COLLEGE STATION, Texas – For just the second time this season the No. 2 Texas A&M baseball team will hit the road as this weekend the Aggies travel to Lawrence, Kan., to face Kansas in a three-game series at Hoglund Ballpark. First pitch on both Friday and Saturday is set for 6:00 p.m. before the series concludes with a 1:00 p.m. contest on Sunday.
The Aggies (26-7, 7-2 Big 12) enter the weekend ranked second in the Big 12 standings while the Jayhawks (12-21, 2-7 Big 12) check in at ninth place.
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS
THURSDAY (APRIL 12) – 6:00 p.m.
Texas A&M - #38 Michael Wacha (Jr., RHP, 4-0, 2.82)
Kansas - #19 Frank Duncan (So., RHP, 3-4, 3.49)
FRIDAY (APRIL 13) – 6:00 p.m.
Texas A&M - #36 Ross Stripling (Sr., RHP, 5-1, 2.74)
Kansas – #12 Wes Benjamin (Fr., LHP, 2-3, 3.93)
SATURDAY (APRIL 14) – 1:00 p.m.
Texas A&M - #55 Rafael Pineda (R-So., RHP, 4-0, 1.84)
Kansas- #11 Thomas Taylor (Jr., RHP, 3-4, 4.13)
FOLLOWING THE ACTION
• RADIO — Fans can listen locally on WTAW-AM 1620 ... Dave South (play-by-play) along with Kevin Hurley (color commentary) will call the action ... pregame show begins 30 minutes prior to first pitch.
• INTERNET — aggieathletics.com will offer live play-by-play and statistics.
• MOBILE PHONE — listen to the game on your iPhone, Blackberry or PDA free of charge ... log on to radioaggieland.com for more information.
KANSAS SEASON STATS
TEXAS A&M SEASON STATS
TEXAS A&M/KANSAS SERIES NOTABLES
Texas A&M and Kansas have meet annually since becoming members of the Big 12 Conference during the 1997 season. The Aggies lead the overall series with the Jayhawks by the count of 47-15-1 and hold a 34-10-1 advantage during the Big 12 era.
The longest winning streak of the series belongs to the Aggies who won 11 straight from 1997 to 2000. A year ago, the Aggie swept all three games from Kansas during a series in College Station. During A&M’s last trip to Lawrence the two squads played to a true split at KU’s Hoglund Ballpark as each team earned a win and the series finale ended in an 8-8 tie.
UP NEXT
The Aggies return to College Station on Tuesday to host No. 9 Rice in a 6:35 p.m. contest on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park ... Following the midweek contest, Texas A&M will face rival No. 5 Baylor in a three-game weekend series that will feature a Friday night contest in College Station before the venue shifts to Baylor Ballpark in Waco for Saturday and Sunday’s contests.
A LOOK AT THE BIG 12 RACE
The Aggies enter the weekend in a tie for second place in the Big 12 standings, but along with everyone else in the league find themselves looking up at the first-place Baylor Bears, who swept Missouri last weekend to improve to 12-0 in conference play.
Texas shares the No. 2 spot with A&M, holding an identical 7-2 league record, while the Big 12’s Oklahoma schools hold down the No. 4 & 5 positions with Oklahoma State at 4-5 in the league and Oklahoma a spot back at 4-8.
Missouri and Kansas State come into the weekend tied in 6th place, sharing 3-6 conference records, while Texas Tech (3-9) and Kansas (2-7) hold down eighth and ninth place, respectively.
This weekend in the Big 12
Texas A&M (26-7; 7-2 Big 12) at Kansas (12-21; 3-7 Big 12)*
Oklahoma State (17-14; 4-5 Big 12) at Texas (18-12; 7-2 Big 12)*
Houston (12-18-1) at Texas Tech (19-15; 3-9 Big 12)
Baylor (27-7; 12-0 Big 12) at Kansas State (17-15; 3-6 Big 12)*
Missouri (18-14; 3-6 Big 12) at Oklahoma (19-14; 4-8 Big 12)*
* - Big 12 Series
STRIPLING CLIMBING ALL-TIME WINS LIST
Senior pitcher Ross Stripling has enjoyed an outstanding career wearing the Maroon & White and is beginning to etch his name among the greats in Aggie baseball history.
After leading the nation in victories with 14 a season ago, the Southlake, Texas, native has made an amazing ascent up the Texas A&M list of all-time pitching wins. Stripling enters this weekend with 26 career wins to place him in a tie for seventh all-time with Clint Thomas (1973-76).
Up next is former A&M great Casey Fossum who won 27 games for the Aggies from 1997-99. Teammate Michael Wacha is just on the verge of cracking the career Top 10, entering the weekend with 22 career wins.
AGGIES ON THE TUBE
No stranger to the national spotlight, the Aggies have had 49 of their games televised either regionally or nationally over the last five years.
Texas A&M is scheduled to make six regular-season TV appearances during the 2012 regular season.
ESPNU will show the finale of the Oklahoma series on Sunday, April 7 and Fox College Sports will show the opening contest of the Texas-Texas A&M series (Friday, April 27, in College Station) before the FSN cameras show the Saturday game when the scene shifts to Austin.
COX Sports Television will again broadcast three games from Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park, the Thursday (April 4) game of the Oklahoma series, the Friday (May 4) game of the Texas Tech series and the Sunday (May 13) game of the San Diego State series.
CST is available in most of Louisiana, parts of Texas and in Florida, northwest Arkansas, central Georgia and northern Virginia.
As always, fans can get complete and up-to-date television broadcast information on aggieathletics.com.
TELEVISED GAMES IN 2011
Date – Opponent - Network
April 5 (Thu) – Oklahoma - COX Sports TV
April 7 (Sun) – Oklahoma - ESPNU
April 27 (Fri) – Texas - Fox College Sports
April 28 (Sat) – Texas - FSN
May 4 (Fri) - Texas Tech - COX Sports TV
May 13 (Sun) - San Diego State - COX Sports TV
