The Utah baseball team (4-4) will venture beyond California for its third series of the season.
Utah will travel down to the Lone Star state this weekend to take on one of the best baseball teams in the country, No. 4 Texas A&M, which has a 7-2 record on the season.
The Utes are coming off a weekend in which they went 3-1 against Cal State Bakersfield. The Utes were led by Rick Cornu, who was named Mountain West Conference Player of the Week for his offensive performance.
“We have made strides in a lot of areas,” said head coach Bill Kinneberg in a statement. “Naturally, that is what we were looking for with our second series. We have improved on the mound and we really improved at the plate this week. Rick Cornu has had an outstanding two weeks.”
The Utes will have to make huge strides if they want to take down one of the best teams in the country in the three-game series. The Aggies are coming off a 2-1 effort in the Houston College Classic, including a 9-2 win against No. 5 University of California Irvine. The Aggie offense is led by sophomore third baseman Caleb Shofner, who is hitting .542 with seven RBIs, and junior outfielder Dylan Petrich, who is hitting .500 and also has seven RBIs.
As a team, Texas A&M is hitting .286 with 14 stolen bases and 10 home runs.
“We are going up against one of the best teams and programs in the country,” Kinneberg said. “It is such a great experience for us to play there and I hope the team comes away that much better and that much more prepared for conference play.”
Texas A&M’s pitching rotation is one of the best in the country.
Holding a 2.64 ERA, the Aggies rank third in the Big 12 conference and first in strikeouts with 109 in 99 innings and strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.5).
It will be a battle on the defensive side for the Aggies and the offensive side for the Utes.
Utah is hitting .298 on the season with seven home runs and 51 RBIs. The offense is led by Cornu, who is hitting .389 with 15 RBIs and three home runs. The projected starters for the Utes are Andrew Wilding (0-1, 3 ERA), Jordan Whatcott (1-0, 9 ERA) and Bryn Card (1-1, 1.84 ERA).
Although his earned-run average is high, Whatcott has been one of the best additions to the Ute roster this season. In nine innings pitched, he has had eight strikeouts.
The projected starters for the Aggies are Brooks Raley (2-0, 2.25 ERA), Alex Wilson (1-1, 1.42 ERA) and Barret Loux (0-0, 5.23 ERA).