College Baseball
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College baseball week in review: Are the Aggies back? Texas A&M showing signs of life

College baseball has been played since 1859. The first rankings were published in 1959 by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper.

I think it’s safe to say that in the sport’s history, no team that was 1-9 in conference play and had been no-hit the night before has enjoyed a better day against the nation’s No. 1 team.

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On Saturday, Texas A&M — the No. 1 team in virtually every preseason poll — swept a doubleheader at then-No. 1 Tennessee by scores of 9-3 and 17-6 (in eight innings). The Aggies smacked 11 home runs in the two games, including seven in the nightcap (tying a single-game program record). Outfielder/DH Caden Sorrell, playing in his second SEC series of the season after missing the first six weeks with an injury, went 5-for-9 with three home runs in the doubleheader.

This offensive explosion came one day after Texas A&M’s season hit a low point, getting no-hit in a seven-inning 10-0 loss to drop to 14-15 overall and 1-9 in the SEC.

The Aggies still have plenty of work to do get back into the postseason mix, but their RPI climbed 39 spots, from No. 99 on Saturday morning to No. 60 on Monday morning, and they still have several more opportunities against elite teams, with road series against Arkansas, Texas and Georgia and a home series vs. LSU. With that schedule, 12 conference wins might be enough to get A&M into a Regional.

Tennessee, meanwhile, lost back-to-back games for the first time since last March at Alabama and for the first time at home since April 2023 against Florida. The Vols (28-4, 9-3) travel to Ole Miss this weekend.

Around the horn

Texas’ transition to the SEC has gone about as smoothly as possible. The Longhorns swept Georgia in Austin to improve to 26-4 overall and an astounding 11-1 in the league. They won Sunday’s game 4-3 in 10 innings on a walk-off home run from Rylan Galvan.

Georgia entered the weekend 8-1 in the SEC after posting consecutive sweeps over Florida and Auburn. The Bulldogs lead the nation in home runs and rank second nationally in runs scored, yet managed only eight runs in three games against Texas. The Longhorns used only two relievers in the series, with Dylan Volantis and Max Grubbs combining to allow only four hits in 8 2/3 shutout innings.

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Volantis, a freshman, is 3-0 with seven saves and has a 0.95 ERA and .184 batting average against in 28 1/3 innings.

This was Texas’ first weekend without All-America outfielder Max Belyeu, who suffered a season-ending thumb injury in the first game of a series against Missouri two weeks ago.

A painful loss for Duke athletics on Saturday? Surely, you are referring to the Blue Devils’ 8-7 defeat in 14 innings to bitter rival North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

North Carolina started the ACC season with series losses to Stanford and Louisville but has since taken two of three from Boston College, Miami and Duke. The Tar Heels, who have won six straight series against Duke, are 24-8 overall and 8-7 in the ACC. The Blue Devils dropped to 21-12 and 8-7.

LSU has won six straight in the SEC to improve to 30-3 overall and 10-2 in league play.

Pitching was the story for the Tigers in their weekend sweep at Oklahoma. Starters Kade Anderson, Anthony Eyanson and Chase Shores combined to give up 11 hits and no earned runs in 19 2/3 innings.

Anderson was brilliant on Friday night, striking out 14 with only two walks while throwing a 135-pitch complete game. It was a nice bounce back for the sophomore, who gave up five earned runs in 4 1/3 innings the week before against Mississippi State.

LSU is fourth in the SEC with a 3.45 ERA.

In a weekend of walk-offs, none was more dramatic than NC State DH Josh Hogue blasting an opposite-field three-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to give the Wolfpack a 9-8 win over Virginia in the deciding third game of the series.

The Pack’s ninth inning began harmlessly enough with back-to-back strikeouts. But then Drew Lanphere ripped a single to right field and Ty Head walked — after some close misses by Virginia’s Matt Lanzendorfer.

Then, on a 3-1 pitch, Hogue delivered a fastball over the left-center-field wall.

Two weeks ago, Wake Forest was four outs away from improving to 8-1 in the ACC and picking up a huge series win at Clemson. But the Demon Deacons couldn’t close the deal and lost on a walk-off wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth inning. They followed that by getting swept at home by Virginia Tech to drop to 7-5 in the league.

