News release from Texas A&M Athletics:
TUSCALOOSA – Riding a five-game win streak, the No. 1 Texas A&M baseball team hits the road for a Top 15 matchup against No. 12 Alabama (24-13, 6-9) starting Thursday night at 6 p.m. from Sewell-Thomas Stadium.
The Aggies (33-4, 11-4) are off to their best overall and SEC start since 2015 and have won 13 of the last 14 contests.
Thursday’s series opener will air on SEC Network, while Friday and Saturday’s contests will be streamed on SEC Network+. In addition, the weekend set can be heard locally on SportsRadio 1150AM/93.7 The Zone. Fans can also follow along with the games on X, @AggieBaseball.
After recording its first sweep of a Top 10 opponent since 2016, the Aggies checked in at No. 1 across all five major polls on Monday. The No. 1 ranking marks the Maroon & White’s first since the 2016 campaign. In their first game as the No. 1 team, Texas A&M run-ruled Air Force 15-5 in midweek action Tuesday.
Thursday’s contest marks the 35th meeting all-time between the Aggies and Crimson Tide. The Maroon & White lead the series 20-14 and are 8-6 in Tuscaloosa.
Under first year pitching coach Max Weiner, the Texas A&M pitching staff has lowered its ERA from a season ago by over two runs. The Aggies currently rank first in shutouts (8), second in ERA (3.21), second in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.83), third in strikeouts per nine (11.8), third in WHIP (1.16), seventh in hits allowed per nine (7.32) and 10th in walks allowed per nine (3.07). Their eight shutouts are the most since 2016.
The Maroon & White will send the usual trio of Ryan Prager, Tanner Jones and Justin Lamkin to the mound in the series. The trio has combined for a 12-2 record to go along with a 3.18 ERA and 157 strikeouts. Last weekend, Prager and Jones became the first pair of Aggie teammates to record back-to-back outings of seven-plus innings in SEC play since 2017.
Prager has been brilliant in his return from injury as the redshirt sophomore currently ranks second nationally in strikeouts-to-walk ratio (14.6), second in WHIP (0.76), fourth in wins (7), fourth in walks allowed per nine (0.90), 11th in strikeouts (73) and 18th in ERA (1.98). The lefty also leads the SEC in strikeouts-to-walk ratio, walks allowed per nine, WHIP and wins.
Offensively, the Aggies rank second in walks (245), fifth in homers (77), seventh in on-base percentage (.438), eighth in homers per game (2.08), eighth in slugging percentage (.577), 12th in runs (338), 16th in scoring (9.1) and 17th in hits (391).
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 149 of the Aggies 320 RBI on the year.
Entering the week, Montgomery leads the nation in RBI (60) and ranks second in total bases (126), third in homers (20) and fourth in slugging percentage (.900). LaViolette currently sits second nationally in runs scored with 56 and sixth in homers with 18. Among the SEC the sophomore leads the league in runs and triples (3) and ranks third in walks (35), fourth in homers, sixth in RBI (46) and seventh in slugging percentage (.819). Grahovac, who was named the SEC Freshman of the Week, has turned in a stellar rookie campaign thus far, ranking eighth in the SEC in RBI with 43.