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2019 NCAA Regional: Aggie Baseball Takes On Duke

In a school-record 13th consecutive regional, the Ags face off against the Blue Devils for the first time ever

By Matt Nesloney
Photo via Rebecca S.

For a school-record 13th straight season, Texas A&M is participating in an NCAA Regional as they head east over to the 2019 Morgantown Regional, marking the program’s 35th regional appearance all-time. The Aggies’ streak of 13 is good for the third-longest active streak of NCAA appearances, trailing Florida State’s 42 and Vanderbilt’s 14. During this run, the Maroon & White have racked up a record of 31-16 in the regional round, and have taken home six regional titles in the previous 12 chances. This run has also produced two College World Series appearances, but we don’t need to get into how the Ags have fared in Omaha.

Here’s how the 2019 Morgantown Regional shapes up:

  1. No. 15 overall seed West Virginia (37-20, 13-11 Big 12, #13 RPI)
  2. Texas A&M (37-21-1, 16-13-1 SEC, #15 RPI)
  3. Duke (31-25, 15-15 ACC, #44 RPI)
  4. Fordham (38-22, 15-9 Atlantic 10, #135 RPI)

This is the fifth time since the introduction of the super regional format in 1999 (fourth during the Childress Era) that the Aggies enter a regional as a two-seed. Of those five, A&M’s lone regional title came in 2004, when the Aggies knocked off the defending-national-champion Rice Owls (WAAAAAAAAAYYYYYNE DELAAAAAAAAY). In the three two-seed appearances since then, however, the Ags went 1-2 in the 2009 Fort Worth Regional, 3-2 in the 2010 Coral Gables Regional, and 2-2 in the 2013 Corvallis Regional. In fact, A&M has claimed only one regional championship since 1999 in which they didn’t host, when they swept through the Houston Regional 3-0 in 2017. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that this regional is very winnable. West Virginia’s RPI is just two spots higher than A&M’s, Duke was one of the “last four in”, and the Ags have already dealt with Fordham this season. Obviously, nothing is a given in this tournament, and with the Aggies’ knack for wasting no-hitters this season (*siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh*), this could indeed go very poorly. BUT, with the best one-two punch in college baseball and an incredibly deep pitching staff, this could also be a whole lot of fun.

Probable Starters

  • John Doxakis (7-3, 1.84 ERA) vs. TBA

How to Watch

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