{"id":241808,"date":"2026-04-09T10:27:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T10:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/241808\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T10:27:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T10:27:10","slug":"aggies-bats-or-longhorns-pitching-who-prevails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/241808\/","title":{"rendered":"Aggies bats or Longhorns pitching, who prevails?"},"content":{"rendered":"

COLLEGE STATION \u2014 No. 20 Texas A&M baseball<\/a> welcomes former head coach Jim Schlossnagle<\/a> and the No. 2 Texas Longhorns<\/a> to College Station for the first time since he left for the in-state rival, and the Aggies’ faithful are eager to roll out the “welcome mat” for their former coach.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A&M (25-7, 7-5 SEC) is hosting Texas (28-6, 9-3) for the first time since a postseason\u00a0matchup in June 2024. That season, Texas A&M finished as the national runner-up. Just days later, Schlossnagle was named<\/a> Texas’ head coach.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It will be the Longhorns’ first visit to College Station as a conference opponent in 15 years.<\/p>\n

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MORE:\u00a0Texas A&M baseball vs Texas State: Aggies fall to Bobcats in San Marcos<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas A&M head coach Michael Earley meets Texas Longhorns head coach Jim Schlossnagle ahead of the Lone Star Showdown at UFCU Disch-Falk Field on Friday, April 25, 2025.<\/p>\n

Aaron E. Martinez\/American-Statesman<\/p>\n

On the line? An SEC series win and fan base bragging rights for a year; a boost to the postseason r\u00e9sum\u00e9 \u2014 Texas is No. 3 in\u00a0RPI and A&M is No. 18 \u2014 and a victory in the\u00a0Lone Star Showdown standings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Amid the\u00a0storylines at play, the series is meeting of\u00a0elite\u00a0Aggies hitting versus elite Longhorns pitching.<\/p>\n

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Texas A&M baseball powered by offensive production<\/p>\n

Only two teams in the country have hit more home runs than the Aggies. That’s no surprise for a team that entered the season with two\u00a0position players on the All-SEC preseason team.<\/p>\n

A&M has tallied 68 dingers this season, behind Georgia (98) and Vanderbilt (73). Center fielder\u00a0Caden Sorrell<\/a> is tied for the SEC lead with 16 home runs; first baseman\u00a0Gavin Grahovac<\/a> is second on the team with nine.<\/p>\n

The Aggies are 17th nationally in batting average (.320), fourth in the SEC in hits with 332 and have four players batting over .300 with at least four home runs. They’re first in the SEC in on-base percentage (.456), second in slugging (.592) and have drawn the most walks (215). They are second in the conference, averaging 9.9 runs per game.<\/p>\n

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A&M has scored nine or more runs seven times in conference play. It’s a stark contrast to last season<\/a>, when the\u00a0Aggies finished last in batting average (.260) and 15th in hits (470) and averaged just 7.0 runs per game.<\/p>\n

“They’ve been relentless, man,”\u00a0Grahovac said Wednesday when asked about their lineup. “We’ve done a good job moving the baseball, scoring runs when we need to. Obviously, not every time’s gonna work out, but I think one through nine we’ve done a great job of moving the ball.”<\/p>\n

MORE: Texas A&M spring football: Observations from Thursday’s open practice<\/a><\/p>\n

\"University<\/p>\n

University of Texas baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle, middle, poses for photos with his assistant coaches Michael Earley, left, and Nolan Cain at his introductory news conference at the Frank Denius Family University Hall of Fame Wednesday June 26, 2024.<\/p>\n

Jay Janner\/American-Statesman<\/p>\n

Dominant pitching leads Longhorns<\/p>\n

No team in the SEC has been better on the mound than Texas.<\/p>\n

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The Longhorns’ ERA is 3.07, with all three weekend starters posting\u00a0ERAs below 2.75.\u00a0Left-hander\u00a0Dylan Volantis<\/a> (4-0) is sitting at 2.01, while left-hander\u00a0Luke Harrison (4-0) is posting a 2.72 ERA over\u00a043 innings.<\/p>\n

