Hopefully the first win of many this week
Texas A&M begins College World Series play today, and will face a familiar foe. The Aggies will take on fellow SEC team Florida Gators tonight at 6 p.m. at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha.
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3 Texas A&M vs. Florida
- WHEN: 6 p.m. Saturday, June 15
- WHERE: Charles Schwab Field (Omaha, NE)
- TV: ESPN
- RADIO: 1150 AM/93.7 FM
- LISTEN ONLINE
Starting Pitchers
- FLA: Liam Peterson (3-4, 5.97 ERA)
- A&M: Justin Lampkin (2-2, 5.73 ERA)
Somewhat surprisingly, neither team throws their ace to begin College World Series play. While it makes fans tenuous to not put your best foot forward, there is some logic behind it. Win, and you get to throw your top guy on Monday in an effort to stay in the winners bracket and earn an extra day off. Lose, and you still have your ace ready to roll to stave off elimination.
History
Texas A&M (49-13) is the No. 3 overall seed in the tournament, winning the Bryan-College Station Regional by defeating Grambing, Texas and Louisiana and winning the Bryan-College Station Super Regional 2-0 over Oregon. The Aggies are undefeated thus far in the NCAA Baseball Tournament.
Florida (34-28), meanwhile was just the 3 seed in the Stillwater Regional, but still found a way to advance, going 4-1 two weeks ago including going 2-0 against Nebraska and 2-1 against host Oklahoma State. They then took down No. 6 overall seed Clemson 2-0 in the Clemson Super Regional.
The Aggies lost two out of three to Florida in Gainesville to begin SEC play earlier this season, but all three games were close and could have gone either way. While A&M will be without slugger Braden Montgomery and bullpen arm turned starter Shane Sdao (who both suffered season-ending injuries in the Super Regional), they still have more than enough firepower, both on the mound and at the plate to win this game and move into the winners bracket in Omaha.