No. 24 Texas Squaring Off Against Undefeated No. 7 Texas A&M
It was not a good weekend for the No. 24 Texas Longhorns (7-4) during their trip to Houston for the Astros Foundation College Classic. They dropped all three games, with each of the last two losses coming in true heartbreaking fashion.
Friday saw them simply be outmatched by the LSU Tigers, and while the loss sucked, that's just how baseball goes. Saturday and Sunday, though, were losses that should have been wins. Against Texas State they blew leads in both the eighth and ninth innings, while they blew an eight-run lead in a crushing loss to Vanderbilt.
Now, riding a three-game losing skid, Texas turns its attention to a heavyweight bout against their hated in-state rivals, the No. 7 Texas A&M Aggies (11-0). Fortunately for the Longhorns there are positive takeaways from the weekend.
Most importantly, the offense finally started clicking on all cylinders. Guys like Porter Brown and Jack O'Dowd started off slow but had huge weekends at the plate. If they can stay hot it will go a long way for the Longhorns moving forward.
How to watch/listen:
Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. CT (Longhorn Network/TexasSports.com/Audio)
Texas A&M by the numbers:
Record: 11-0
Runs scored: 116
Runs allowed: 18
Team Avg.: .336
Team Avg. allowed: .180
Team ERA: 1.45
Texas A&M wins this game if...
It, like LSU, just keeps doing what it has been doing so far this season. The Aggies are undefeated for a reason. They've been shutting down opposing lineups while completely mashing, outscoring teams a with a staggering run 98-run differential in just 11 games.
So, yeah, safe to say they haven't had any issues winning. Baseball, however, is unpredictable and random. If the Aggies can do a good job taking control of the game and dictating the action, then they stand a good chance of leaving Austin with their 12th win.
Texas wins this game if...
It can get a complete game from both the offense and the pitching staff. Perhaps the biggest issue the Longhorns faced during their weekend in Houston was an inability to play a full nine innings of complementary baseball. Against LSU the pitching staff did what it could while the bats were silent, with the opposite occurring against Texas State and Vanderbilt.
You won't win many games scoring just three runs. And on the other hand, scoring 10 and 11 runs respectively should be more than enough for your pitching staff. If they can click at the same time then Texas has a chance to pull off the upset.