Spring Break
Wild west showdown
No. 1 Aggies to play Top 10 competition
By: Brad Cox
Issue date: 2/27/09 Section: Sports
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The Aggies are traveling to the Houston College Classic tournament for a showdown of Top 10 baseball teams at Minute Maid Park.
"It's going to be a great tournament for any baseball fan," said A&M Head Coach Rob Childress. "The two brackets that are being played are better than any regional that any team is going to play in."
A&M will kick off the tournament Friday with the first game of the six-team tournament when the Aggies face No. 5 UC-Irvine.
The Anteaters started the season 3-1 after playing a four-game series at Hawaii in the opening week of play. Irvine outscored the Warriors 15-9 in the first three games, but lost the fourth game 7-4.
Junior catcher Francis Larson paced the Anteaters during the weekend, batting .462 with a 1.000 slugging percentage and .500 on base percentage. He hit two doubles, one triple and one home run in the series, and leads Irvine with five RBIs.
Irvine will throw junior southpaw Daniel Bibona against the Aggies. In the Anteaters season opener, Bibona held Hawaii to one run and one hit in 7.2 innings of work, striking out eight.
"I want us to go down there and play well," Childress said. "I want to win every game. First and foremost is Irvine, and once we take care of that we'll move on to Rice."
On Saturday, the Aggies will play in-state rival No. 10 Rice. The Owls are 2-2 in 2009 after opening the season at Cal Poly.
After Rice won the season opener, the Mustangs took the final two games of the series. It marked the second consecutive year the Owls started the season 1-2.
The Owls have seven batters hitting more than .300 in 2009. Freshman third baseman Anthony Rendon leads Rice with a .600 batting average and a .933 slugging percentage.
A&M and Rice have developed a rivalry since the two teams have met in the postseason the previous two seasons. The Owls swept the Aggies in both the The Aggies will face junior right-hander Ryan Berry on Saturday. Berry started the Owls' Friday game against Cal Poly, throwing 4.2 innings and giving up seven runs, five earned and four hits. Berry started game one of the 2008 Rice Super Regional, holding the Aggies to five runs and seven hits in 4.2 innings of work.
The Aggies are 2-6 against Rice since Childress took over in 2006. The two wins came in the 2007 Houston College Classic when the Owls were ranked No. 1 and at Reckling Park on March 20, 2007.
The Owls lost closer Cole St. Clair, starters Chris Kelley and Matt Langwell, and positions starters Jared Gayhart, Aaron Luna, J.P. Padron and Adam Zornes from the 2008 squad to graduation or the MLB draft.
A&M will play the final game of the tournament against Houston on Sunday night. The Cougars are 2-3 after opening against Kansas State at home.
Sophomore shortstop Blake Kelso leads Houston in batting average with .350 and has a .550 slugging percentage with one double and one home run. Kelso's one RBI of the season was his solo home run. He has made three errors this season.
Junior right-handed pitcher Frank Corolla will start for the Cougars against A&M. He gave up one unearned run and six hits in 4.2 innings of work against Kansas State. He received a no-decision with sophomore Chase Dempsay picking up the win after holding the Wildcats to no runs and three hits in 3.2 innings of work.
The Aggies are 6-2 against Houston in the Childress era.
"[The tournament] is going to be a great benchmark for every team there," Childress said. "The teams that go down there and do well, it's going to be a great confidence builder. And if they don't, they know what they have to do the rest of the season to get back to that point and play at that high level."
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