Texas A&M Baseball
* The weekend series against Texas Tech is a big series for the team, but it’s also a big weekend for his family and also the family of Tyler Naquin. His mom was diagnosed with breast cancer during his freshman year at A&M and he hopes this weekend can bring awareness to breast cancer.
* During his freshman year, around the time of Thanksgiving break, he called his mom to figure out plans, when she told him that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. They were able to catch it early which was good, but she still had to undergo surgery to get the problem taken care of. He then went back to school after the break and finished up finals before coming home for Christmas and seeing his mom go through one round of chemotherapy. He didn’t really get to see much of the process, which could have been good or bad, but she still did her best to make it to a lot of baseball games that season. She had her pink A&M baseball hat on and was in the stands supporting the team and has now been in remission for two years.
* After his great performance in Austin last year to allow A&M to become co-champions of the Big 12 with the Longhorns, a picture was snapped of him and his mom hugging one another, and in that picture, you can’t tell who was more excited at the time. She could have been happier for him to have had one of the best moments of his career against her school.
* His mom is acting like she isn’t nervous to throw out the first pitch at the game tomorrow night, but he knows she is. He’s not sure what pitch she will bring to the plate, but has been practicing a bit in her spare time.
* If everyone follows the rules, the eighth inning glow stick trick should be pretty awesome. The team will be looking kind of funny in their bright pink helmets, arm sleeves and socks, but it should make for a pretty fun game.
* The team knew that a couple of guys on the team were affected by breast cancer and the issue hit home pretty well, which is why the decision was made to support breast cancer awareness instead of a different type of cancer for this game. He’s happy that the team is doing this, and thinks it should be a fun weekend and a good game.
* The team wants to keep things going after the tough patch they went through a week and a half ago. Tech is a good team that isn’t playing up to their potential right now, so the games won’t be easy by any stretch of the imagination. It will be a grind no matter what, so the team will need to bring their A game and hopefully get some wins. They have a couple of guys competing with Naquin for the league lead in hits and have a guy that can hit it out of the park at any time.
* Olsen Field is a huge advantage during postseason play and it’s even louder and more intimidating when the berms fill up.
* It’s been a great experience playing at Olsen Field during his time at A&M. Ever since he was begging Coach Childress for a shot as a walk-on, he’s worked hard to earn his spot on the team. He is so thankful for the opportunity he’s had at A&M and will always remember his time playing on Olsen Field.
* When he got to A&M, he didn’t remotely know how to throw a change-up or spot up a fast ball and basically all he had to work with was a 12-to-6 curve ball that he could throw to right-handers. Coach Childress took him under his wing and was taught how to pitch and be competitive which helped him attack hitters and maintain confidence in himself. Childress runs a boot camp during the fall and most people will come out of it as a man. He preaches that no matter who you are, you are going to leave the program with a ring, whether it be a Big 12 championship ring or an Aggie ring.
* He’s glad that he isn’t pitching on Friday so he can enjoy the pink surroundings and the eighth inning event. It’s going to be a tough thing for the team to ignore while trying to play a baseball game, and he is looking forward to seeing it turn out the way everyone wants it to.
* He found out last week that he was nominated for the Lowes Senior Class Award and it’s a great honor to be included with some of the guys on that list. The award is for a mixture of community service, academics and on-field performance and can be voted on by going to seniorclassaward.com. He’s made a little comeback in the past few days after struggling at first, and hopefully he can compete for the award the whole length of the voting.
* The team has what it takes to make another run towards Omaha and if they can put both hitting and pitching together at the same time, they can make some real noise in postseason play. The team showed signs of putting it all together against Texas last weekend and just need to keep that momentum up. The team also has the experience needed to get back to Omaha after going to the College World Series last year. Once the team gets there, the guys will know how to handle the clutch at-bats and hopefully will help the team make a run towards a national championship.
Annie Stoltenberg
* The marketing department is urging people to come out to the game against Texas Tech on Friday and wear pink in order to support everyone in the community who has been affected in some way by breast cancer. They will be giving out pink glow sticks to every person that walks through the gate and are asking fans to wait until the eighth inning to snap them so that they can light the entire park up pink.
* The marketing department started by thinking about the things normally seen at ‘pink-outs’, such as t-shirts or towels, and then decided that they wanted to do something a little bit different. One cool thing about glow sticks is that they make the cracking noise, and the marketing department is using that to appeal to more than one sense and take it to a higher level than just a visual thing.
* Pink Alliance is a local breast cancer support group, and all of the money from the auction items will be going to them to help the people affected by breast cancer in the Brazos Valley area. The people in charge want this night to be about fundraising and awareness, but also are very focused on making it a night of support.
* The auction will be held on the concourse of Blue Bell Park and will be open during all three games of the series this weekend.
