In 2016, Aggie catcher Michael Barash smacked a walk-off home run down the left field line to knock off the Texas Longhorns 5-4 in the first time the two teams had played each other in the regular season since Texas A&M left the Big 12 in 2012. Then, in 2017, the Longhorns got revenge when they beat the Aggies in Austin 4-3. On Tuesday, the two longtime rivals will battle again at Blue Bell Park in a rubber match, of sorts.
No. 19 A&M comes into the matchup at 23-9 (5-7 SEC) fresh off of a big series win over No. 20 LSU at Blue Bell Park. Texas is 22-12 (9-3 Big 12) and is riding a six game win streak after a series sweep of Baylor last weekend.
“It’s certainly a historic rivalry,” Aggie head coach Rob Childress told texags.com. “You spend so much emotion on the weekends in the Big 12 or the SEC that a lot of times you have to get your teams ready to play on midweek and [Tuesday] should be no problem.”
The Aggie offense is led by junior second baseman Michael Helman, sophomore outfielder Logan Foster and sophomore shortstop Braden Shewmake. Helman is hitting a team-high .402 with 53 hits, while adding 22 RBIs. Foster is hitting .319 with a team-leading six home runs and 30 RBIs, and Shewmake is hitting .313 with three home runs and a team-high 31 RBIs.
“This is the big rivalry game,” Foster said. “I didn’t really know anything about it until I got here, but getting able to experience it last year when we went to play them at their place was definitely a whole different atmosphere for me. Getting to play here with the 12th Man behind us will make it really exciting.”
Texas’ offense is led by junior infielder Kody Clemens, redshirt freshman designated hitter Zach Zubia and junior infielder Masen Hibbeler. Clemens owns a .358 batting average, nine home runs and 32 RBIs, all of which lead the team. Zubia is hitting .292 with six home runs and 28 RBIs, and Hibbeler is hitting .286 with two home runs and 19 RBIs.
The probable starter for A&M is freshman lefty Chandler Jozwiak. Jozwiak owns a 3.72 ERA in 29 innings pitched this year. In those 29 innings, Jozwiak has given up 26 hits and struck out 32. The probable starter for Texas is freshman righty Nico O’Donnell. O’Donnell has a 3.51 ERA in 25.2 innings pitched for the Longhorns. In those 25.2 innings, O’Donnell has given up 21 hits and struck out 24.
“You can’t treat it any differently,” Aggie junior catcher Cole Bedford told texags.com. “Of course there’s a lot of history between the two programs and I think it’ll be just as fun for the fans. There are a lot of people who grew up hating one side or the other and I think [Tuesday] night will be really fun.”
The rivalry match between the Aggies and Longhorns will begin with first pitch at 6:02 p.m. and the game will be televised on the SEC Network.