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Texas A&M Baseball: Auburn preview, game times, TV and more

By Robert Ford

BATON ROUGE, LA - MARCH 30: Texas A&M Aggies infielder Braden Shewmake (8) bats during a baseball game between the Texas A&M Aggies and LSU Tigers on March 30, 2017, at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Photo by John Korduner/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
BATON ROUGE, LA - MARCH 30: Texas A&M Aggies infielder Braden Shewmake (8) bats during a baseball game between the Texas A&M Aggies and LSU Tigers on March 30, 2017, at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Photo by John Korduner/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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Texas A&M baseball (25-9-1, 7-4-1 SEC) is back at Blue Bell Park to welcome the Auburn Tigers in a big SEC west showdown.

This weekend will mark Texas A&M baseball’s fifth SEC weekend of the year and a big opportunity to pick themselves up off the mat after struggling in Baton Rouge against LSU. Auburn (23-10, 7-5 SEC) enters the series having dropped their last series against Arkansas at home. They also dropped their midweek game against Jacksonville State.

For the Aggies, A&M loss to Texas State (5-3) when starter Dustin Saenz struggled to find the strike zone. The Bobcats got going quickly by doubling off Saenz with the very first pitch of the game. After a sacrifice bunt, three walks and a balk, the bases were loaded for John Wuthrich. He promptly would put the game out of reach before the Aggies even took the plate.

After dominating the Longhorns last week, Saenz only went 0.1 innings giving up two hit, walking three and allowing five runs, all earned. The bullpen would do its job not allowing another run, but the offense could not dig themselves out of the hole.

In all, seven relief pitchers saw action allowing just four hits while striking out 12. That’s a great sign heading into a weekend where both the Aggies and Tigers come in to the series a bit on the down side.

On offense, the Aggies had more strikeouts than they did hits at home and to a team they are supposed to beat, which is head-scratching. A&M got within two in the fourth, but could not muster any more support. The Aggies had a chance in the seventh with two men in scoring position with one out, but neither Mikey Hoehner or Logan Foster could come up with the big hit.

The win by Texas State dropped A&M’s record in the midweek to 8-3 with three games left. As we look to the series against Auburn, let’s recap on the series history. The Tigers won the first two series in 2013, 2014 and the series last year. The Aggies swept the Tigers in 2015 and took each of the series in 2016 and 2017.

Here are the probable pitching match-ups for the weekend.

  • Friday – #14 John Doxakis (Jr., LHP, 3-2, 2.05 ERA) vs. #32 Tanner Burns (So., RHP, 4-0, 1.76 ERA)
  • Saturday – #35 Asa Lacy (So., LHP, 6-0, 1.29 ERA) vs. TBA
  • Sunday – TBA vs. #43 Richard Fitts (Fr., RHP, 2-1, 4.84 ERA)

Below is all the information you could possibly need for the games.

Dates: April 12-14

Game Times:

  • Friday – 6:30 PM CST
  • Saturday –  4:00 PM CST
  • Sunday – 1:00 PM CST

Location: Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park, College Station, Texas

Live Video: SEC Network+ (WatchESPN app)

Live Audio: RadioAggieland.com

Live Stats: tamu.statbroadcast.com

Series History: Texas A&M leads series 11-8

Rankings:

  • Auburn / No. 23 (CB), 19 (Coaches), 22 (D1B, BA, NCBWA), 18 (PG)
  • Texas A&M / No. 14 (BA), 13 (PG), 10 (D1B), 12 (NCBWA, Coaches, CB)

Next. People you didn't know went to Texas A&M. dark

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