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A&M Baseball Preview: UT Arlington

The No. 10 Texas A&M Aggies face a formidable test when they host the UT Arlington Mavericks for a 6:32 p.m. contest Tuesday night on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.
Credit: kags

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — The No. 10 Texas A&M Aggies face a formidable test when they host the UT Arlington Mavericks for a 6:32 p.m. contest Tuesday night on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.

 

UTA, which enters the contest on a nine-game win streak, has toppled Top 25 opponents in each of their last two midweek games, including a 2-1 victory over Baylor in 13 innings on April 9 and a 6-3 triumph over TCU last Tuesday.

 

The Aggies rank in the top 20 in the nation in numerous pitching categories, including strikeouts per nine innings (2nd - 11.0), K-to-BB ratio (2nd - 3.66), WHIP (6th - 1.14), ERA (7th - 2.91), shutouts (9th - 5), walks allowed per nine innings (12th - 3.01) and hits allowed per nine innings (12th - 7.27).

 

The Texas A&M pitching staff is on pace to set a school record for strikeouts in 2019. With 458 strikeouts through 42 games, the Maroon & White are on pace to hang 610 Ks through the 56-game regular-season schedule. The school record for strikeouts in a season is 612 set by the 2010 squad, the only season the Aggies have ever reached the 600-K mark. With a sufficient run at the SEC Tournament and NCAA Championship, the Aggies could flirt with becoming just the second SEC team to post 700 strikeouts in a season, potentially joining Vanderbilt’s 2015 squad that recorded 703 strikeouts.

 

The Aggies own the only pitching staff in the nation to not yield double-digits in the run column in a game in 2019. The last time the Aggies gave up 10 or more runs in a game was the 2018 regular-season finale against South Carolina when the Maroon & White dropped a 10-1 decision.

 

Individually, Asa Lacy ranks 11th in the nation in strikeouts (89), 13th in hits allowed per nine innings (4.85) and 14th in strikeouts per nine innings (13.50). John Doxakis ranks 10th in the nation in K-to-BB ratio (7.89) and 26th in walks allowed per nine innings (1.29). Kasey Kalich ranks seventh in the nation in saves with 10.

 

With his next save, Kalich will move into a tie with Scott Centala (11 - 1988) for fourth place on the Texas A&M’s single-season saves chart. He is chasing the school record of 14 set by Jason Jester in 2013 and equaled by Nolan Hoffman in 2018.

 

Braden Shewmake enters the week in eighth place on the Aggies’ career RBI list. With 148 career ribbies, he needs nine to tie Luke Anders (157 - 2006-09) for seventh place. Shewmake also moved into a tie for 10th place on Texas A&M’s career triples list with 10.


The game is available for viewing on SEC Network +. SEC Network + provides digital-only events to SEC Network subscribers through WatchESPN and the ESPN app on smartphones, computers, tablets and connected devices (Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Xbox 360 and Xbox One). The games will air on SportsRadio 1150 and/or 102.7 The Zone.

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