Photo by Lexie Hudson, TexAgs
Texas A&M Baseball
Series Preview: No. 17 Texas A&M vs. Brown
Who: Brown Bears (0-3, 0-0 in Ivy League)
Where: Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park — College Station, Texas
When: Friday 6:30 p.m. CT (SEC+)
Saturday 2:00 p.m. CT (SEC+)
Sunday 12:00 p.m. CT (SEC+)
Pitching matchups
Brown has a lot of experience coming back from a 2016 squad that finished the season 15-24 overall and 9-11 in Ivy League play. So there's a lot of experience, but not much success with a schedule that doesn't match a Power Five conference slate. Frankly, the deck will be stacked against the Bears as they roll into Olsen Field for a three-game set this weekend.
In a season-opening three-game set against Nicholls State, the Bears managed all of five total runs and left Thibodeaux, Louisiana, with a team batting average of .215 and a team slugging percentage of .295.
The offensive numbers weren't much better in 2016 with the team hitting .259.
The leading hitter on the 2016 squad, catcher Josh Huntley, finished the season with a .313 batting average. He returns for his senior season as a team captain. Junior outfielder Sam Grigo led last year's crew with 23 RBI and five home runs to go along with his .280 hitting average. Senior outfielder Rob Henry brings a .263 average and 16 RBI from last season. The offense is an experienced group that won't be intimidated by the Olsen Field crowd, but frankly, there's not much to fear in terms of statistics with the Bear offense.
On the other hand, the Aggie offense will face some legitimate resistance on the mound, especially Friday night when 2016 Second Team All-Ivy senior right-hander Christian Taugner takes the hill for the series opener. Taugner finished the 2016 with a 5-3 record and an impressive 2.73 ERA. He'll make Texas A&M hitters earn every base and walked only seven batters in nearly 60 innings of work last season. In his first start last week against Nicholls State, he did not walk a batter and gave up one run in six innings on the bump for a quality start.
Texan (Aledo) Reid Anderson is slated to start game two on Saturday. In his first outing last weekend, he threw 6.0 innings, allowing four runs on six hits and three walks. He's coming off a disappointing 1-5, 5.36 ERA campaign a year ago. Max Ritchie is scheduled to start Sunday's game. While he held Nicholls State to three runs in 6.2 innings, he surrendered 11 hits and escaped trouble all day. He was hit hard in 2016, as well, giving up 30 hits in 21 innings pitched and finishing with an 8.72 ERA.
Marc Flores, TexAgs
Friday night starter Brigham Hill is a perfect 3-0 on the season and hasn't allowed a run in 2017. He'll take the mound in game one against Brown.
After the debacle last weekend at Minute Maid Park in which the Ags lost two ninth-inning leads to No. 1 TCU and Baylor, all eyes are on Rob Childress and where he goes for help in closing games as SEC play approaches. Unfortunately, the Aggies likely won't get those answers resolved this weekend against an out-manned Brown team.
The weekend starters have been phenomenal. Brigham Hill is a perfect 3-0, and he hasn't allowed a run all season through three starts. Stephen Kolek has been rock solid with a 1-0 mark and a 1.80 ERA. After a rocky outing in weekend two, Mitchell Kilkenny had his best start of the year – and possibly his career – on Sunday against Baylor, allowing just one run and four hits over seven innings of action. He was in line for his second win of the season until the dreadful ninth inning and blown save.
And that leads us to the crux of the problem. Who will close ballgames for the Aggies in 2017? At this point, you can't point to Corbin Martin, who gave up the walk-off grand slam home run for his second loss of the young season. It's not simply control problems either. He's getting hit often and hard. He's already allowed nine earned runs, three doubles and two home runs in 12 innings of work. A successful closer doesn't have a 6.57 ERA.
Cason Sherrod was the back-up plan at closer, and he promptly walked five consecutive batters to ignite the five-run ninth inning against TCU. His 5.72 ERA isn't going to cut it either, although his downfall has been mostly control in the one game. He's only surrendered four hits in 7+ innings this season, so I expect to see Sherrod given more opportunities in the short-term to earn the closer role.
