Spring Break
Aggie baseball team revisits rivalry against Rice Owls
By: Brad Cox
Issue date: 4/14/09 Section: Sports
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Roles will be reversed today at Rice's Reckling Park when the No. 23 Aggies play the No. 1 Owls.
It's been a tale of two teams since the previous game.
While Rice has won 10 of its previous 11 games, A&M has lost five of its previous seven. The Aggies are 15-12 since the game against the Owls.
The Aggies went 1-3 this past week, including a 9-2 midweek loss to Houston. It was A&M's fourth midweek loss of the season, the most since it lost six midweek games in 2001.
A&M is 21-14 overall and is in sixth place in the Big 12 with an 8-7 conference record. The Aggies trail Big 12-leading Oklahoma by 1.5 games.
The Owls are 25-8 overall and tied for first place in Conference USA with a 9-3 record. Rice is coming of a 2-1 series win against East Carolina.
A&M has developed a rivalry with Rice during the past three seasons, going 2-6 against the Owls and losing four consecutive games in the NCAA Super Regionals. The loss at the 2009 Houston College Classic was the Aggies' sixth consecutive loss to Rice.
Neither team has announced who will start on the mound. A&M is expected to start a right-handed pitcher.
The Aggies started junior right-hander Chad Sherman in their previous midweek game, but sophomore right-hander Barrett Loux, who has been a Sunday starter in the past, did not throw in A&M's series against Kansas State.
Loux was a standout freshman in 2008, earning a 6-2 record while leading the team with 81 strikeouts and posting a 4.18 ERA. In 2009, Loux is 1-1 with a 5.23 ERA and 46 strikeouts.
A&M has been inconsistent at the plate this season with a .282 batting average. The Aggies are ranked No. 8 in the Big 12 in batting average and are third in offensive strikeouts with 267.
Sophomore Brooks Raley leads the Aggies offensively. The southpaw is A&M's Friday night starter, but he plays in the outfield in games he doesn't pitch. He's batting .350 with a .476 on base percentage. He batted .200 during A&M's 1-3 week.
Freshman third baseman Anthony Rendon paces Rice at the plate with a .366 batting average and a .642 slugging percentage. He leads the team with 10 home runs.
Rendon was 0-for-4 against A&M in the Houston College Classic game.
After Rice, the Aggies start a 13-game homestand Friday with a three-game series against Nebraska.
Catch the game
Where and when: 6:35 p.m. today at Reckling Park
Radio: WTAW-AM 1620 or aggieathletics.com
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