Series Preview: Red-hot Aggies roll into Red Stick to face LSU

Also included above is a TexAgs Live segment with Ryan Brauninger and Scott Clendenin from Friday morning, previewing this weekend’s series with LSU.

Who: Louisiana State Tigers (23-15, 6-9 in SEC)
Where: Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field - Baton Rouge, LA
When:

Friday: 6 p.m. CT (ESPN)
Saturday: 7 p.m. CT (SEC Network)
Sunday: 1 p.m. CT (ESPN)

Pitching matchups

Friday: LHP Shane Sdao (3-2, 5.77 ERA) vs. RHP Casan Evans (2-1, 4.91 ERA)
Saturday: RHP Aiden Sims (6-0, 3.56 ERA) vs. RHP William Schmidt (4-3, 3.22 ERA)
Sunday: TBA vs. TBA

Scouting Louisiana State

Nobody is going to feel sorry for Jay Johnson or the LSU Tigers. After all, they’ve won two of the last three national titles. However, winning two of three has been easier said than done for the purple and gold in 2026. They’ve lost three of their first five SEC series and have also dropped a non-conference set to Sacramento State. Additionally, LSU had been uncharacteristically vulnerable in the midweek, with losses to McNeese, Northeastern, Louisiana and Bethune-Cookman. As such, their RPI sits at 65 nationally, making this weekend a trio of Quadrant 2 ballgames for Texas A&M... meaning that the Aggies’ resume will take a slight hit, win or lose.

Gone are Kade Anderson and Anthony Eyanson, who were both stout starting pitchers but both far cries from Paul Skenes just three years ago. Atop LSU’s rotation in 2026 are sophomore right-handers Casan Evans and William Schmidt, who have both been under fire recently in Red Stick. In five conference starts apiece, they own a 5.26 and 4.19 ERA. Evans, the Friday starter, is 1-1, while Williams is 1-2 on Saturdays. Against SEC offenses, Williams has a bloated 1.54 WHIP, and Evans’ isn’t much better at 1.38.

While the starting pitching has left a lot to be desired for Johnson and Nate Yeskie, there are 11 other arms who have thrown over 10.0 innings this season for LSU. A&M only has nine, and three of those have been in the weekend rotation for much of the season. Perhaps LSU’s top bullpen arm is hard-throwing righty Deven Sheerin. The team leader in saves with three, he has a 3.00 ERA with a 1.09 WHIP in 21.0 innings pitched, having struck out 36 of his 92 batters faced as his fastball has been up to 99 mph at different points throughout the season.

Offensively, left-handed-hitting outfielders Derek Curiel and Jake Brown are the only two Tigers inside MLB.com’s top 100 draft-eligible prospects, checking in at No. 6 and No. 54, respectively. Curiel’s numbers are similar to his freshman season in 2025, currently owning a .362 average and a .982 OPS with five home runs, 39 RBI and a team-best 10 stolen bases. Meanwhile, Brown is crushing baseball to the tune of 16 round-trippers and 49 RBI, which are both tops on the club. He is one of two qualifying Tigers with an OPS north of 1.000, with an impressive 1.106 mark to go along with sophomore backstop Cade Arrambide’s 1.052. Most of Arrambide’s damage came in the series finale at Tennessee when he hit four of his nine homers en route to SEC Player of the Week honors. The three listed above are the only ones with an average of .300 or higher, though seven of LSU’s nine qualifying hitters are getting on base at a clip of .400 or better.

The Bayou Bengals’ struggles continue on defense. They rank 15th of the league’s 16 clubs in fielding percentage at .962. Only Alabama’s .961 is worse. Twenty (20) of their 50 errors have come in conference play, and against SEC opponents, the Tigers rank dead last with a .963 mark in league games. Part of that is likely due to their home surface, but even away from Alex Box Stadium, they’re not particularly clean on the infield.

Sure, it seems to all be going wrong for Johnson’s 2026 club, but overlook LSU at your own risk, especially inside the hostile confines of that ballpark when the sun goes down. As is usually the case, the Tigers are more than talented enough to play themselves back into the thick of things in the SEC.

Texas A&M storylines to watch

After an 8-2 loss to Georgia on March 21, the path to hosting a regional in Aggieland was extremely hard to see for a Texas A&M club that was desperately searching for any semblance of serviceable starting pitching.

The Aggies sat at 1-4 in SEC play. The schedule had (at the time) three top-10 opponents remaining, along with daunting road trips to play conference bluebloods LSU and Florida.

