What can we learn from Texas A&M baseball’s only matchup with Tennessee this season?

Takeaways from Texas A&M baseball’s only matchup with Tennessee in 2024; Do the Aggies have the upper hand?

Despite sharing a conference, Texas A&M baseball has only seen Tennessee once this season, and it was by happenstance. Both the Aggies and Volunteers, despite entering the SEC tournament as highly-seeded teams, lost their initial matchups in Hoover. With both teams having their spots as national seeds relatively secure, they didn’t throw their best punches in those initial games.

This meant that the two squads met in the loser’s bracket of the SEC tournament on May 23—an early elimination game between two teams expected to be the cream of the crop in the NCAA tournament. Given the circumstances, we saw something a bit more akin to each team’s best effort in game two—at least as far as how things were approached from a personnel standpoint.

The Aggies sent out ace Ryan Prager to face the Vols; though the lefty had been in a slump up until that point, he was still slotted as a top-shelf starter for the Aggie rotation. He didn’t make it very far into the game, being pulled after 2.1 innings, but he allowed only 3 hits and one earned run. Tanner Jones and Josh Stewart both made appearances, and the Vols hit off of them better than they did Prager.

The star on offense that day was freshman Gavin Grahovac, who had two homers. That could portend a big series for him, which would be amazing for the Aggies—the SEC freshman of the year has been solid during the tournament, but he has a higher ceiling that he can reach. If he gets there against the Volunteers, things will be going very well for the Ags.

Braden Montgomery was not a factor in the 7-4 Aggie loss, going 0-for-5 at the plate. He will obviously miss the College World Series final, but if Kaeden Kent can give you anything at all on offense, that will be an upgrade over the performance that Montgomery had in Hoover. This is not a slight to Braden, of course, just an observation based on how things went in the one matchup and where the Aggies might have room for improvement.

My impression of the Vol pitching is that they can be had, and the bats have a tendency to chase. If we get Prager, Lamkin, etc., on top of their games, they can command the zone against this lineup. The Aggies didn’t throw Aschenbeck against the Vols, but he is the ultimate weapon as a closer. Overall, I like how this Aggie squad matches up here, but it won’t be an easy task.