Ross Stripling joins TexAgs set to talk TTU, Strike Out Cancer
Notes from Strike Out Cancer interview
Ross Stripling* The weekend series against Texas Tech is a big series for the team, but it’s also a big weekend for his family and also the family of Tyler Naquin. His mom was diagnosed with breast cancer during his freshman year at A&M and he hopes this weekend can bring awareness to breast cancer.
* During his freshman year, around the time of Thanksgiving break, he called his mom to figure out plans, when she told him that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. They were able to catch it early which was good, but she still had to undergo surgery to get the problem taken care of. He then went back to school after the break and finished up finals before coming home for Christmas and seeing his mom go through one round of chemotherapy. He didn’t really get to see much of the process, which could have been good or bad, but she still did her best to make it to a lot of baseball games that season. She had her pink A&M baseball hat on and was in the stands supporting the team and has now been in remission for two years.
* After his great performance in Austin last year to allow A&M to become co-champions of the Big 12 with the Longhorns, a picture was snapped of him and his mom hugging one another, and in that picture, you can’t tell who was more excited at the time. She could have been happier for him to have had one of the best moments of his career against her school.
* His mom is acting like she isn’t nervous to throw out the first pitch at the game tomorrow night, but he knows she is. He’s not sure what pitch she will bring to the plate, but has been practicing a bit in her spare time.
* If everyone follows the rules, the eighth inning glow stick trick should be pretty awesome. The team will be looking kind of funny in their bright pink helmets, arm sleeves and socks, but it should make for a pretty fun game.
* The team knew that a couple of guys on the team were affected by breast cancer and the issue hit home pretty well, which is why the decision was made to support breast cancer awareness instead of a different type of cancer for this game. He’s happy that the team is doing this, and thinks it should be a fun weekend and a good game.
* The team wants to keep things going after the tough patch they went through a week and a half ago. Tech is a good team that isn’t playing up to their potential right now, so the games won’t be easy by any stretch of the imagination. It will be a grind no matter what, so the team will need to bring their A game and hopefully get some wins. They have a couple of guys competing with Naquin for the league lead in hits and have a guy that can hit it out of the park at any time.
* Olsen Field is a huge advantage during postseason play and it’s even louder and more intimidating when the berms fill up.
* It’s been a great experience playing at Olsen Field during his time at A&M. Ever since he was begging Coach Childress for a shot as a walk-on, he’s worked hard to earn his spot on the team. He is so thankful for the opportunity he’s had at A&M and will always remember his time playing on Olsen Field.
* When he got to A&M, he didn’t remotely know how to throw a change-up or spot up a fast ball and basically all he had to work with was a 12-to-6 curve ball that he could throw to right-handers. Coach Childress took him under his wing and was taught how to pitch and be competitive which helped him attack hitters and maintain confidence in himself. Childress runs a boot camp during the fall and most people will come out of it as a man. He preaches that no matter who you are, you are going to leave the program with a ring, whether it be a Big 12 championship ring or an Aggie ring.
* He’s glad that he isn’t pitching on Friday so he can enjoy the pink surroundings and the eighth inning event. It’s going to be a tough thing for the team to ignore while trying to play a baseball game, and he is looking forward to seeing it turn out the way everyone wants it to.
* He found out last week that he was nominated for the Lowes Senior Class Award and it’s a great honor to be included with some of the guys on that list. The award is for a mixture of community service, academics and on-field performance and can be voted on by going to seniorclassaward.com. He’s made a little comeback in the past few days after struggling at first, and hopefully he can compete for the award the whole length of the voting.
* The team has what it takes to make another run towards Omaha and if they can put both hitting and pitching together at the same time, they can make some real noise in postseason play. The team showed signs of putting it all together against Texas last weekend and just need to keep that momentum up. The team also has the experience needed to get back to Omaha after going to the College World Series last year. Once the team gets there, the guys will know how to handle the clutch at-bats and hopefully will help the team make a run towards a national championship.
Annie Stoltenberg
* The marketing department is urging people to come out to the game against Texas Tech on Friday and wear pink in order to support everyone in the community who has been affected in some way by breast cancer. They will be giving out pink glow sticks to every person that walks through the gate and are asking fans to wait until the eighth inning to snap them so that they can light the entire park up pink.
* The marketing department started by thinking about the things normally seen at ‘pink-outs’, such as t-shirts or towels, and then decided that they wanted to do something a little bit different. One cool thing about glow sticks is that they make the cracking noise, and the marketing department is using that to appeal to more than one sense and take it to a higher level than just a visual thing.
* Pink Alliance is a local breast cancer support group, and all of the money from the auction items will be going to them to help the people affected by breast cancer in the Brazos Valley area. The people in charge want this night to be about fundraising and awareness, but also are very focused on making it a night of support.
* The auction will be held on the concourse of Blue Bell Park and will be open during all three games of the series this weekend.
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