A&M heads to West Virginia
COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M loosened up for practice on Monday at Blue Bell Park to the strains of “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver.
Might as well start getting used to the West Virginia ditty now. The second-seeded Aggies, who wished they didn’t have to leave home at all for the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament, are bound for a regional at West Virginia, one of 16 host sites.
“You get what you deserve,” A&M co-ace John Doxakis said of the Aggies’ subpar showing in the SEC tournament last week likely leading to going on the road in the NCAA postseason. “I feel like Ole Miss kind of took it from us. They got what they deserved and we got what we deserved. We’re just happy to have our shot in the postseason now.”
A&M will face No. 3 seed Duke at 3 p.m. Friday in the regional that also includes No. 4 seed Fordham. The Aggies opened their season with three home games against Fordham in midFebruary, outscoring the Rams 26-7.
The Morgantown, W.Va., showdown is paired with the regional in Nashville, Tenn., and hosted by Vanderbilt, both the SEC regular season and tournament champion. The Aggies took two of three at Vanderbilt to start SEC play in March.
“We’ve got the opportunity to continue to fight to get to Omaha,” A&M coach Rob Childress said of the home of the College World Series in Nebraska. “That’s all you can ask for. Our whole focus is on Duke … it’s all about going out and playing well at this time of the year, and now we’re back to zero-zero.”
A&M was one of five schools from Texas in the NCAA field. Texas Tech (3917) will host a regional at Lubbock that also includes Missouri Valley Conference regular-season champion Dallas Baptist (41-18). The Red Raiders will play Army on Friday before Dallas Baptist meets Florida.
Baylor (34-17) will play Loyola Marymount in a regional in Los Angeles that is hosted by No. 1 national seed UCLA. TCU (32-26) was one of the last at-large selections in the field due to its RPI of No. 59 and will play California in a regional at Fayettville, Ark., that also includes Arkansas and Central Connecticut State.
A&M (37-21-1) finished sixth in the 14-team SEC with a 16-13-1 record, and is playing in its 13th consecutive NCAA Tournament under Childress. While the Aggies haven’t hosted a regional since 2016, they hosted a super regional in 2017 and made the CWS for a second time under Child-ress that season.
Duke (31-25) finished seventh in the ACC with a 15-15 record. The Blue Devils have only played in eight NCAA Tournaments but are appearing in the postseason for the third time in the last four years.
A&M sports two of the nation’s top pitchers in lefties Doxakis and Asa Lacy, but the Aggies’ offense has struggled for much of league play. That was most evident last week at the SEC tournament in Hoover, Ala., when A&M dropped its final two games 2-0 and 1-0, despite Doxakis carrying a nohitter through eight innings (he was pulled going into the ninth) and Chris Weber carrying a no-hitter into the eighth.
Only one Aggie is hitting better than .300 — shortstop Braden Shewmake at .315 — while 18 Division I teams are hitting at least .300 entering the NCAA Tournament.
Mississippi owns a similar résumé as A&M but the Rebels won all four of their games against the Aggies this season and were awarded a regional.
“The SEC has prepared us for this regional,” A&M catcher Mikey Hoehner said. “It’s all about looking forward — you’ve got to forget about the past.”