No. 25 Auburn (15-6-1) heads on the road Friday to take on No. 14 Texas A&M (25-4) for the first of a three-game series in College Station. Auburn looks to take its first series in SEC play after dropping its first two series against Missouri and Arkansas.
The Aggies are coming off back-to-back losses as they look to get back into the win column. Texas A&M is a very balanced team, having a plethora of quality hitters who can get on base and hit for power and four pitchers all having good seasons.
The Aggies boast four players with batting average over .300, with two batting over .400 on the season. None of their main 10 hitters bat below .255 and as a team, bat .324 which is significantly better than Auburns .268 team average.
Texas A&M averages 6.65 runs per game, 8.1 hits and over 1.3 home runs with five players recording over six homers on the season. Junior Allie Enright leads the team with a .414 batting average, while notching six home runs and 29 RBIs.
Other notable hitters are sophomore Amari Harper, who is batting .413 and graduate student Jazamine Hill, who leads the team with eight home runs while batting .377. Junior Koko Wooley hits .360 and has stolen 12 of 14 bases on the season with sophomore Kennedy Powell nabbing nine bases.
Overall, the Aggies offense will threaten Auburn in a variety of ways, so the pitching staff of Auburn will need to bring its best game or it could fall behind early. Conversely, Auburn will need to threaten the pitchers of Texas A&M which will also be a tough task.
Texas A&M uses a rotation of four pitchers with sophomore Emily Kennedy getting most of the starts with a record of 13-3 on the season. Kennedy has pitched 90 innings this season with an ERA of 1.17, allowing only 55 hits to her 110 strikeouts.
Graduate student Shaylee Ackerman and junior Emily Leavitt get most of the remaining work with records of 5-1 and 5-0, respectively. Ackerman has an ERA of 2.03 with 30 strikeouts to 32 hits, and Leavitt has an ERA of 2.23 with 31 strikeouts to 29 hits.
Auburn will probably face at least two or all three of these pitchers on the weekend, so if it can get after Kennedy, it would bode well for the Tigers' chances at taking the series. Auburn's bats have struggled as of late, averaging only 1.6 runs per game in six SEC games.
The defense for the Aggies is a bit prone to errors, recording 22 as a team on the season. Auburn might be able to get its bats back on track if it can force throwing errors by applying pressure with steals and bunts, which the Aggies have been susceptible of.
This series will present Auburn with a great opportunity to boost its resume and get back to .500 in the SEC. The first pitch is set for 6 p.m. CST on Friday with the game airing on SEC Network+.
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Luke McClure is a junior from Huntsville, Alabama, majoring in sports production. He joined The Plainsman in fall 2023.
Twitter: @lukemcclure0
