Texas A&M Baseball Opens SEC Play, Hosts Kentucky

Well, Tuesday’s game against Texas has come and gone. It was frustrating. It was infuriating. Just play catch, one of the biggest and most annoying cliches in baseball, was ever so true, as four errors in the span of two innings gave the Horns three extra runs.

This weekend, big boy baseball returns. The Kentucky Wildcats are in town for the first SEC series for the year, giving the Aggies a great opportunity to put Tuesday’s game behind them. For those wondering, yes Kentucky plays baseball, and yes they based ball better than they football, usually. The ‘Cats come in at 12-6, winning 12 of their last 14. Their most notable series win thus far came against UC Santa Barbara, as they swept the Gauchos two weeks ago.

Probable Starters

• Friday: Brigham Hill (4-0, 1.40 ERA) vs. Sean Hjelle (2-1, 7.06 ERA)
• Saturday: Stephen Kolek (1-0, 2.04 ERA) vs. Zach Logue (3-1, 1.93 ERA)
• Sunday: Mitchell Kilkenny (2-0, 2.70 ERA) vs. Justin Lewis (2-1, 2.74 ERA)

What to Watch For

Infield defense

In general, the Aggies’ defense has been decent. There have been quite a few sparkling plays (shoutout Braden Shewmake and Nick Choruby). There have also been some boneheaded mistakes. A&M’s team fielding percentage currently sits at .969 (nice), but the top 50 fielding teams in the country all hold percentages of .977 or higher. The Ags sit barely within the top 100 in this category. They haven’t needed to worry about it as much the past few years because their high-powered offense could overcome almost any deficit they faced. And while this team isn’t exactly inept offensively, they’re not going to score as much. The Ags need to get their defensive woes under control.

The freshmen won’t stop hitting

This is your weekly reminder that you need to pay attention to Shewmake, Logan Foster and Hunter Coleman. Shewmake leads the team in hitting (.415) and RBIs (23), Foster leads the team in homers (4), and Coleman has hit his way up to the top half of the lineup.

How to Watch

• Times: 6:02 pm Friday | 2:02 pm Saturday | 1:02 pm Sunday
• TV: All three games will be televised on SEC Network +
• Radio: SportsRadio 1150 AM/The Zone 102.7 FM
• Live Audio: 12thman.com