Texas, LSU highlight big weekend on pair of big-league stages
HOUSTON — Minute Maid Park and Globe Life Field in Arlington hosted the American League Championship Series in October, and now a boatload of college baseball players will get a taste of the big-time between the chalk lines.
The Astros Foundation College Classic cranks up at 11 a.m. Friday with the Houston Cougars facing Texas State, and the prime-time game pits traditional powers LSU and Texas at 7 p.m. Friday.
Three games are Friday, three are Saturday, and three are Sunday in the six-team tournament at the Astros’ home, where the Texas Rangers advanced to the World Series from the ALCS last fall.
All nine games will be on the Space City Home Network in the Astros’ five-state viewing area. In addition, the nine games will be streamed live for free on Astros.com and on the Astros’ three primary social media outlets Facebook, Youtube and X.
No. 2 LSU is the defending national champion, and Texas checks in at No. 14. Up in Arlington, the Kubota College Baseball Series continues at 2 p.m. Friday with Southern Cal vs. TCU and at 6 p.m. with Arizona State vs. Texas A&M.
The No. 11 Aggies also play 2 p.m. Saturday against USC and at 2 p.m. Sunday in a rematch with ASU. A&M (8-0) is enjoying a sizzling start behind sophomore slugger Jace Laviolette of Tompkins High and junior transfer Braden Montgomery from Stanford.
“We’re looking forward to our first road trip,” A&M coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “We’re excited to play in a major league stadium and see our guys play two really good Pac-12 teams. … It’s great knowing
you’re going to get to play.”
Globe Life Field, like Minute Maid Park, has a retractable roof, so any possibility of inclement weather is not a factor.
The lone loss for Texas (7-1) occurred in the season’s second game, in which the Longhorns fell 7-6 to San Diego in extra innings. UT and LSU last played a year ago in Austin, with the Tigers winning
3-0.
Texas starts its final season in Big 12 play on March 8 in a three-game series at Texas Tech. The Longhorns, along with rival Oklahoma, are joining the SEC on July 1. A&M starts SEC play on March 15, when it opens a threegame series at Florida.
Following their fun in the state’s major league parks, the Aggies and Longhorns meet Tuesday night at Austin in a precursor to again being league rivals once UT joins the SEC. UT is coming off a 15-4 home win over St. John’s on Tuesday night.
“Tuesday night, Sunday night — it doesn’t matter,” UT coach David Pierce said. “We’re just trying to get better. … (We keep) finding ways to win whether it’s on offense, great defensive plays, the back end of the bullpen. It’s all important.
“But it’s (also) all about growth right now.”
LSU for its part started its Houston trip early with a 16-4 win at Rice on Wednesday night. The Tigers’ Brady Neal collected two homers and drove in five runs, while Paxton Kling added four RBIS.
“The pure talent he has is very evident,” LSU coach Jay Johnson said of Neal, a sophomore catcher from Tallahassee, Fla., who missed much of last season with a back injury following a solid start to his college career.
LSU collected 11 hits, drew 10 walks and had a whopping five hit batters against an erratic Owls pitching staff.
“We did a good job with plate discipline,” Johnson said. “(We had) a lot of free passes, and then we cashed in with two outs and runners in scoring position.”
LSU won its seventh national title last year at the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., in Johnson’s second season running the program. The Longhorns last season lost in an NCAA Tournament super regional at Stanford, which had defeated A&M in a regional the Cardinal hosted.
And speaking of Stanford, it’s in Houston as well this weekend for a three game series at Rice. Game times at Reckling Park are 6:30 p.m. Friday, 4:30 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday. Both teams are trying to remedy a 3-5 start.