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Texas A&M Baseball: Alabama Preview, Schedule, and How to Watch

By Matthew McNairy

Mar 18, 2017; Tampa, FL, USA; A view of an official Rawlings baseball at George M. Steinbrenner Field. The Orioles won 5-4. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 18, 2017; Tampa, FL, USA; A view of an official Rawlings baseball at George M. Steinbrenner Field. The Orioles won 5-4. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports /
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Aggie Pitching

Texas A&M is led by Friday night ace Brigham Hill who has a 2.65 ERA, 60 strikeouts in 51 innings and holds batters to a .209 average. He will keep the previously mentioned mediocre Alabama offense at bay.

Saturday’s starter Corbin Martin poses a dilemma. He has great raw talent as evidenced by his All Cape Cod team selection with a 1.14 ERA and 22 strikeouts over 15 innings. At A&M he has handed out far too many walks (21, the most on the Aggie pitching staff). Walks were a problem for him last Saturday as issued five free passes in three frames.

There have been signs for optimism since the Shriners’ College Classic and prior to the Auburn game, he had only surrendered five runs in his past 24 innings (1.88 ERA) and had a great WHIP of 1.13. It will be imperative for him to keep control of his pitches.

Rounding out the rotation will be Stephen Kolek. He has looked solid except for a 10 run implosion against Vanderbilt which has inflated his stat line. Last Sunday he dominated against Auburn, only allowing one run in eight innings. Kolek  is not much of a strikeout pitcher. He’s collected more than three K’s just twice this year, but the Vanderbilt game was the only game in which he gave up more than three earned runs.

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While it is admittedly a small sample size, Mitchell KIlkenny has excelled in the closer’s role with a four saves, a 0.92 ERA, and eight strikeouts over 9 innings. Hopefully, he can maintain some of this momentum heading forward.

Aggie Batting

In SEC play only three regular starters have batted above .225. That’s one of the reasons that the Aggies have the lowest on base percentage in the SEC. Second baseman Braden Shewmake has really struggled lately, with only 4 hits in his last 6 SEC games and a 2-for-12 mark against Auburn. Leadoff man Nick Choruby has not done much better recently (1-11 against Auburn with 5 K’s and no walks).

Why am I still optimistic? Simply put, Shewmake and Choruby are too talented to continue to have a prolonged slump. Better still the weak Alabama pitching staff is a prime opportunity to get back on track. Moreover, one hallmark of a talented team is to get production from other players even when your stars are struggling. Hunter Coleman went 5-for-11 with a homer against Auburn and Came Blake went 3-for-6 against the Tigers.

Next: Aggie No-Hitter Thwarted in Ninth Inning

George Janca has also being swinging the bat well with a .356 average, 3 HRs, and 10 RBIs in SEC play. A final reason why I am not overly concerned about A&M’s bats is that they have faced top notch pitching staffs early on and will move on to significantly weaker pitching this weekend against Alabama and the following weekend against Tennessee.

Prediction: Aggies sweep

***Stats from 12thMan.com, RollTide.com***