The No. 8 Texas A&M club baseball team will host against Stephen F. Austin State University for a free admission conference series on April 1-2.
The Aggies will play at 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, and 10 a.m. Sunday at Edible Field in Bryan. A&M is 6-0 for overall conference wins in the NCBA South Gulf Coast conference, according to the standings on the NCBA website. SFA has yet to have success against the undefeated Aggies this season.
Senior and assistant coach Brendan Dye expects there to be a full sweep during this series, just like the last time they went head-to-head with SFA on February 18-19. The Aggies are feeling pretty confident, Dye said.
“We are definitely riding pretty high right now, but the main thing is to not let that get to our heads,” Dye said.
This will be a big series for the Aggies, because every conference game matters, Dye said. At this point in the season, A&M is expected to win the conference, he said.
“It’s tough sometimes when you get on a roll and think you are indestructible,” Dye said.
This is the highest the Aggies have been ranked in the past four years and since Dye has been a part of the team, he said. Journalism senior and team captain Tomas Romo said he believes the A&M club baseball team is a top-five team in the country.
“I’m excited to get this series under our belt, and then that final one against Texas,” Romo said. “Then it’s time to go to regionals.”
The team plan is to win the regional championship, and eventually win the DI National Collegiate Baseball Association World Series, Romo said.
“I have the utmost confidence that we will go to the World Series,” Romo said. “We know what it feels like to lose, and we don’t want that to happen again.”
Romo said this year’s team is already looking a lot better than years prior. The team is required to hit a lot more on their own to even be a part of the lineup. He added that the comradery for the Aggies is unmatched. The competition is fierce, and the Aggies are taking this year’s season very seriously, Romo said.
“We have a lot of guys who are competitors, and we want to do whatever it takes to win,” Romo said.
As a larger university, A&M has an advantage against SFA when it comes to the amount of talent, Dye said. The larger a school, the more talented people are going to show up for tryouts as opposed to smaller schools, Dye said.
“[SFA] haven’t beat us yet,” Romo said. “I think we just have more talent than them across the board, and that’s what is hopefully going to lead us to a sweep when we play them.”
When it comes to rankings, Dye said this SFA series probably won’t change the overall ranking too much. The only way the SFA games will affect their rankings is if it is an incredibly impressive game, Dye said. The committee would have to see a lot of runs from the Aggies and very few from SFA, he said, but the main goal is to keep on moving up.
“We just need to play the games at the level that we are capable of playing,” Dye said.
As far as weaknesses go, the Aggies need to focus on knowing how to deal with adversity, Romo said. He said he believes their strengths as a team really rest on the pitching, and when it comes down to it, SFA has weaker pitching.
“If we are able to throw strikes and command the strike zone, we are going to be really successful,” Romo said. “Pitching has been the name of the game for us this season.”
Having friends and family come to the games and support has been amazing for the team, Dye said. It’s just as important to get A&M students involved, he said.
“It’s a fun experience, it’s fun to come watch, and it’s free,” Dye said. “There’s really no reason not to. A turnout of fans would be awesome for us.”
Students and fans can find updates on the Texas A&M club baseball Instagram, as well as checking the NCBA website for more information.
Kalin Kerr is a communication and journalism junior and contributed this article from the course JOUR 359, Reporting Sports, to The Battalion.