Vanderbilt Commodores (26-7, 8-4 SEC) at Texas A&M Aggies (29-4, 8-4 SEC)
Game 1: Friday, April 12 @ 6 p.m. CT • SECN+
Game 2: Saturday, April 13 @ 7:30 p.m. CT • SEC Network
Game 3: Sunday, April 14 @ 1 p.m. CT • SECN+
College Station, Texas • Blue Bell Park
Series Preview: No. 6 Vanderbilt travels to No. 3 Texas A&M for a three-game, top-10 showdown at Blue Bell Park.
- Both teams sit at 8-4 in the SEC and second place in their respective divisions.
- This weekend’s series will be Vandy’s third three-game set against a ranked opponent. The Dores are 5-1 in the previous two series (vs. #18 Auburn, at #18 LSU).
- The Aggies lead the all-time series 13-10 since the first meeting in 2013. Vanderbilt won the last meeting, 10-4, to win the SEC Tournament Championship in 2023.
- Vandy’s last trip to College Station was 2019 with A&M winning the final two games in the series.
- Tim Corbin was the manager of the 2006 USA Collegiate National Team with Jim Schlossnagle as an assistant coach. The 2006 squad won Gold at the FISU World University Championships.
Last Time Out: Vanderbilt has run-rule wins in each of its last two games after beating Middle Tennessee 14-1 in seven innings Tuesday at Hawkins Field.
- After dropping the series opener at LSU last Thursday, the Dores took the next two games to pick up a series win in Baton Rouge.
- In Game 2 vs. the Tigers, Jayden Davis hit the go-ahead, two-run homer in the eighth inning to give Vandy its first lead since the third inning.
- The Dores run-ruled LSU in the finale on Saturday, scoring in all eight innings to win 13-3. Braden Holcomb homered twice including a 466-ft blast to left that cleared the videoboard.
Just Means More: Vanderbilt ranks top-three in the SEC in both batting average (3rd, .286) and ERA (3rd, 3.62) in SEC action.
- Jayden Davis leads the Commodores in conference play, hitting .360 with 15 RBI.
- Carter Holton ranks third in strikeouts vs. SEC opponents with 37 followed by Bryce Cunningham in third with 32.
- Vanderbilt’s relievers in SEC games leads all SEC bullpens with a 2.08 ERA over 34.2 innings.
First-Years Making an Impact: Five Vanderbilt freshmen pitchers have combined to throw 69.2 innings this season.
- The five freshmen (Guth/Green/Kranzler/McElvain/Seiber) have a combined ERA of 2.60 led by Miller Green’s 0.60 ERA over 15.0 innings.
- Transfer Jayden Davis leads the Commodores in conference play, hitting .360 with 15 RBI. Davis is the reigning SEC Co-Player of the Week.
- Freshman Camden Kozeal is hitting .299 on the season with 20 RBI. Kozeal was named SEC Freshman of the Week on March 4.
Scoring Early: Vanderbilt has scored 74 runs in the first two innings this season, averaging more than two runs per game in the opening frames.
- Vandy is outscoring its opponents 39-16 in first innings and 35-9 in second innings.
- The Dores are 12-1 when they score in the first frame and 18-2 when scoring first.
200 K’s for #20: Junior Carter Holton recorded his 200th career strikeout at South Carolina on March 23.
- Holton has thrown four consecutive quality starts. He has 10 or more strikeouts in three of his last five starts and has eight or more strikeouts in six of seven starts this season.
- Among active SEC pitchers that have pitched their entire careers in the SEC, Holton ranks fourth in career wins (17), second in srtikeouts (220) and fifth in innings pitched (174.2).
