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Texas A&M Baseball: Ole Miss Preview, Schedule and How To Watch

ByMatthew McNairy|
Oct 15, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Bat and gloves belonging to Toronto Blue Jays catcher Dioner Navarro (not pictured) sit on the field before game two of the 2016 ALCS playoff baseball series at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 15, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Bat and gloves belonging to Toronto Blue Jays catcher Dioner Navarro (not pictured) sit on the field before game two of the 2016 ALCS playoff baseball series at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
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Texas A&M pitching

Friday night starter Brigham Hill (2.62 ERA, 3.24 SEC ERA) has rebounded from a slow conference start to giving up two runs or less in five out of his last six starts. Following Hill is Corbin Martin who has had a largely successful year in conference play, picking up his performance when the team needed it the most. He has had the lowest ERA (2.21) of the three Texas A&M starters in conference play.

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The concern with Martin is that he can be inconsistent with his command and not pitch deep into games.  In three of his last five starts, he did not finish six complete frames or more. He’s been more accurate of late, allowing two walks or less in three of his last five games.

Lastly, Stephen Kolek is making a strong case for the SEC’s best Sunday starter and has been one of the best overall in the last three weekends. He has notched double digit strikeouts in two of his last three games and narrowly missed a 10K+ outing against Missouri when he pitched 6.2 innings before rain delayed the game, forcing him out of the game. Also of note in that game, he had a perfect game going until a batter reached on catcher’s interference in the bottom of the fifth.

Aggie batting

The player to watch is second baseman Braden Shewmake who has a .348, 7 HR, 57 RBI line. He is the most consistent bat in the Aggie lineup and seems to be one of the most clutch batters on the team. Leadoff man Nick Choruby has done his part at the top of the order with 41 walks in 48 games contributing to a .432 on base percentage.

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The success of the Aggie offense will depend on getting more production from the bottom of the lineup in conference play.  Austin Homan, Hunter Coleman, Walker Pennington, Joel Davis, and Logan Foster are all batting less than .220 in conference play. As a whole, this A&M team is different than past years that had great offenses. This team does well enough to give the pitching and defense winnable games as they rank in the middle of the major offensive batting categories.

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