But then the Maroon & White won eight of their next nine SEC games, and at 9-5 in the league, A&M is now tied for second behind the aforementioned Bulldogs and among the nation’s top 10 for the first time all year. Further, that path to making College Station a possible stop along the Road to Omaha is becoming clearer and clearer with each conference victory, even if the second half of A&M’s league slate is littered with multiple sets of Tiger fangs, Gator teeth and a far-from-docile litter of Bulldogs.

To continue their ascent, the Aggies are riding perhaps the SEC’s best offense. In 14 conference games, they’re averaging 9.86 runs per game and lead the league with 138 runs scored. Only LSU (107) and Vanderbilt (113) have eclipsed the century mark. Against SEC pitching, A&M also leads the conference in average (.288), slugging (.559) and RBI (128), and the Ags rank second in home runs (32). To make matters worse for opposing hurlers, there really is no break in the A&M lineup. From All-American candidates Gavin Grahovac and Caden Sorrell atop the order to the professional approach of Jake Duer to the always-on-base Bear Harrison to the trio of true freshmen in Nico Partida, Boston Kellner and athletically freaky Jorian Wilson, Michael Earley’s offense has emerged and validated itself as one of the nation’s elite. If we didn’t learn our lesson by calling the 2022 club’s style “unsustainable,” the 2026 team appears hell-bent on silencing similar detractions.

Seven of the nine spots have produced consistently. That leaves Chris Hacopian, who is 16-for-58 in conference and 4-for-28 in April, and the designated hitter/third outfield spot.

Beginning at second base, Hacopian remains a highly-touted draft prospect who has gotten somewhat out of his approach of late. Too many times is he chopping grounders to the left side of the infield or chasing out of the zone. While it’s extremely unlikely to see Hacopian come out of the lineup in an SEC series, will Earley consider sliding the Maryland transfer down a couple of spots? There is an argument for it, but when the entire unit is going so well, why alter a thing?

Where more movement could be seen is in the outfield or at designated hitter. Jake Duer isn’t coming out of the lineup ever, but A&M’s best outfield alignment from left to right goes Terrence Kiel II, Sorrell and Wilson. Kiel has started three straight games in left field, but Duer would have played defensively with Wesley Jordan getting the nod at DH had the weather allowed for a Sunday ballgame vs. Texas. After Wilson’s left-on-left two-run double vs. Houston, it’s unlikely the Aggies will play matchups at the expense of the Hallettsville Howitzer and his out-of-this-world upside. When it comes to getting on first base, Kiel was fine, though unspectacular against the Longhorns. Will that make Earley again return to the well for the bigger bats of Jordan and Blake Binderup, or will he leave it as is?

While maximizing the offense has been pertinent through A&M’s first five SEC series, Jason Kelly’s pitching staff is beginning to show signs of life. Of course, Aiden Sims’ complete game shutout in the rubber match vs. Vanderbilt was head-and-shoulders better than either of the starts against Texas. However, Shane Sdao was noticeably better and limited the longball in his 4.0 innings vs. the Longhorns, which offers a glimmer of hope of what’s hopefully to come from the southpaw. Second, the rain impacted Sims’ first Saturday start of the year and washed away an opportunity for Weston Moss to throw in a finale last weekend. Thus, this will be the first chance to see A&M’s shuffled rotation and the possible aggression with which Moss is deployed out of the bullpen, if need be.

Additionally, Clayton Freshcorn has gotten help in the bullpen from the likes of Gavin Lyons and Grant Cunningham before, but scoreless outings on Tuesday from Juan Vargas, Luke Billings, Hunter Bond, Hunter Vincent and Ethan Darden could serve as confidence boosters. If so, this club is suddenly a much more complete ballclub than they showed in the first couple of conference weekends. If that’s the case, A&M would go from hosting hopefuls to bona fide contenders.

What’s at stake this weekend

Momentum is fleeting in the always-dangerous Southeastern Conference.

The Aggies have won three straight series and are riding even higher after last weekend’s two-game sweep of their archrival. As such, it is easy to see why they’ve entered the conversation to potentially host postseason baseball at Blue Bell Park at the end of May.

However, they could easily fall out of such discussions if they fail to handle business in hostile environments across back-to-back weekends in the treacherous SEC.

By now, you know the Bayou Bengals are backed into a corner. These talented defending champs are dangerous and just one series away from righting their ship.

Avoid being Tiger bait, and your resume will continue to soar, potentially into that elite “national seed” realm.

A fourth series victory in a row makes that reality easier to see.

A step back in Baton Rouge adds more pressure to next week’s trip to Gainesville.