Jason Ruffcorn has above average velocity and electric stuff, but he's struggled to find the strike zone. The staff needs to find out if his control struggles were freshman jitters or are a lingering issue in 2017. Landon Miner as been the most impressive bullpen entity so far, but he's more of a finesse, off-speed pitcher that doesn't fit the mold. But then again, at this point the Aggies don't care about the mold. They are looking for anybody on the back end that can get an out in a pressure spot. That might have to be Miner, who sports a nice 1.64 ERA in 11 innings.
Lexie Hudson, TexAgs
Freshman Braden Shewmake has impressed at the plate through the season's first three weeks.
At the plate and in the field, the Aggies are in much better shape with the play of freshman sensations Logan Foster and Braden Shewmake, along with the hot hitting of seniors Blake Kopetsy and Joel Davis. However, there are a couple of trouble spots on the left side of the infield where opening day starters Austin Homan and George Janca are scuffling around the dreaded Mendoza line (.200). To make matters even more tenuous for Janca, he's struggled in the field with five errors and an .857 fielding percentage, which is about 100 points lower than it needs to be for a college infielder.
The answer seems to be freshman Jorge Gutierrez at second base, moving Shewmake to SS or inserting Gutierrez at third base and lifting Janca. Gutierrez has cooled off a bit after a torrid first week that saw him hit three home runs and hit .667. His average is down to .333 at the moment.
It will be interesting to see if Childress gives Cole Bedford more than a token start this weekend. Bedford is on fire at the plate, hitting .500 with a slugging percentage of .615. Freshman Hunter Coleman has been the primary starter and has hit well at .333, but opposing runners have had success stealing on him in the early going.
Brown should not provide many roadblocks this weekend unless the Aggies play without passion or interest this weekend, and that rarely happens with a Rob Childress team. Friday night could be the one big challenge with the offense facing a very nice senior pitcher in Taugner. Otherwise, the Aggies should focus on working on fundamentals and recovering mentally from a brutal, emotional weekend in Houston. The blown saves overshadowed what otherwise looked to be a very good weekend. The Aggies should have gone 3-0 in Houston with wins over two top 10 programs, but they didn't, and the team took a huge body blow mentally.
Can the bullpen pick itself up after that nightmare on Saturday and Sunday? Can the players avoid letting last weekend affect their overall confidence as they move forward? I'm not sure that can be done completely against Brown this weekend, but the team can rinse out the bad taste and start feeling better about heading into SEC play with a clean, productive weekend.
Where: Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park — College Station, Texas
When: Friday 6:30 p.m. CT (SEC+)
Saturday 2:00 p.m. CT (SEC+)
Sunday 12:00 p.m. CT (SEC+)
Pitching matchups
- Friday: Brigham Hill (RHP, 3-0, 0.00) vs. Christian Taugner (RHP, 0-0, 1.50)
- Saturday: Stephen Kolek (RHP, 1-0, 1.80) vs. Reid Anderson (RHP, 0-1, 6.00)
- Sunday: Mitchell Kilkenny (RHP, 1-0, 3.31) vs. Max Ritchie (RHP, 0-1, 4.05)
Brown players to watch
Brown has a lot of experience coming back from a 2016 squad that finished the season 15-24 overall and 9-11 in Ivy League play. So there's a lot of experience, but not much success with a schedule that doesn't match a Power Five conference slate. Frankly, the deck will be stacked against the Bears as they roll into Olsen Field for a three-game set this weekend.
If Brown is to be competitive against Texas A&M, the pitching will have to shut down the Aggie offense and battle through some low-scoring ball games.
If Brown is to be competitive against Texas A&M, the pitching will have to shut down the Aggie offense and battle through some low-scoring ball games.In a season-opening three-game set against Nicholls State, the Bears managed all of five total runs and left Thibodeaux, Louisiana, with a team batting average of .215 and a team slugging percentage of .295.
The offensive numbers weren't much better in 2016 with the team hitting .259.
The leading hitter on the 2016 squad, catcher Josh Huntley, finished the season with a .313 batting average. He returns for his senior season as a team captain. Junior outfielder Sam Grigo led last year's crew with 23 RBI and five home runs to go along with his .280 hitting average. Senior outfielder Rob Henry brings a .263 average and 16 RBI from last season. The offense is an experienced group that won't be intimidated by the Olsen Field crowd, but frankly, there's not much to fear in terms of statistics with the Bear offense.
