Series Preview: A&M eyes fifth straight series with trip to No. 7 Arkansas
Who: No. 7 Arkansas (30-11, 11-7 Southeastern Conference)
Where: Baum-Walker Stadium at George Cole Field – Fayetteville, Arkansas
When:
Thursday: 7:00 p.m. CT (ESPNU)
Friday: 6:00 p.m. CT (SEC Network+)
Saturday: 11:00 a.m. CT (SEC Network)
Pitching matchups
Thursday: Troy Wansing (LHP. 2-2, 5.91) vs. Hunter Hollan (LHP, 6-1, 2.81)
Friday: TBA vs. TBA
Saturday: TBA vs. TBA
Scouting Arkansas
Unranked Georgia surprised everybody last weekend, sweeping the then-No. 4 Razorbacks at home. The Hogs also dropped their midweek contest to Missouri State. Needless to say, Arkansas will be hungry to right the ship and dismiss the Aggies in the friendly confines of George Cole Field. Dave Van Horn’s bunch is also trying to secure its spot as a national seed in the upcoming NCAA Regionals.
So, A&M will be running into a motivated, talented SEC team, but that’s not the whole story.
Arkansas has been dealing with a series of injuries in recent weeks. Against Georgia, the Hogs were without the services of preseason All-American pitcher Brady Tygart, who’s been out for an extended period. Top reliever Dylan Carter was held out of the Georgia series for precautionary reasons due to some soreness in his arm. Catcher Parker Rowland was out last weekend with a back issue, as well as leading hitter Tavian Josenberger, who strained a hamstring.
Based on comments this week from Van Horn, everybody, with the exception of Josenberger, is expected to play against the Aggies. So, needless to say, if A&M fans think Arkansas is struggling and ripe to be taken to the woodshed after last week’s sweep, you are in for a rude awakening. Van Horn even hinted that he might start Tygart, significantly boosting a wounded and struggling pitching staff.
Arkansas’ pitching statistics aren’t much better than the Aggies’ numbers, sporting a hefty 5.05 ERA and having surrendered the same number of hits as A&M’s staff (370). ERAs are up across the SEC as a result of a shrinking strike zone.
You don’t see many dominant starting pitchers early in a weekend series like college baseball fans used to in previous years. Likely Thursday starter Hunter Hollan has a respectable 6-1 record and 2.81 ERA, but the recent game-two starter for the Hogs has been Will McEntire, who is battling an inflated 5.88 ERA. Hagen Smith has been a part-time starter and reliever with a 2.89 ERA, who has only given up 29 hits in 43.2 innings of work. The key to Arkansas’ pitching this weekend could be the performance of the two guys returning from injury, Tygart and Carter. The staff could struggle this weekend if they aren’t sharp after some downtime.
At the plate, Arkansas’ hitting statistics are very similar to the Aggies, with small advantages in batting average (.284), runs scored (325) and slugging percentage (.493). The numbers are so close that this series will hinge on the performance of the struggling pitching staff, not the quality of the offensive punch. Jace Bohrofen (.361, 10 home runs) and Jared Wegner (.351, 12 home runs) are the two dangerous bats in the lineup. As mentioned earlier, the Razorbacks will be without another top hitter Rosenberg (.322, 7 home runs).
It’s a good offense, but there are spots in the lineup for A&M pitchers to get outs.
| Hitting | Avg. | Runs | Slugging % | On-Base % | Strikeouts |
| Texas A&M | .275 | 304 | .450 | .399 | 330 |
| Arkansas | .284 | 325 | .493 | .398 | 335 |
| Pitching | ERA | WHIP | Walks | Opp. Avg. | Strikeouts | Fielding % |
| Texas A&M | 5.46 | 1.58 | 201 | .264 | 415 | .979 |
| Arkansas | 5.05 | 1.53 | 170 | .271 | 355 | .978 |
Texas A&M storylines to watch
The pitching has been a mystery this season. Frankly, it's incredible this team is 9-9 and in the middle of the SEC standings, heading down the home stretch with a team ERA of 5.46. The squad also has no quality starts in nearly two months. We keep hoping Nathan Dettmer will settle down and get to a point where he can eat innings and find his way into the sixth, but that has been a challenge.
There is some slight hope for lefty Troy Wansing, who did not walk a batter and got through the sixth inning in his start against Kentucky. It's something to build on, but he still allowed nine hits and five runs.
Evan Aschenbeck and Will Johnston remain the bright spots in the bullpen, and they were critical in Saturday's double-dip of the Wildcats. Brandyn Garcia has slightly separated from the bullpen pack. He needs more outings and more work. After that, it's a crap shoot.
Who knows? Jim Schlossnagle will still roll guys out there like Chris Cortez, Matt Dillard, Justin Lamkin, Brad Rudis, Shane Sdao and Josh Stewart. Still, nobody on that list has put together multiple impressive outings and has shown any consistency. However, we've been operating in this mode for the past month, and the team found a way to win four SEC series. That's something.
At the plate, the team is still cruising along at an average SEC pace. This lineup is good at drawing walks, and they remain patient at the plate. Still, aside from consistent hitting of Hunter Haas and Jack Moss at the top of the order and a few big blasts from Brett Minnich, Jace LaViolette and a few others, there’s just not a lot of content hitting top to bottom.
There have been way too many strikeouts from guys like Trevor Werner and Ryan Targac, and that makes it tough to string together a big inning when several guys in the middle of the order simply aren’t getting good at-bats consistently. This offense has to gain this stability from top-to-bottom if they want to make the NCAA Tournament and do some damage in the postseason.
What’s at stake this weekend
We’ve been saying for several weeks now that a 15-15 record in SEC play is the bare minimum goal for this Texas Aggie baseball team. That should get the team into the NCAA Regionals. With 12 league games to play and a current 9-9 SEC record, even my rudimentary math skills say that this team must finish out 6-6.
On paper, this weekend’s road series at No. 7 Arkansas is the most challenging series that remains on the schedule. The goal should be to scratch out one win and stay on track to the 15-15 goal. The schedule gets friendlier after Fayetteville with consecutive home series against No. 4 Florida and Alabama, and the SEC finale against a struggling Mississippi State team. Again, that’s logical thinking on paper, but the SEC proved last weekend that actual results are anything but rational, with top teams Arkansas, Vanderbilt and Florida all getting swept.
The message is ... Just go win, baby!
If A&M can extend its series win streak to five and take two in Fayetteville, the team will be in excellent shape for an NCAA bid, and the discussion turns to seeding and positioning. Win one game, and the team is still scheduled to squeeze into the tournament.
As I said last weekend, which can be applied to any road conference series, just avoid the sweep.
With that said, there is a caveat. The team needs to stop losing midweek games. The Aggies are already sitting at 16 losses. If A&M goes 6-6 in SEC play, that’s 22 losses. They can’t afford to lose their last two midweek games against Tarleton State and UTRGV, but that’s a worry for another day. The Aggies need to win a game or two in Fayetteville first.
