News release from Texas A&M Athletics:
BATON ROUGE – The top-ranked Texas A&M baseball team hits the road for a three-game set against the defending national champion LSU (29-17) starting Friday night at 7 p.m. at Alex Box Stadium.
The Aggies, who have won six straight series, are off to their best start since 1993 with a 39-6 mark. Their 15-6 start in SEC play is the best in program history.
Friday and Saturday’s contests will air on ESPN2, while Sunday’s finale will be streamed on SEC Network+. All three contests can also be heard locally on SportsRadio 1150AM/93.7 The Zone and fans can also follow along with the games on X, @AggieBaseball.
In Tuesday’s midweek win over Tarleton, the Maroon & White recorded their 100th home run of the year, becoming only the second team in program history to accomplish the feat. The Aggies joined the 1999 squad, who holds the program record with 128.
For the third straight week, Texas A&M is atop the polls as the unanimous No. 1 team. The ranking marks the fifth consecutive week the Aggies have been inside the Top 5 in all five major polls.
Friday’s series opener marks the 60th meeting all-time between the Aggies and Tigers. Despite dropping two of three last season, Texas A&M leads the series 31-27-1. The last time the two squads met in Baton Rouge, the Maroon & White claimed the series win.
Under first year pitching coach Max Weiner, the Aggie pitching staff has lowered its ERA from a season ago by nearly two runs. The Maroon & White rank first in shutouts (8), third in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.46), fourth in WHIP (1.22), seventh in ERA (3.87), ninth in strikeouts per nine (11.0), 10th in walks allowed per nine (3.18) and 14th in hits allowed per nine (7.83). Their eight shutouts are the most since 2016.
Offensively, the Aggies have been scorching of late as they’ve averaged 10.7 runs per game over the last 13 contests.
Nationally, the Aggies rank second in walks (301), fourth in homers (102), fourth in on-base percentage (.438), fourth in slugging percentage (.595), fifth in homers per game (2.27), sixth in runs (426), 10th in scoring (9.5), 11th in hits (487) and 15th in batting average (.315).
The Aggies have arguably the best 1-2-3 lineup punch in all of college baseball in Gavin Grahovac, Jace LaViolette and Braden Montgomery. The trio has combined for 186 of the Aggies 403 RBI on the year.
Entering the weekend, Montgomery ranks third nationally in RBI (73), third in RBI per game (1.62), fourth in total bases (146), fourth in homers (23), eighth in slugging percentage (.859) and 12th in walks (44).
LaViolette currently sits third nationally in runs (68), fourth in homers (23), seventh in total bases (144), 13th in RBI (61) and 14th in slugging percentage (.828). Against Alabama on April 20, LaViolette became the first player in program history to record back-to-back seasons of 20 or more home runs. LaViolette and Montgomery are also the first pair of teammates in program history to hit 20 or more homers each in a season.
Grahovac has turned in a stellar rookie campaign thus far, ranking sixth in the SEC in RBI with 52. In SEC play, Grahovac has belted 11 homers and driven in 26 RBI.