For the third consecutive year, the Texas Aggie Based Ballers will play in a Super Regional in search of A&M’s sixth ever trip to Omaha, and their first since 2011. The mere notion of a “College Station Super Regional” seemed impossible as the regular season came to a close. The Ags had lost three straight series and seemingly missed their flight to Hoover for the SEC Tournament, losing to Missouri in their first game of the tourney. Something finally clicked, however, when they arrived in Houston last weekend. They powered past Baylor with a five-run sixth inning, and staved off Iowa and Houston on the back of two brilliant pitching performances from Corbin Martin and Stephen Kolek.

Their reward for their efforts in the regional round? One of the hottest teams in the entire country. The Davidson Wildcats are in the middle of the greatest season in their program’s history. This season marks their first ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament, which means their run through the Chapel Hill Regional was their first ever Regional Championship and first ever appearance in the supers. That’s a lot of firsts. The ‘Cats finished the regular season in sixth place in the Atlantic 10, with an RPI of 126. To even get into a regional they had to earn the A-10’s auto-bid by winning the A-10 Tournament, which is another first for their program. The Wildcats are winners of 10 of their last 11, and they are absolutely on fire right now. So yes, Cinderella is in College Station this weekend.

Probable Starters

• Friday: Brigham Hill (8-3, 3.29 ERA) vs. Durin O’Linger (9-3, 2.89 ERA)
• Saturday: Corbin Martin (7-3, 2.99 ERA) vs. TBA
• Sunday: Stephen Kolek (4-4, 3.59 ERA) vs. TBA

What to Watch For

Need some Good Brigham Hill this weekend

For much of his career in a Texas A&M uniform, Brigham Hill has been one of the most, if not the most dependable arms in Rob Childress’ arsenal. But in his last three starts, Brigham hasn’t lasted more than 5.1 innings. In those three starts, he gave up a total of eleven runs (all earned) in just 14.2 innings. That’s not going to cut it if A&M’s Omaha aspirations are to come to fruition. Need some Good Brigham Hill today.

The Cinderella ‘Cats are here to play

Comparing Davidson’s offensive numbers to the Aggies’ this season, the two teams are basically even in most statistical categories. They have almost identical team batting averages (Dav - .276, A&M - .274), runs scored (Dav - 361, A&M - 365), hits (Dav - 572, A&M 566), doubles (Dav - 98, A&M 101), and RBIs (Dav - 326, A&M 328). The one stat that jumps off the page for the Wildcats is home runs. In total, the ‘Cats have hit a whopping 70 homers, which is good for 26th in Division I. Their led in that category by seniors Will Robertson and Brian Fortier, who have 18 and 15 bombs on the year, respectively. In contrast, A&M has 48 #WHAMMYs total. Robertson and Fortier have combined for more than two-thirds of the Aggies’ entire team total. In addition, Davidson junior Cam Johnson and sophomore Eric Jones each have nine homers, and sophomore Justin Lebek has seven. Braden Shewmake currently leads the Ags in home runs, and Joel Davis sits second on the team. Shew’s 11 bombs and Joel’s six would only be good for third and seventh on the Wildcats, respectively. So long story short, the Ags will have to make sure they keep Davidson in the ballpark as much as they can.

The Braden Shewmake Show™

This is your weekly reminder that Braden Shewmake is a very good based baller. He was recently named one of Collegiate Baseball’s National Freshmen of the Year, SEC Freshman of the Year, First Team All-America and Freshman All-America by Collegiate Baseball, and Second Team All-America by Baseball America. His 67 RBIs and 85 hits are good for 16th and 44th, respectively, in all of Division I. He also leads all Division I freshmen in those categories, as well as total bases. He’s a h*ckin cheat code.

How to Watch/Listen

• Times: Friday, 2:00 pm | Saturday, 5:00 pm | Sunday (if necessary), 5:00 pm
• TV: All three games will be televised on ESPN2 and streamed on ESPN3
• Radio: Dave South has the call on SportsRadio 1150 AM/The Zone 102.7 FM
• Live Audio: www.12thman.com