Hope springs eternal as the Aggie bats have woken up
Just when Texas A&M fans were ready to give up hope for this squad, the Aggies rattled off a seven-game winning streak and took two straight SEC series. The latter came against South Carolina, with the sweep completed in dramatic fashion courtesy of two grand slams in the bottom of the ninth inning.
The return of Caden Sorrell to the Texas A&M lineup has undoubtedly provided a massive spark for the Ags.
Things don’t get easier for Michael Earley’s squad, however. The Aggies enter the meat of the SEC schedule with Arkansas, Texas, and LSU representing the next three conference opponents, each in the top five of the SEC.
First up is #2 Arkansas on the road.
Photo by Aaron M. Sprecher/Getty Images
As mentioned above, Texas A&M’s bats have really come alive over the course of the past two weeks. Against South Carolina, the Aggies plated 35 runs over the course of the series.
However, Arkansas represents a clear step up in quality of pitching as the Hogs have surrendered double-digit runs just once in SEC play. That came back in their conference opener against Ole Miss. Fayetteville will test this Texas A&M lineup starting tonight with lefty Zach Root on the bump for Arkansas. Root is 6th in the SEC with 67 strikeouts.
Photo by Aaron M. Sprecher/Getty Images
Arkansas represents a tall task for the Aggie pitching staff as well. Ryan Prager hasn’t been quite up to his own standards in SEC play, and he’ll be up against an Arkansas lineup that has three of the top five in batting average in the league in Cam Kozeal, Kuhio Aloy, and Charles Davalan. Justin Lamkin and Myles Patton remain the expected starters for Friday and Saturday,
Though the Aggies discovered a reliable bullpen arm in Weston Moss last week against South Carolina, they didn’t do much to inspire confidence in the rest of the relief arms. This Arkansas lineup can score a lot of runs in a hurry, and Texas A&M will need to find more out of their bullpen this weekend if they want to take a third straight series win in SEC play.
The SEC remains a gauntlet for baseball teams, but a series win this weekend in Fayetteville could do wonders for a team that has shown an incredible amount of fight after a disastrous start to the year.
Let’s see if the momentum continues against Arkansas.
Probable Starters
- Thursday: LHP Ryan Prager (2-2, 3.93 ERA, 52.2 IP, 50 K, 13 BB) vs. LHP Zach Root (5-1, 3.82 ERA, 49.2 IP, 67 K, 17 BB)
- Friday: LHP Justin Lamkin (3-3, 3.25 ERA, 52.2 IP, 57 K, 12 BB) vs. RHP Gage Wood (0-0, 2.57 ERA, 7.0 IP, 13 K, 1 BB)
- Saturday: LHP Myles Patton (3-3, 4.91 ERA, 47.2 IP, 52 K, 9 BB) vs. LHP Landon Beidelschies (4-0, 4.24 ERA, 40.1 IP, 42 K, 11 BB)
How to Watch
- 7:00 p.m. Thursday on SEC Network
- 6:30 p.m. Friday on SECN+
- 4:00 p.m. Saturday on SECN+
#BTHOarkansas