COLLEGE STATION -- Texas A&M continues its season-long 17-game homestand this weekend when the Aggies (6-2) host unbeaten Winthrop (7-0) at Olsen Field ... games are scheduled for 6:35 p.m., 2:05 p.m. and 1:05 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday respectively ... A&M has won three in a row and is coming off a 5-3 win over BYU Wednesday at Olsen Field ... the Eagles will be making their first road trip of the season, as their game scheduled this week at Wake Forest was snowed out ... Winthrop swept Wagner in its last outing, finishing off the series with a 16-4 win on Sunday.

GAMES 9-11: TEXAS A&M AGGIES (6-2) vs WINTHROP EAGLES (7-0)

SCHEDULE: Friday, 6:35 PM • Saturday, 2:05 PM • Sunday, 1:05 PM

RADIO: WTAW-AM 1620 (Dave South, Will Johnson, Scott Clendenin and Kevin Hurley)

LIVE VIDEO: aggieathletics.com

LIVE AUDIO: aggieathletics.com • radioaggieland.com

LIVE STATS: aggieathletics.com

RANKINGS: A&M is receiving votes in the latest USA Today Coaches’ Poll.

SERIES HISTORY: first meeting

PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS

• FRIDAY: #50 Barret Loux (Jr., RHP, 1-1, 1.80) vs #18 Matteo D’Angelo (Jr., RHP, 1-0, 1.88)

• SATURDAY: #36 Ross Stripling (So., RHP, 2-0, 3.60) vs #8 Robert Lake (Jr., RHP, 2-0, 1.88)

• SUNDAY: #24 Nick Fleece (Jr., RHP, 1-0, 2.70) vs #14 Wade Newman (Jr., RHP, 2-0, 3.86)

FOLLOWING THE ACTION

• RADIO — Fans can listen to all three games on WTAW-AM 1620 ... Dave South, Will Johnson, Scott Clendenin and Kevin Hurley will call the action all season long ... pregame show begins 15 minutes prior to first pitch.

• INTERNET — aggieathletics.com will offer live play-by-play and statistics along with free live video through Aggies All-Access.

• MOBILE PHONE — listen to the game on your iPhone, Blackberry or PDA free of charge ... log on to radioaggieland.com for more information.

• TWITTER — Follow the team all season long, including live in-game updates, at @aggie_baseball.

SERIES HISTORY: WINTHROP

This weekend will mark the first meetings between the schools on the baseball diamond ... in fact, the Aggies have never played a game against any of the current members of the Big South Conference (Charleston Southern, Coastal Carolina, Gardner-Webb, High Point, Liberty, Presbyterian, Radford, UNC Asheville, and VMI) ... despite the lack of baseball history, there are recent ties to the program, as the Aggies’ second-round draft pick last season—Alex Wilson—pitched his first two seasons for Coach Joe Hudak and Winthrop ... Wilson joined fellow Eagle teammate Phil Carey in transferring to Aggieland following the 2007 baseball season.

MORE ON WINTHROP (7-0)

Winthrop (Rock Hill, S.C.) enters the weekend 7-0 and off to its best start in five years ... the Eagles have wins over Northwestern and George Mason, two over Marist and are most recently coming off a three-game sweep of Wagner ... the games at A&M mark the first for Winthrop on the road this year after Tuesday’s game at Wake Forest was snowed out ... the Eagles return 17 letterwinners, four position starters and four starting pitchers from a 2009 squad that went 35-25 and finished at 18-9 in the Big South Conference ... Joe Hudak (Malone College ‘72) is in his 19th season at Winthrop with a record of 642-437-5 ... the Eagles have made five NCAA Tourney appearances, most recently back-to-back trips in 2005 and 2006 ... for more information visit www.winthropeagles.com.

UP NEXT

Texas A&M has a busy week ahead, hosting Penn State for a pair of games on Tuesday and Wednesday evening before welcoming 2009 NCAA Regional participant Washington State to Olsen Field for a three-game weekend set ... it will mark A&M’s final weekend series before Big 12 play (Texas Tech, March 19-21).

A LOOK BACK: BYU

Texas A&M used a three-run fifth and another strong pitching performance to lift the Aggies to a 5-3 victory over BYU before 2,806 fans at Olsen Field ... the Aggies used five pitchers, giving up just seven hits and two earned runs on the day while punching out 13 Cougar hitters ... complementing the arms was a nine-hit offensive attack that featured three extra-base hits and more clutch two-out hitting ... John Stilson struck out five of the final six batters of the game—including all three in the ninth—to record his second save of the year ... the two-through-five spots in the A&M lineup combined for eight hits, four RBIs and five runs scored, as Brodie Greene, Joe Patterson, Caleb Shofner and Scott Arthur had two hits apiece ... Shofner picked up a team-high two RBIs on the day ... Aggie starter Clayton Ehlert pitched well but did not factor in the decision, giving up five hits and two earned runs over four innings of work ... Michael Wacha (1-0) picked up the first victory of his career in relief, tossing two shutout innings and giving up just one hit.

