Before No. 15 Texas A&M ships off to Houston this weekend for the Shriners Hospital for Children College Classic to face its former Big 12 foes, the Aggies (6-1) will host Prairie View A&M and Incarnate Word in a pair of mid-week games Tuesday and Wednesday at Olsen Field.
A&M will aim to build off its series win over Pepperdine this past weekend, which saw two pitching duels before an offensive outburst occurred in the Aggies’ 10-6 rubber match victory Sunday.
“It’s a strong testament, especially because of [Saturday] coming off a hard loss,” said senior right fielder Blake Kopetsky of the Aggies’ series-clinching win on Sunday. “For us to put up 10 runs, 15 hits and have a couple guys who sat Friday, Saturday, come out Sunday like Cole Bedford — driving in some runs late in the game with two outs. That’s what we needed to do on a day like this.”
After the gritty series against the Waves, the Aggies will have a chance to fix their kinks before facing the Big 12’s best — No. 10 Texas Tech and unanimous No. 1 TCU Friday and Saturday.
Freshman second baseman Braden Shewmake continues to be a catalyst for the A&M offense, closing the weekend against the Waves with a 5-for-5 outing and blasting his first career home run.
“Going to remember that one,” Shewmake said of his home run. “It was almost surreal rounding third base — it’s a crazy moment.”
The Panthers (1-8) have lost eight straight games after winning their season opener against Illinois-Chicago — which clinched a road series win over Vanderbilt last weekend. Prairie View has failed to score more than three runs in a game since its 5-4 win over the Flames. The lone bright spot for Prairie View lies in junior centerfielder Corbin Jamison, who leads the team with a .367 average and is a threat on the basepaths with four stolen bases for the season.
The Cardinals (5-4) will venture out of the Alamo City for the first time this year when they travel to College Station Wednesday night. Incarnate Word is coming off an even weekend against Central Michigan, splitting four games with the Chippewas — dropping the first two and winning the final two.
The Cardinals are led by outfielders Mark Whitehead and Eddy Gonzalez, who boast averages of .364 and .333.
A&M is set to face Prairie View A&M Tuesday night and Incarnate Word Wednesday night. Both games have a 6:30 p.m. first pitch and will be aired on SEC Network +.
