There will be zero energy lost in Texas A&M’s Tuesday matchup this week as the No. 9 Aggies travel to Austin to face longtime foe and No. 12 Texas.
“We’ve all gone through a lot of non-conference games and they tend to get a little bit stale, especially when you’re spending so much energy on conference weekends,” A&M head coach Rob Childress said. “Tuesdays can get a little mundane and to be able to play a rivalry game on a Tuesday, I think it’s good for the soul.”
The Longhorns are 20-11 on the season, and this will be the highest ranked matchup between the two teams since they began playing the annual mid-week game in 2016.
“It’s also really good for both teams from a RPI standpoint,” Childress said of the matchup. “The juices ought to be flowing on both sides tomorrow night.”
A&M will enter the game short-handed though, as the Aggies will be without three starters who all were injured in their 3-2 loss to Missouri on Saturday.
Junior first baseman Hunter Coleman will be out 4 to 6 weeks with a broken arm and will have surgery Monday after having a collision at first base. Catcher Mikey Hoehner caught a foul tip while catching and is day-to-day with a groin injury. Second baseman Bryce Blaum has a deep bone bruise in his foot after running into Braden Shewmake on a grounder up the middle.
Childress wasn’t optimistic on the chances of Hoehner and Blaum playing Tuesday, injuries which were first reported by D1Baseball’s Kendall Rogers.
“All in all, it could’ve been a lot worse,” Childress said. “Blaum [could play] maybe a pinch-hit late in the game or in a big spot, but not play fully. And I would say Mikey Hoehner is 100 percent out tomorrow, too.”
With several starters out, the Aggies are turning to the dugout to fill voids. Childress was keen about his depth at the beginning of the season and now A&M will rely on backups in big games.
“That’s why we have the roster that we do,” Childress said. “We’ve got 35 good players and it’s not adversity. It’s opportunity and those guys are good players and are going to make the most of their opportunity.”
A&M’s bullpen is also depleted, too, after the Aggies played back-to-back extra inning games to close the weekend. Childress hasn’t finalized his starter, but said sophomore left-hander Dustin Saenz is likely to make his third mid-week start of the season.
“He’s the most available and ready to go,” Childress said of Saenz. “Having to throw an extra seven innings on a weekend, we’ll be a little bit thin.”
The top-15 matchup between the Aggies and Longhorns starts a big road swing for A&M, who will travel to Baton Rouge this weekend to take on No. 13 LSU, but Childress continues to take a one game approach.
“Every game we play is the biggest game of the year, it doesn’t matter who we’re playing,” Childress said. “Obviously the biggest game of the year is tomorrow night and that’s the way we approach it as a staff. Hope our players do as well.”
A&M and Texas are set for a 6:30 p.m. first pitch from UFCU Disch-Falk Field in Austin. The game will be aired on FS1.