More is at stake for No. 16 Texas A&M this weekend than the Lone Star Showdown.
The Aggies’ series against No. 8 Texas will be a key factor in deciding the 2009 Big 12 regular season champion. Trailing the Longhorns by one game in the Big 12 race, A&M will play Texas in a split location series starting today at Olsen Field.
“This is the way we want it,” senior center fielder Kyle Colligan said. “I wouldn’t want [to win the Big 12] any other way than to go through Texas to show that we really deserve it.”
With two weeks remaining in conference play, the race for the Big 12 regular season title and top seed in the Big 12 Championship is a three-team contest between Texas, Kansas State and A&M.
The Longhorns hold the No. 1 spot in the conference with a 15-8-1 record and will be playing their final regular season series this weekend against the Aggies. Texas has swept A&M in the three consecutive seasons.
No. 21 Kansas State is tied with the Aggies for second place in the conference with a
12-7-1 record. The Wildcats have two series remaining with a home series against Texas Tech and a split series against Kansas.
Kansas State can win the Big 12 regular season title by winning out, giving them a record of 18-7-1. If the Wildcats win five of their final six games and the Longhorns win two games against A&M, Kansas State would still take the conference title.
The Aggies are looking to win their second consecutive Big 12 regular season title and third consecutive overall. A&M needs to win its final six games and Kansas State needs to lose at least one game for the Aggies to take the title. A&M will have to sweep the Longhorns for the first time since 1991. The Aggies haven’t won a three-game series against Texas since 2003.
“I have said it year after year that we want to beat Texas and we haven’t, so this is the time to do it,” Colligan said. “This is my last go around and I really want this.”
Starting on the mound Friday at Olsen Field will be A&M sophomore southpaw Brooks Raley and Texas sophomore right-hander Chance Ruffin. Raley leads the Aggies with a 1.96 ERA and Ruffin leads Texas with 73 strikeouts.
After the Lone Star Showdown, the Aggies will travel to Norman to face No. 17 Oklahoma in the final Big 12 series of the season. In 2008, the Aggies swept the Sooners at Olsen Field and will need to do the same at L. Dale Mitchell Park to challenge for the Big 12 season title.
“It comes down to the last two weekends,” A&M Head Coach Rob Childress said. “We just need to go play like we’ve played the last three weeks. It doesn’t matter who is in the other dugout.”
The Aggies have won 11 of the previous 13 games. During that stretch, the Aggies have defeated three Top 25 teams including No. 1 Rice, No. 21 Texas Christian and No. 25 Oklahoma State.
“This is what we play for,” Childress said. “We’ve got to go play the game at a high level and execute, and do all the routine things well and get the big hit which is what we’ve done for the most part over the last three weeks.”
SeriesNo. 16 Texas A&M vs. No. 8 Texas6:35 p.m. today at Olsen Field12:06 p.m. Saturday at Disch-Falk Field2:05 p.m. Sunday at Disch-Falk Field