A long three months have passed since the Texas A&M baseball season opened at Olsen Field. Friday night, the Aggies will begin their final home series as they take on the South Carolina Gamecocks. The Aggies head into the contest tied for first place with LSU in the SEC West.
South Carolina (28-21, 10-14 SEC) is fighting to keep its postseason hopes alive. The Gamecocks come in after taking their mid week game against Wofford, but they dropped a series to Auburn last weekend. Their last two SEC series are against A&M and No. 1 LSU.
Power hitting threat Kyle Martin leads the Gamecocks in batting average (.347), home runs (11) and RBIs (49). Elliot Caldwell and Max Schrock are also big time hitters, both posting over 30 RBI this season.
The Aggies (41-7, 16-7 SEC) come in off a sweep on the road at Tennessee last weekend, a series which head coach Rob Childress earned his 400th win as the Aggie head man. It was the first SEC series win for A&M since the series against Mississippi State in early April. After taking a break from mid week action, they now turn their focus to the Gamecocks.
The hottest bat right now for A&M comes from Mitchell Nau. His performance against Tennessee was good enough to become the SEC player of the week, and he is currently on an eight game hitting streak. During the streak, Nau is hitting .467 with three doubles and nine RBIs. Blake Allemand has also been a spark plug for A&M, putting together his own eight game hit streak over which he is hitting .529 with 12 runs, four doubles, one triple, one home run and four RBIs.
A&M’s pitching has posted a 2.74 combined ERA. The Aggie starting rotation has changed a bit during the year, but a few things have remained constant.
A big constant has been the success of Aggie ace Grayson Long, as he will take the mound Friday night. Long is 8-0 with a 2.93 ERA and 76 strikeouts. In his last outing at Tennessee, he worked into and out of jams all night, pitching 5 1/3 innings and allowing three runs, two earned, on nine hits while tallying six strikeouts. The Gamecocks will send Jack Wynkoop to the mound for the 6:35 p.m. start.
Saturday, Ryan Hendrix will make his fourth start after earning his first career win as a starting pitcher last weekend. In the win, he chipped in six innings of work, allowing one run on four hits. He is 4-1 this year with a 2.61 ERA. First pitch is set for 2:05 pm.
The starter for Sunday is undecided, but a possibility would be Matt Kent working back into the rotation. He picked up two consecutive saves over the weekend, and has been brilliant in relief when called upon. Kent is 6-1 this year in 10 starts, and is second on the team with 57 strikeouts. The contest will get underway at 1:05 pm to close out the series.
The Aggies are currently on a five game winning streak, and they are 29-4 within the friendly confines of Olsen Field this year. The 41 wins are the most since finishing 43-18 in 2012, and at 16-7 in league play, A&M has guaranteed a winning conference record for the first time since joining the SEC.
