Credit to Ben Rikard | Assistant Director, Athletics Communications
BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M Aggies will be looking to rebound from a tough weekend in Knoxville when they host the No. 21 Texas Longhorns on Tuesday at Blue Bell Park.
The Aggies dropped all three games of its series at No. 12 Tennessee over the weekend while the Longhorns swept Texas Tech in Austin to open Big 12 play.
Texas enters the game riding a 14-game win streak, making its first appearance in the national rankings this year this week.
GAME COVERAGE
TV/STREAMING: Tuesday’s game will also be aired on the SEC Network… Clay Matvick will be on play-by-play with Kyle Peterson providing analysis.
RADIO: The game can be heard locally on SportsRadio 1150/93.7 The Zone… Andre Monaco will be on the call for with John Scheschuk providing in-game analysis… additionally, Will Johnson will be at field level… the pregame show begins 15 minutes prior to first pitch.
SOCIAL: Fans can get in-game updates on social media by following @AggieBaseball on Twitter.
POPPING UP AT THE BALLPARK
Fans will be able to visit Texas A&M’s “Rep the Aggies” Baseball Merchandise Pop-Up Shop on Tuesday outside Blue Bell Park.
The “Rep the Aggies” Pop-Up shop will feature baseball-specific apparel and hats for fans to purchase. The merchandise experience will be located on the first base side of Blue Bell Park, just outside the main entrance, and will be open from 4-7 p.m.
Fans do not have to have a ticket to enter the space to purchase officially licensed Texas A&M merchandise. Patrons may also enter Blue Bell Park and then return to the plaza to purchase items.
SERIES NOTES vs THE LONGHORNS
– Tuesday’s game will be the 375th all-time meeting between the Aggies and Longhorns.
– The Longhorns are the most-played opponent in Aggie Baseball history.
– Texas A&M has won each of the last four meetings with the Longhorns, the longest win streak for A&M since winning four in a row in during the 1990 and 1991 seasons.
– Texas A&M has also won the last four in the series played in Bryan-College Station.
– The last time Texas won a game at Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park was on 5/19/2011 in a Big 12 series.
– The teams squared off twice in 2022 with Texas A&M eliminating the Longhorns in the College World Series in the second meeting; it was the first time the teams had met in the postseason since they were each part of the field in the 2014 NCAA Houston Regional.
– Aggie head coach Jim Schlossnagle is 23-18 in his career vs Texas; including 2-0 at Texas A&M and 21-18 during his time at TCU.
ITS PRONOUNCED SUH-DAY-OH
After Justin Lamkin impressed in midweek starts each of the past two weeks, fellow freshman lefty Shane Sdao will get his opportunity on Tuesday vs the Longhorns. The rookie from Montgomery Lake Creek HS gets the nod for his first career start after having made eight relief appearances in 2023, a total second only to Will Johnston on the ballclub. He’s been impressive thusfar with five outings going for at least 2.0 innings, including each of his past four. Most recently he held Rice scoreless on 58 pitches thru 3.1 innings a week ago and has only allowed two runs in 10.2 innings during the month of March.
STAYIN‘ SAWED OFF
The Aggies and Longhorns have faced off all but two seasons since 1915 – the 2015 and the COVID-shortened 2020 seasons – and it’s been a while since A&M dropped a game to its rival to the west. Texas A&M last fell to Texas in 2018 NCAA Austin Regional but has reeled off four straight wins over the Horns since that game on June 2, 2018. That is a span of 1,761 days.
LAVIOLETTE COMING OFF SOLID WEEK
Freshman Jace LaViolette was one of the more highly-touted freshman position players in the country entering 2023, but was hitting .209 with 25 strikeouts after the conclusion of the LSU series. However, he followed that up with a breakout four-game week that the Aggies are hoping carries over into Tuesday’s game vs Texas. He had not hit safely in more than three straight games until last week but hit his way on in all three games last week vs Rice and Tennessee. La Violette finished 7-for-14 with four runs scored, four RBI, two doubles, a triple and a homer in addition to two stolen bases for the week.
MIDWEEK METTLE
College baseball sees most of its focus on weekend series, but success in midweek battles can pay big dividends in the later months of the season. The Aggies dropped their first midweek of 2023 to Lamar but responded a week later with a 23-0 shelling of HCU and have posted five midweek wins since. Typically the Aggies have taken advantage of their midweek opportunities. Texas A&M was 9-1 in midweek games in 2022 and are now 14-2 in those games under Jim Schlossnagle. Since the start of the COVID-shortened 2020 season Texas A&M is 31-5 in midweek games.
HUNTER ON A HIT STREAK
Aggie shortstop Hunter Haas has been stellar for Texas A&M this year and enters Tuesday having hit safely in each of his last 11 games, the longest active streak on the roster. He is hitting .458 (22-for-48) during that stretch with an inside-the-park homer at Houston and four doubles.
The former Arizona State infielder has been everything you could ask for of a top-of-the-order hitter and has reached base in 23 of 24 games this year. He currently leads the team and ranks in the top 10 of the SEC with a .407 average and .509 on-base percentage.
FIRST HAAS, THEN MOSS
Former Arizona State roommates, Hunter Haas and Jack Moss are now manning the top of the Aggie order with Haas hitting in front of Moss in each game this year. Not only is Haas on fire with an 11-game hit streak, but Moss has raised his average from .264 on March 8 to .340 entering Tuesday after a red-hot weekend at Tennessee that saw him homer in each of the final two games of the series and finish with six RBI. He is on a 10-game hit streak of his own with five multi-hit games during that stretch.