NOTES AND NOTABLES

• Senior DH Joe Patterson is pacing a solid Aggie offensive attack, hitting a team-best .567 (17-for-30) with four doubles, a home run, five RBIs and eight runs scored ... Patterson is also riding a career-best 13-game hit streak that extends back into last season ... junior 1B Caleb Shofner leads the team in home runs (4) and RBIs (13) and sports a .448 average ... senior CF Brodie Greene is hitting .467 with two triples, seven RBIs and nine runs scored.

• While struggling at times last season with two-out hitting (.270 average), the Aggies have started 2010 with a bang in that category ... A&M is hitting .376 this year with two outs, and 21 of its 46 RBIs (46 percent) have come with two down.

• The Aggie bullpen has been outstanding through the first eight games of the year ... through 18 appearances, the pen has combined for a 1-0 record and a miniscule 0.26 ERA, giving up just one earned run (four runs total) over 34.1 innings of work ... during that span, the group has allowed just 14 hits, walked just 12 and fanned 41 while holding hitters to a .122 average.

• A&M’s weekend starting rotation of junior Barret Loux, sophomore Ross Stripling and junior Nick Fleece are a combined 4-1 with a 2.70 ERA on the very young season.

• Sophomore two-way standout John Stilson has made a huge impact in his very brief Aggie career ... Stilson has made four appearances in relief so far in 2010 and has already picked up a win and two saves ... he has allowed five baserunners in 41 plate appearances—a bunt single on the infield vs SFA (2/24), three walks against Baylor and a free pass against BYU (3/3) ... six of his seven outs recorded against the Cougars were via the strikeout ... opponents are hitting .027 against Stilson ... he’s also gotten 11 at-bats, hitting .273 with a double, triple, two RBIs, two runs scored and two stolen bases.

• Texas A&M will play 21 of its first 24 games at home ... the Aggies’ lone trip out of College Station during the span was for last weekend’s QTI Baylor Classic in Waco ... A&M will play the entire month of March at Olsen Field until it closes the month on March 30 at Texas State ... the Aggies have nine regular-season games scheduled outside the state of Texas (Big 12 series at Kansas, Nebraska and OSU).

FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTER: #50 BARRET LOUX (JR-2L, RHP)

Suffered the loss last Friday against Western Kentucky in Waco, despite allowing one earned run (5 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K) ... made his first career opening-day start last week against Seton Hall (2/19), picking up the victory (5 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K) ... he finished 2009 with a 3-3 record and 4.12 ERA ... ranked fourth on the staff with 62 strikeouts over 48 innings of work and held opposing hitters to a .226 average ... punched out at least six batters in six outings.

SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTER: #36 ROSS STRIPLING (SO-1L, RHP)

Has won both starts this year, the first of his career ... earned the win last week at Baylor, allowing six hits and one earned run over five innings, while not walking a batter and punching out three ... got the win in his first career start last Saturday against Seton Hall (2/20 - 5 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K) ... emerged as a solid bullpen presence for the Aggies as a true freshman in ‘09 ... appeared in 13 games, all in relief, posting a 1-0 record and 2.51 ERA ... 13 relief outings ranked sixth on the staff .. allowed first earned run in his seventh appearance (March 18 vs New Mexico) ... struck out the first six batters he faced in his A&M career ... punched out 18 in just over 14 innings of work while walking just four ... played summer ball with the San Luis Obispo (Calif.) Blues of the wood-bat Sierra Baseball League ... went 2-2 with a 1.96 ERA in 36.2 innings of work ... fanned 56 batters and walked just 12.

SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTER: #24 NICK FLEECE (JR-2L, RHP)

Impressive against Texas State (2/28) in picking up first win of the year ... went five innings against the Bobcats, giving up seven hits, two runs and a walk while punching out four ... got a no decision in A&M’s 6-3 win over Seton Hall (2/20 - 5 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K), the first start of his career ... led the pitching staff with 26 appearances in 2009, all in relief, and a team-best five saves ... finished the year with a 4-1 record and a 3.54 ERA, punching out 32 batters in 28 innings of work ... allowed a run in just five of his 26 relief outings ... strikeout-to-walk ratio was 4.0 ... averaged 10.3 strikeouts per nine innings ... named Big 12 Co-Pitcher of Week (March 30), also pulled in numerous national honors ... picked up two wins and two saves, gave up 1 hit in 6.1 IP of shutout relief ... factored in to decision in all five of A&M’s wins from March 22-29 (save, win, save, win, save) ... began the season with 11 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings of relief.

FIVE NAMED TO QTI BAYLOR CLASSIC ALL-TOURNEY TEAM

Five members of the Aggie baseball team earned all-tournament honors after a second-place finish at last weekend’s QTI Baylor Classic.

Junior 1B Caleb Shofner was named to the all-tourney team and also took home Most Outstanding Hitter honors. The native of nearby Hewitt impressed his hometown fans by hitting .500 with a home run and four RBIs on the weekend.

Joining Shofner on the squad were junior 2B Andrew Collazo (.500, 2 RBI), senior DH Joe Patterson (.455, 2 runs), sophomore P/SS John Stilson (1 SV, 4 IP, 0 H, 3 BB, 5 K) and senior CF Brodie Greene (.364, 2B, run).