pennington, and Ronnie Gideon will have to return to the dugout.

By the way, Gideon is hitting .389 with a team-leading 12 RBI.

The staff experimented with Moss in the leadoff spot earlier in the week, so I expect he'll get the nod at one of the corner spots. Regardless, look for all five to see plenty of playing time this weekend as the staff searches for the most productive lineup.        

It's still business as usual as the non-conference portion of the schedule continues. Yale brings history and tradition to the table, and that alone will be exciting as the Bulldogs embark on their 151st season of baseball.

Yale will also bring President George H.W. Bush for an appearance to throw out the first pitch on Saturday. Watching the former Yale first baseman and two-time College World Series participant who represents Texas A&M with grace and class will be a lifetime memory for everybody at Olsen Field.

It will be a weekend of tradition and history — but this weekend is all about the future for the Texas A&M baseball team. 

A&M is the superior team in this series and is expected to sweep the weekend. But tell that to the 2014 LSU Tigers, who hosted Yale on the season-opening weekend and lost 8-7 on a Sunday afternoon. The Aggies are good, but any team in the sport of baseball can lose to anybody on any given day if they aren't focused and playing ball at a high level.

Hopefully, the Tuesday close call against Houston Baptist will remedy any possible letdown this weekend.

But even more important than wins and losses for Texas A&M is preparing for the upcoming SEC race that will be brutal and ultra-competitive, as always. The conference slate begins on the road at Auburn in just two weeks, so the staff needs to start looking at the right mix of arms and who is best positioned both physically and mentally to take the ball on Friday nights.

Being the Friday night starter in the SEC is grueling and a mentally draining process where the opposing pitcher is likely a future top-round draft pick and runs will be at a premium. It's one thing to pitch well knowing your offense will get you 5-6 runs. It takes a different mindset knowing that you must keep your opponent to 1-2 runs to have a chance to win the game.

Texas A&M has some great arms. The numbers don't lie. But who has that Friday night mentality to take the ball and throw well, knowing that one mistake could be the ball game? Is Jace Vines that guy? Is Kyle Simonds or freshman Tyler Ivey that guy? Right now we don't know, but we'll start to get those answers starting against Yale.

Offensively, its pretty simple. Texas A&M needs Nick Banks to be healthy and hitting well in the middle of the batting order. Banks has two weeks to round into midseason form and I expect he'll be in the game for every inning regardless of the score and game situation. He needs plate appearances. 

The Aggies also need to answer the question this weekend about who will be the team's leadoff hitter. Can J.B. Moss flourish in that role and stay hot? Will Boomer White need to move up to that spot? And most importantly, can Ryne Birk get on-track and prove he belongs near the top of the lineup?

Finally, the coaching staff needs to find more innings for both Ryan Hendrix and Mark Ecker. Through eight games the pair has combined to pitch only 5.2 innings. Ecker has thrown a mere two innings and has not been in any tight game situations thus far. I'm not sure this weekend will present many late inning situations with the game on the line, but the two-headed monster needs to be fed with work.

Bottom line, the Aggies need to keep getting better and doing the little things well. So far, so good, as the team is hitting, pitching, and fielding.

Once again, A&M will be playing to maintain a high standard of performance and to stay mentally competitive despite the record of opposing team.