Texas A&M Baseball: Aggies ranked in only one poll after 4-1 week
By Robert Ford
Texas A&M baseball (7-1) enjoyed a very nice week on the diamond beating SFA and Prairie View A&M in the midweek and then taking the series against UIC.
Tuesday and Wednesday night brought Texas A&M baseball their first taste of midweek competition. They beat SFA (5-3) behind a very strong start by Dustin Saenz. Four other Aggie pitchers helped the cause with the win going to Bryce Miller and the save to Kasey Kalich which was his second on the year.
On Wednesday, the Aggies welcomed their friends from Prairie View A&M to College Station. Once again, the pitching was the story of the night. Chris Weber picked up his first win of the year going six strong innings. Three other pitchers saw action to preserve the (9-1) victory.
The ability to pick up midweek wins this year will be critical due to the strength of the SEC. Currently, the league has 10 teams ranked in the Collegiate Baseball poll with the Aggies coming in at No. 23. A&M will play seven of those teams once conference play begins.
The midweek games this year will feature Houston Baptist, Incarnate Word, A&M Corpus-Christi, Abilene Christian, Dallas Baptist, Rice, Lamar, Texas, Texas State, Houston, UT Arlington and Sam Houston State. My prediction is the Aggies will finish the midweek games with a record of 11-3.
One word sums up the feeling after watching all 27 innings of the series against Illinois-Chicago: worried. The Aggie offense scored only nine runs on 15 hits. That could make for a long season. Luckily, the season is only eight games in, but A&M is hitting .234 as a team.
Through those eight, the offense has 60 hits, 13 of which have gone for extra bases. Averaging 7.5 hits per game in the SEC could make for a long season as the pitching will get considerably better.
The offense needs Braden Shewmake (hitting .185), Logan Foster (.207) and others to get going in a hurry. Shewmake and Foster have combined for 11 hits, let’s see if these guys can get going with a step up in class this weekend.
In the Perfect Game/Rawlings, NCBWA, Baseball America, and D1Baseball polls, the Aggies are unranked.
The Coaches poll has yet to be released.
The only poll that has the Aggies ranked is the Collegiate Baseball poll, the Aggies moved up five spots to No. 23.
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This week, the Aggies welcome Houston Baptist and Incarnate Word to Blue Bell Park before leaving for Minute Maid Park in Houston to play in the Shriners College Classic. There they will face No. 14 Baylor, No. 19 TCU and Houston.
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