The Texas A&M baseball team will look to turn things around against the 19th-ranked Texas Longhorns at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Blue Bell Park.
The Aggies were swept at Tennessee in a three-game Southeastern Conference series over the weekend that knocked A&M (15-9, 1-5 SEC) out of the USA Today/coaches poll, but the Aggies are 30th by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. Texas is coming off a three-game sweep of Texas Tech to open Big 12 play. That gave the Longhorns a 14-game winning streak and vaulted them into the rankings for the first time this season.
UT (18-7, 3-0) capped its 14-game home stand with a pair of walk-off victories over Texas Tech. The Longhorns got a 6-5 victory on Saturday via a wild pitch that scored Porter Brown who had doubled and moved to third on a balk. Tech, which had tied Saturday’s game with two runs in the top of the ninth only to lose, tied Sunday’s game at 8 with four runs in the eighth and another in the top of the ninth, but UT catcher Garret Guillemette hit a 407-foot homer on a 2-0 pitch with no outs for the 9-8 victory.
The Aggies scored runs in the first inning of all three games against Tennessee, but ended up losing 10-4, 8-7 and 9-6.
A&M freshman left-hander Shane Sdao (0-0, 2.35 ERA) will make his first start. He’s thrown 15 1/3 innings, striking out 19 and walking three. UT will counter with sophomore right-hander LeBarron Johnson Jr. (2-1, 2.96 ERA) who will be making his sixth midweek start this season. He has thrown 27 1/3 innings in eight appearances with 32 strikeouts and 12 walks.
A&M has won the last four meetings, including last year at the College World Series 10-2 in a losers’ bracket game. The Aggies also grabbed a 12-9 victory in the regular season at Disch-Falk Field.
NOTES — The game will be televised by the SEC Network. ... A&M shortstop Hunter Haas has an 11-game hitting streak and Jack Moss is riding a 10-game hitting streak.
... UT’s Brown was the Big 12 player of the week, hitting .615 (8 of 13) with two doubles, two homers and eight RBIs. ... UT is 1-2 on the road this season, dropping a series at Cal State Fullerton with the rubber game a 5-4 loss in 11 innings on March 5 that was the Longhorns’ last road game.