On the other hand, the Aggie offense will face some legitimate resistance on the mound, especially Friday night when 2016 Second Team All-Ivy senior right-hander Christian Taugner takes the hill for the series opener. Taugner finished the 2016 with a 5-3 record and an impressive 2.73 ERA. He'll make Texas A&M hitters earn every base and walked only seven batters in nearly 60 innings of work last season. In his first start last week against Nicholls State, he did not walk a batter and gave up one run in six innings on the bump for a quality start.
Texan (Aledo) Reid Anderson is slated to start game two on Saturday. In his first outing last weekend, he threw 6.0 innings, allowing four runs on six hits and three walks. He's coming off a disappointing 1-5, 5.36 ERA campaign a year ago. Max Ritchie is scheduled to start Sunday's game. While he held Nicholls State to three runs in 6.2 innings, he surrendered 11 hits and escaped trouble all day. He was hit hard in 2016, as well, giving up 30 hits in 21 innings pitched and finishing with an 8.72 ERA.
Texas A&M players to watch
Marc Flores, TexAgs
Friday night starter Brigham Hill is a perfect 3-0 on the season and hasn't allowed a run in 2017. He'll take the mound in game one against Brown.
The weekend starters have been phenomenal. Brigham Hill is a perfect 3-0, and he hasn't allowed a run all season through three starts. Stephen Kolek has been rock solid with a 1-0 mark and a 1.80 ERA. After a rocky outing in weekend two, Mitchell Kilkenny had his best start of the year – and possibly his career – on Sunday against Baylor, allowing just one run and four hits over seven innings of action. He was in line for his second win of the season until the dreadful ninth inning and blown save.
And that leads us to the crux of the problem. Who will close ballgames for the Aggies in 2017? At this point, you can't point to Corbin Martin, who gave up the walk-off grand slam home run for his second loss of the young season. It's not simply control problems either. He's getting hit often and hard. He's already allowed nine earned runs, three doubles and two home runs in 12 innings of work. A successful closer doesn't have a 6.57 ERA.
Cason Sherrod was the back-up plan at closer, and he promptly walked five consecutive batters to ignite the five-run ninth inning against TCU. His 5.72 ERA isn't going to cut it either, although his downfall has been mostly control in the one game. He's only surrendered four hits in 7+ innings this season, so I expect to see Sherrod given more opportunities in the short-term to earn the closer role.
Jason Ruffcorn has above average velocity and electric stuff, but he's struggled to find the strike zone. The staff needs to find out if his control struggles were freshman jitters or are a lingering issue in 2017. Landon Miner as been the most impressive bullpen entity so far, but he's more of a finesse, off-speed pitcher that doesn't fit the mold. But then again, at this point the Aggies don't care about the mold. They are looking for anybody on the back end that can get an out in a pressure spot. That might have to be Miner, who sports a nice 1.64 ERA in 11 innings.
Lexie Hudson, TexAgs
Freshman Braden Shewmake has impressed at the plate through the season's first three weeks.
The answer seems to be freshman Jorge Gutierrez at second base, moving Shewmake to SS or inserting Gutierrez at third base and lifting Janca. Gutierrez has cooled off a bit after a torrid first week that saw him hit three home runs and hit .667. His average is down to .333 at the moment.
It will be interesting to see if Childress gives Cole Bedford more than a token start this weekend. Bedford is on fire at the plate, hitting .500 with a slugging percentage of .615. Freshman Hunter Coleman has been the primary starter and has hit well at .333, but opposing runners have had success stealing on him in the early going.
What's at stake this weekend
Brown should not provide many roadblocks this weekend unless the Aggies play without passion or interest this weekend, and that rarely happens with a Rob Childress team. Friday night could be the one big challenge with the offense facing a very nice senior pitcher in Taugner. Otherwise, the Aggies should focus on working on fundamentals and recovering mentally from a brutal, emotional weekend in Houston. The blown saves overshadowed what otherwise looked to be a very good weekend. The Aggies should have gone 3-0 in Houston with wins over two top 10 programs, but they didn't, and the team took a huge body blow mentally.
Can the bullpen pick itself up after that nightmare on Saturday and Sunday? Can the players avoid letting last weekend affect their overall confidence as they move forward? I'm not sure that can be done completely against Brown this weekend, but the team can rinse out the bad taste and start feeling better about heading into SEC play with a clean, productive weekend.
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