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Then, on Friday night, Wake suffered another gut punch, losing at Florida State on a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth.

So how would Tom Walters’ club respond?

Very well.

The Deacs took the final two games from Florida State by a combined score of 29-2. They banged out 13 hits in Saturday’s 12-0 win in seven innings and 16 hits in Sunday’s 17-2 win in eight innings.

They are now 23-10 overall and 9-6 in the ACC.

From a wins and losses standpoint, this was the worst week of Western Kentucky’s season. From a “this team might be for real” standpoint, the Hilltoppers made a statement.

It started with a 5-4 loss in 10 innings at Vanderbilt on Tuesday night. Then, the Toppers took two of three in a key Conference USA series at Dallas Baptist, winning 4-3 on Friday and 11-0 on Saturday before dropping the third game, 5-1, on Sunday.

WKU entered the week with a gaudy 25-3 record against one of the weakest schedules in the nation. So it was fair to question if Marc Rardin’s club could compete against the upper-echelon teams on its schedule. The answer is yes.

The Toppers, now 27-5 overall and 6-3 in the league, lead the nation in ERA at 2.59 and rank eighth in batting average at .326. Junior outfielder Ryan Wideman, a former junior college All-American, leads the team with a .451 average and 1.259 OPS. On Tuesday, he robbed Vanderbilt’s Mike Mancini of a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth.

Oregon took two of three from Michigan. Nothing notable there. You know what is notable? This catch by left fielder Anson Aroz.

What to make of Iowa? The Hawkeyes are 12-3 in the Big Ten after taking two of three at Northwestern.

Impressive? Very much so. The problem? The five teams Iowa has played — Rutgers, Michigan State, Ohio State, Minnesota and Northwestern — are a combined 19-39 in the Big Ten.

The Hawkeyes are 18-10 overall with an RPI of No. 78.

There is a four-way tie for first place in the Sun Belt after four weekends of conference action. Troy, Coastal Carolina, Southern Miss and Georgia State are each 8-4.

Coastal leads the pack with an RPI of No. 11, followed by Troy at No. 25 and Southern Miss at No. 46. Georgia State, which has played a soft nonconference schedule, is No. 132.

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Southern Miss and Coastal Carolina do not play each other in the regular season.

And finally

• UMBC and Binghamton combined to hit 13 home runs in only seven innings on Friday night. UMBC’s Leewood Molessa and Binghamton’s Freddy Forgione each hit three homers, while seven other players hit solo shots in the Retrievers’ 19-9 victory.

• Kansas continues to roll. The Jayhawks followed up last weekend’s sweep of Oklahoma State in Lawrence by taking three straight at UCF by a combined score of 32-15. They are 27-6 overall and alone in first place in the Big 12 at 9-3.

• Oklahoma State stopped the bleeding with a much-needed sweep over Kansas State in Stillwater. The Cowboys, who had lost four straight, are 15-14 overall and 4-6 in the Big 12.

• Vanderbilt swept Florida on the road for the first time ever. The Commodores allowed five total runs in three games. Florida is now 1-11 in the SEC and will need a minor miracle to extend its streak of 16 consecutive Regional berths.

• Xavier is 5-1 in the Big East after sweeping Butler in Cincinnati. The Musketeers are 18-14 overall but have a No. 16 RPI thanks to a brutal nonconference schedule that featured games against Oregon State (two), Stanford (four), Tennessee (one), Vanderbilt (three) and LSU (one).

• Stanford’s slide continues. The Cardinal have lost nine straight ACC games after getting swept at home by Georgia Tech and are now 17-12 overall and 5-10 in the conference. They allowed 36 total runs in the series and have an 8.48 ERA in ACC play.

• Arizona State avoided a sweep at home by beating Arizona 8-4 in Game 3 of the series on Sunday night. The Wildcats won the first two games by scores of 8-5 and 5-3. Both teams are 8-4 in the Big 12 and one game behind Kansas.

(Photo of Caden Sorrell courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics)

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