Weekend Preview - No. 10 Texas A&M @ Frisco College Baseball Classic
Who: Louisiana Tech (5-4, 0-0 C-USA), Baylor (3-3, 0-0 Big 12), California (5-2, 0-0 Pac-12)
Where: Dr. Pepper BallPark — Frisco, TX
When:
- Friday 7:00 p.m. CT (streaming https://www.facebook.com/FriscoClassic)
- Saturday 6:00 p.m. CT (streaming https://www.facebook.com/FriscoClassic)
- Sunday 11:00 a.m. CT (streaming https://www.facebook.com/FriscoClassic)
Pitching matchups
- Friday: Stephen Kolek (RHP, 2-0, 0.77) vs. Matt Miller (RHP, 0-0, 0.82)
- Saturday: Chandler Joswiak (LHP, 1-0, 3.38) vs. Hayden Kettler (RHP, 1-1, 0.75)
- Sunday: Mitchell Kilkenny (RHP, 2-0, 1.42) vs. Matt Ladrech (LHP, 1-1, 3.27)
Scouting - Frisco College Baseball Classic
Friday - Louisiana Tech
Louisiana Tech has relied heavily on its pitching in the early season en route to a 5-4 start. The Bulldogs opened the season with a four-game split on the road against Pepperdine. Junior right-hander Matt Miller will take the mound against the Aggies Friday night. He was impressive in the season opener, throwing seven innings and not allowing an earned run. He struck out 10 batters and did not walk anybody in a no-decision. He added another eight strikeouts in a four-inning start last week against SIU-Edwardsville, leaving the game after the Bulldogs jumped out to an early 10-1 lead. So the A&M hitters will have their hands full with Miller, who is coming off of two quality outings...a guy that punches a lot of strikeouts and has good control. It will be a tough match-up on Friday. Although Louisiana Tech has four batters hitting above .300, the overall team batting average of .267 is solid but not intimidating.
Saturday - Baylor
The Aggies will get to mix it up with former SWC and BIg 12 in-state rival Baylor. The task for the Aggie hitters doesn't get any easier as Baylor righty Hayden Kettler has been stingy so far this season as the No. 3 starter. He has given up just one earned run in 12 innings, and that includes a heartbreaking 3-0 loss to No. 11 UCLA in Los Angeles. At 1-1 with a 0.75 ERA and having faced a nationally-ranked opponent on the road, Kettler will be yet another big challenge for the Aggie offense on Saturday. If that wasn't tough enough, Baylor's closer, Troy Montemayor, has a perfect 0.00 ERA and has saved all three wins this season.
At the plate, the Bears are led by Andy Thomas (.429 BA) and Davis Wentzel (.409 BA/ .818 slug). The rest of the lineup is struggling at the plate, with the team hitting a paltry .237. However, UCLA's vaunted pitching staff is a big reason why those offensive numbers are so low this early in the season.
The 3-3 Bears went 1-2 against UCLA while taking a pair of wins over Houston Baptist on opening weekend. Both scheduled mid-week games were canceled due to weather.
Sunday - California
After opening the season losing two out of three in a tournament to the University of San Diego and Cincinnati, the Bears came home for a convincing four-game sweep of UC-Bakersfield. The bats dominated the series. Cal pounded the ball and scored 58 runs over the four-game set. Jonah Davis earned Pac-12 Player of the Week for his offensive explosion last weekend. Overall, Davis is hitting .423 with three home runs and 15 RBI. But that still pales in comparison to Andrew Vaughn's offensive numbers seven games into the season, who is raking the ball with a .542 batting average with five long balls and 14 RBI. His 1.201 slugging percentage speaks to his power numbers.
Texas A&M's right-handed hitters will have a chance to make some noise on Sunday against lefty Matt Ladech, who has surrendered 13 hits in 11 innings of work and sports a solid but not intimidating 3.27 ERA. Given the Bears' ability to hit, A&M hitters will have a chance to keep pace against Ladech, but they will have to earn it. The senior has yet to allow a free pass this season.
Texas A&M storylines to watch
The Aggies have been on a roll in almost every aspect of the game. A&M has raced out to a hot 9-0 start. However, the perfect mark has come at the friendly confines of Olsen Field and against non-power 5 conference foes. The Aggies are hitting the road for the first time, and they will face two P5 squads in Baylor and California. Obviously, all eyes will be on A&M's performance on the road and against better competition. This weekend will be a more accurate barometer of this season than the previous nine wins in College Station that were expected.
From a player standpoint, there's significant interest in how freshman Zach Deloach handles life on the road and better competition. Another area to watch is the catcher position with Cole Bedford and Hunter Coleman, and whether opposing teams try to run on the Aggie duo. Rhode Island surprisingly had success stealing bases against Bedford, and Coleman is still rounding into shape after an early season hamstring pull.
Starting pitching is only as good as your latest outing, so that will be an area to closely watch, but specifically keep an eye on the battle between freshman Chandler Jozwiak and John Doxakis for the last weekend rotation spot. Jozwiak will be making his third weekend start, but the veteran Doxakis has been lights out so far and he's pushing the freshman for that Saturday start in the future. Also, the closer position has become an interesting storyline with JUCO transfer Nolan Hoffman looking dominant so far in a set-up role, and senior Cason Sherrod still trying to find his control as the hammer on the back-end of the bullpen.
Finally, this is a big weekend for Braden Shewmake in the field. Most observers expected a smooth transition to shortstop, and while the preseason All-American has made plenty of quality stops, he has scuffled at times. With already four errors on the season and a .900 fielding percentage, Shewmake needs to settle down and show that the early season miscues are an outlier and not a trend going forward.
What's at stake this weekend
Obviously, the Aggies want to keep the early season momentum and stay on a roll. Each and every win builds a resume and affects seeding and placement in the NCAA Tournament. But the key for this first weekend in March is to see how this team reacts to better competition. With an uptick in competition, we'll start to see the cream rise to the top of this lineup, while some of the inexperienced freshmen start to hit a wall against good opposing hitters and pitchers. The competition is good, but not great. The Aggies should have expectations to sweep all three games this weekend. While the goal is to sweep the weekend, winning two out of three will be acceptable and a realistic outcome. But as with any game this time of year, the ultimate goal is to improve and get better at every aspect of the game.
