COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 8 Texas A&M baseball team continues its nine-game, season-opening home stand this weekend as it entertains Gonzaga in a three-game series at Olsen Field. Game times are set for 6:35 p.m. Friday, 2:05 p.m. Saturday and 12:05 p.m. for the finale on Sunday.
The Aggies enter the weekend 4-0 after sweeping a weekend series from Le Moyne to open the year and defeating Prairie View A&M in a mid-week contest on Tuesday. Gonzaga (0-3), meanwhile, comes to College Station seeking its first win of the season.
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS
FRIDAY (FEB. 25)
Texas A&M – #12 John Stilson (Jr., RHP, 1-0, 0.00)
Gonzaga – #22 Ryan Carpenter (Sr., LHP, 0-0, 5.40)
SATURDAY (FEB. 26)
Texas A&M – #38 Michael Wacha (So., RHP, 1-0, 0.00)
Gonzaga – #7 Marco Gonzales (Sr., LHP, 0-1, 10.80)
SUNDAY (FEB. 27)
Texas A&M – #28 Ross Hales (R-So., LHP, 1-0, 0.00)
Gonzaga – TBA
FOLLOWING THE ACTION
• RADIO — Fans can listen locally on WTAW-AM 1620 … Dave South (play-by-play) and Scott Clendenin (commentary) will call the action … pregame show begins 30 minutes prior to first pitch.
• INTERNET — aggieathletics.com will offer live play-by-play and statistics … fans can watch the game free of charge on aggieathletics.com.
• MOBILE PHONE — listen to the game on your iPhone, Blackberry or PDA free of charge … log on to radioaggieland.com for more information.
A&M/GONZAGA SERIES NOTABLES
This weekend will mark the first-ever meeting between Texas A&M and Gonzaga on the baseball diamond. The Aggies, however, have played three other current members of the West Coast Conference and are 4-2 against schools from the league – Santa Clara (3-0), Pepperdine (1-1) and San Diego (0-1).
MORE ON GONZAGA
The Bulldogs are 0-3 on the season, dropping a contest to Fresno State and a pair of games to Oregon State last weekend in Fresno, Calif. … Gonzaga is led by eighth-year head coach Mark Machtolf who has compiled a 200-188 record during his tenure in Spokane … The ‘Zags finished the 2010 season with a 20-36 overall record and in a tie for fifth in the West Coach Conference with an 8-13 record … 16 letterwinners return from last year’s squad, including six position starters and two starting pitchers … A pair of Gonzaga sophomores (Clayton Eslick, Steven Halcomb) return after garnering WCC All-Freshman team honors a year ago … following their trip to College Station, the Bulldogs will travel to Stockton, Calif., to play a three-game series against Pacific … Gonzaga will open its home schedule March 25-27 against UC-Irvine.
UP NEXT
Texas A&M will host Texas-Pan American in a two-game series next Tuesday and Wednesday at Olsen Field. Following the UTPA series, the Aggies will hit the road for the first time this spring and make the trip to Minute Maid Ballpark for the Houston College Classic.
NOTES AND NOTABLES
• Junior designated hitter Matt Juengel is off to a hot start for the Aggies, knocking home 11 runs in just four games this season. The Houston product has tied his career-high of four RBI in a game twice already this season and is batting .467 with a slugging percentage of 1.133 entering the weekend.
• Sophomore right fielder Tyler Naquin and junior first baseman Jacob House are also off to blazing starts this spring as they join Juengel as the only Aggies to have hit safely in all four games. Naquin has flashed his speed to notch a team-leading three triples and carries a .412 average into the Gonzaga series. House, meanwhile, has six hits in his first 15 at bats this season for a .400 average.
• The Texas A&M pitching staff was tabbed as one of the country’s best heading into the 2011 campaign and through four games they have lived up to the billing. Overall, the Aggies sport a 0.75 earned run average with 39 strikeouts in 36 innings of work while limiting their opponents to a .164 batting average.
• A&M’s starting pitchers have set the tone early in all four of the wins, with each of the four (John Stilson, Michael Wacha, Ross Hales and Dylan Mendoza) earning the win and giving the club a quality start. In fact, Aggie starters did not allow an earned run in the first 21.2 innings they tossed this year and carry a 0.36 ERA into the Gonzaga series.
• Texas A&M is in the middle of a nine-game homestand to start the season at Olsen Field … The Aggies play 14 of their first 17 games at home … the Aggies’ lone trip out of College Station during the span is to Houston for the Houston College Classic (March 4-6) … A&M will play the entire month of February at Olsen Field … the Aggies have just nine regular-season games scheduled outside the state of Texas (Big 12 series at Oklahoma, Kansas State and Missouri).
WEEKEND PROMOTIONS
FRIDAY (FEB. 25)
Batting practice give-away for five fans at Olsen
SATURDAY (FEB. 26)
Fans can “have a catch” following the game
SUNDAY (FEB. 27)
Team autograph session