Series Preview: No. 15 A&M at the Shriners Children’s College Classic

Also included above is a radio segment with Ryan Brauninger, Richard Zane and Scott Clendenin from Friday morning, previewing this weekend’s Shriners Children’s College Classic in Houston.

Who: No. 14 Louisville (7-1, ACC), Rice (3-5, C-USA), No. 24 Texas Tech (10-0, Big 12)
Where: Shriners Children’s College Classic (Minute Maid Park – Houston, Texas)
When:

• Friday vs. No. 14 Louisville: 7 p.m. CT (AT&T SportsNet/Astros.com)
• Saturday vs. Rice: 7 p.m. CT (AT&T SportsNet/Astros.com)
• Sunday vs. No. 24 Texas Tech: 7 p.m. CT (AT&T SportsNet/Astros.com)

Pitching matchups

Friday: Nathan Dettmer (RHP, 0-0, 0.82) vs. Ryan Hawks (RHP, 2-0, 0.66)
Saturday: Troy Wansing (LHP, 0-1, 5.19) vs. TBA
Sunday: Chris Cortez (RHP, 1-0, 5.40) vs. Taber Fast (LHP, 0-0, 5.14)

Scouting - Shriner’s College Classic

Comparison By the Numbers

Friday 7 p.m. CT - Louisville

Haven’t we seen these guys before? That’s right, the Aggies will face their super-regional opponent from last season on the opening night of the tournament. A&M won the best-of-three series with two one-run wins at Olsen Field (5-4, 4-3). It just so happens that the losing pitcher from game two will be the Cardinals’ starting pitcher on Friday.

Last year, Ryan Hawks was a bullpen arm who gave up the game-winning sacrifice fly to Dylan Rock in the seventh inning that sent Texas A&M to Omaha. He has been promoted to the Friday night ace role, and he has thrived so far in 2023. Hawks is a perfect 2-0 with a sparkling 0.66 ERA. He provides a huge challenge to a Texas A&M offense that hibernated for the first seven games of the season and has just started to produce at the plate. However, with Nathan Dettmer on the hill for Texas A&M, this contest looks like the classic Friday night low-scoring game that boils down to a couple of plays.

Louisville and head coach Dan McDonnell have been major players on the national scene in his 16 years at the helm with five Men’s College World Series appearances and numerous NCAA regional berths. It’s no surprise that the Cardinals roll into Houston as the 14th-ranked team in the nation looking for a little payback against the Aggies.

Saturday 7 p.m. CT - Rice

As we get further and further away from the elite Wayne Graham era that saw the Owls bring home a national championship, Rice continues its dip into mediocrity. Rice has stumbled to a 3-5 record in 2023, but the competition level has been strong, facing the likes of Louisiana and Stanford. Coming off a disappointing 17-39 campaign in 2022, the Owls were hoping to reverse this losing trend. If you look at the team’s statistics, the numbers both on the mound at the plate are very pedestrian.

Jamie Maury, TexAgs

The Aggies and Owls are familiar foes and will meet three times this season.

Now, Rice is good enough to beat anybody at any time, and they are very familiar with the tournament at Minute Maid Park. However, this isn’t close to Wayne Graham’s bunch.

Rice’s Saturday starter has struggled significantly the first two weekends, so they’ve left the pitching assignment against the Aggies as a “to be determined”.

This is the matchup where Texas A&M has the advantage on paper, but games aren’t decided on paper. It is a game this team needs to win.

Sunday 7 p.m. CT - Texas Tech

It’s hard to get a good read on Texas Tech early in the season, especially when all 10 games have been played at Dan Law Field in Lubbock when the wind blows out this time of year. Thus, when you look at the 2023 statistics, the offensive numbers are sky-high and the best in the tournament field.

Yet, their pitching stats are a bit of a hit-and-miss. What we do know is that the Red Raiders have struggled with their Sunday starter thus far, and they plan to go with another option as left-handed freshman and utility man Taber Fast (0-0, 5.14) will get the ball against the Aggies on Sunday night. Tim Tadlock and his team have jumped out to a quick 10-0 and are ranked in several national polls as they venture away from Lubbock for the first time this season. This will be another big challenge for Texas A&M.

Texas A&M storylines to watch

It’s strange we’re talking about this Texas A&M team’s early season struggles when the starting pitching and defense have been very solid to date for the most part. Friday night ace Nathan Dettmer has looked the part with a sparse 0.88 ERA. However, with very little offensive support and ice-cold bats, Dettmer has yet to register a win.

Over the last eight innings though, the dormant offense has shown signs of waking up with a three-run ninth inning to win in walk-off fashion against Portland on Sunday followed up by a 23-0 bludgeoning of a hapless Houston Christian squad. However, the competition level kicks into a much higher gear on Friday against No. 14 Louisville and No. 24 Texas Tech on Sunday.

It’s pretty easy to analyze. A&M hitters have to get on top of the ball and generate hard ground balls and line drives, and they have to cut out the strikeouts, pop-ups and lazy fly balls. Slow starts at the plate from veterans Austin Bost, Jack Moss, Trevor Werner and Ryan Targac have caught Aggie fans off-guard and led to some unexpected losses to Lamar and Portland (2).

There are signs of the bats coming alive. Then again, the Aggies face a true ace on the mound in Louisville’s Hawks. Luckily for Texas A&M, the team defense has been incredible, and that will be a huge factor in what sets up to be a pitcher’s duel on Friday ... and Friday will set the tone for the rest of the weekend.

What's at stake this weekend

At this early stage of the season, I usually tell you the Aggies don’t have to worry about the results. They need to focus on themselves and play well, and let the chips fall where they may. A loss here or a loss there in early March won’t hurt you.

With that said, coming into the Shriners Children’s College Classic at 5-3 puts the Aggies in a very precarious situation, especially with two nationally-ranked opponents on the docket for this weekend.

A 1-2 tournament would put the baseball team at 6-5 with a brutal stretch of No. 1 LSU, No. 3 Tennessee, and No. 4 Ole Miss just two weeks away. There’s a reason why the Aggies scheduled Seattle and Portland to begin the season… fill-up the win column before the SEC meat grinder that A&M faces in the last three weekends of March.

Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.

If you thought the basketball team dug themselves a hole in the non-conference, that’s nothing compared to what the Aggies will have to deal with if the bats remain dormant and the bullpen struggles in Houston.

It’s certainly not a do-or-die weekend, but a 2-1 tournament will greatly help the A&M’s situation with SEC play on the horizon.