Friday starter\u00a0Ruger Riojas<\/a> (5-1) has the only loss among the starters, but the right-hander has a 2.74 ERA and 68 strikeouts in 42\u2154 innings.<\/p>\n

“Probably the best pitching staff in the country,” head coach Michael Earley<\/a> said Wednesday of Texas. “They throw a ton of strikes and put people away when you’re supposed to put them away. They limit hard contact.”<\/p>\n

It hasn’t been just the starters doing damage.<\/p>\n

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Right-handed reliever Brett Crossland<\/a> has appeared in 12 games, posting a 1.32 ERA\u00a0 through 13\u2154 innings. Left-hander\u00a0Ethan Walker<\/a> has appeared 13 times, striking out nine and allowing 14 hits in 43 at-bats.<\/p>\n

Texas ranks second in the SEC for saves (nine), fifth for shutouts (four) and second for home runs allowed (17).<\/p>\n

Since conference play began, the Longhorns have only allowed nine or more runs twice and have held conference opponents to three runs or fewer seven times.<\/p>\n

“All of their starters are A-plus;\u00a0their relievers are really good,” Earley said. “They’re as good as it gets. They’re going to be a really big challenge for our offense.”<\/p>\n

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Aggies-Longhorns: Which strength has the edge?<\/p>\n

As good as the\u00a0Aggies’ bats have been, their starting pitching on the weekend has been inconsistent.<\/p>\n

Friday starter Shane Sdao<\/a> has struggled since SEC play began, posting a 9.61 ERA in four starts against SEC opponents. The junior left-hander allowed seven home runs and seven walks in those appearances. Right-hander\u00a0Weston Moss<\/a> on Saturdays has been slightly better, posting an 8.58 ERA in his four outings.<\/p>\n

The bright spot for A&M’s weekend starters comes on Sunday, with sophomore Aiden Sims<\/a>. The right-hander is 6-0 and has won his last three SEC starts, posting a 3.27 ERA during those victories.<\/p>\n

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But the Aggies are dealing with a banged-up bullpen.<\/p>\n

Having lost\u00a0Caden McCoy<\/a> before the season started and Josh Stewart to an elbow injury prior to SEC play, they’ve been thin on proven relievers. Middle relief has come from\u00a0Ethan Darden<\/a> (3.31 ERA) and Juan Vargas<\/a> (3.63 ERA).\u00a0They have tallied 16\u2153 and 17\u2153 innings, respectively.<\/p>\n

Late-inning situations have been dominated\u00a0led by\u00a0Clayton Freshcorn<\/a>, who has six saves in 14 appearances. The junior competed with\u00a0Sims for the final weekend spot but has settled into a key high-leverage role for the Aggies, posting a 1.35 ERA in 20 innings.<\/p>\n

Unlike A&M, Texas has a bit more balance between offense and pitching. The Longhorns are sixth in the SEC in batting average (.302), fifth in slugging (.518) and fourth in on-base percentage (.434).<\/p>\n

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The numbers indicate that Texas, which was picked to finish second\u00a0in the SEC, should have an edge over A&M this weekend.<\/p>\n

Add in the fact that these two teams faced off last season in Austin, the Longhorns swept the Aggies<\/a>, and the burnt orange probably gets the nod in many people’s eyes.<\/p>\n

But Blue Bell Park will be hopping this weekend. Expect the 6,100-person stadium to hit capacity in hopes of an Aggies upset and some revenge against a coach who almost led A&M to a national title then left for their rival.<\/p>\n

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Reach Texas A&M beat reporter Tony Catalina via email at Anthony.Catalina@statesman.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COLLEGE STATION \u2014 No. 20 Texas A&M baseball welcomes former head coach Jim Schlossnagle and the No. 2…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":122364,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2845,67002,2846,27,52717,29,20340,28],"class_list":{"0":"post-241808","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-college-baseball","9":"tag-college-world-series","10":"tag-sec-baseball","11":"tag-texas","12":"tag-texas-am-baseball","13":"tag-texas-headlines","14":"tag-texas-longhorns-baseball","15":"tag-texas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}