The Aggies have dropped three of their last four SEC weekend series to close out the season, and are in threat of not earning a national seed come NCAA Tournament time.
The A&M baseball team now shifts its focus to its last road trip of the regular season, as it will take on the Ole Miss Rebels in Oxford beginning Thursday evening.
Ole Miss (29-24, 14-13 SEC) is on a five-game winning streak, including an emotional sweep of Mississippi State at home last weekend to save its postseason chances. Skies Orvis is a one man wrecking ball for the Rebels, posting 16 home runs and 52 RBIs this season. Colby Bortles is second on the team behind Orvis with seven home runs and 45 RBIs this year. Cameron Dishon is the speedster on the bases, going 16-for-22 in stolen base attempts this season.
The Aggies (42-9, 17-9 SEC) dropped a tough fought series to South Carolina last weekend. It was a weekend, however, where some other bats in the lineup came through on fire. Mitchell Nau is still one of the best bats on the team, and last weekend he showed that by posting three RBIs last weekend. He is currently on an 11-game hit streak, batting .476 with 13 RBIs during the stretch.
Also of note, senior leader Blake Allemand has stood tall for A&M recently. He too is on an 11-game hit streak and has had multiple hits in five of his last 10 games, including multiple hits in every game of the weekend series against South Carolina.
The Aggie pitching staff was shaky to say the least last weekend against the Gamecocks. They will try and get the ship righted this weekend before postseason play begins.
Aggie ace Grayson Long will be on the hill for A&M on Thursday evening. He is the first Aggie pitcher since Michael Wacha in 2012 to post an 8-0 record. Twice this season he has been named the SEC pitcher of the week. In his last outing against the Gamecocks, Long worked 5 1/3 innings, allowing four runs, one earned, to cross the plate on only two hits. The game will get started at 6:35 p.m. with Ole Miss starter Christian Trent on the mound.
Friday, Ryan Hendrix will have the ball in his hand for game two for his fifth start of 2015. He earned his first career win as a starter at Tennessee two weeks ago. However, he had issues finding the strike zone against South Carolina, lasting just 3 1/3 innings in his last start. First pitch will be thrown at 6:35 pm.
In the regular season finale, the Aggies have a multitude of choices to send to the mound. Starters have not been announced, but it will be either Kyle Simonds or Matt Kent on the hill for A&M come game three. Game time is set for 1:35 p.m.
A&M comes into the weekend with a chance at winning the SEC crown. While they would need help from other teams losing, there is still a chance. A&M will also try to lock up an SEC Tournament first round bye with one of the top four seeds in the conference.