Texas A&M embarks on the first of this season's four Thursday-Saturday series as the Aggies welcome the Kentucky Wildcats to Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.
Game times at the corner of Bush & Olsen are 8:02 pm on Thursday, 6:32 pm on Friday and 3:02 pm on Saturday.
ABOUT THE AGGIES
The Aggie bats have picked up steam the last 12 games, hitting at a .304 clip with a .393 on-base percentage and .501 slugging percentage, clubbing 26 doubles, two triples and 19 home runs in the span.
Texas A&M boasts one of the nation's most experienced hitters in Dylan Rock. The UTSA transfer ranks 17th among active NCAA Division I players with 757 at-bats. He ranks fifth among active players in runs (173), seventh in doubles (52), 10th in total bases (377), 11th in hits (244), 23rd in games played (202) and 29th in RBI (135). Over the last 18 games, Rock is batting .422 (27-for-64) with 20 runs, five doubles, seven home runs, 21 RBI and five stolen bases. On the season, Rock is hitting .343 (34-for-99) with 26 runs, seven home runs, seven doubles, 22 RBI and nine stolen bases. He leads the team in runs, home runs, slugging percentage (.626) and stolen bases.
Kole Kaler leads the SEC and ranks 10th in the nation with his 28 walks. His clip of 1.04 walks per game also ranks second in the SEC and 10th in the nation. Kaler has also been hit by one pitch and he's batting .243 (26-for-107) with 23 runs, plus three doubles, 12 RBI and six stolen bases. He sports a .406 on-base percentage. In the last 12 games, Kaler has a .438 on-base percentage. During the stretch, he has hit .286 (14-for-49) with two doubles, 10 runs and seven RBI and has been walked 13 times. Kaler's batting average has improved from .207 to .243 over the span.
Jack Moss leads the attack early in the season, batting .389 with a .453 on-base percentage, both team highs. He has reached base in the last 24 games and in 27 of the 28 games this season. On the season, he has a team-high 14 multi-hit games. In addition to batting average and on-base percentage, he leads the team in hits (42) and ranks second in runs (23), RBI (23) and slugging percentage (.583).
TEAMMATES REUNITED
Two sets of teammates will be reunited thanks to the transfer portal. Moss and Kentucky's Hunter Jump were teammates at Arizona State last season. Kaler and Wildcats' Adam Fogel played together at Hawaii in 2020 and '21.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
The Wildcats are looking to restart the engine, entering the contest with an 18-11 overall mark and a 3-6 league ledger. Kentucky started the year with a 14-3 mark, but have stumbled as of late, going 4-8, including 3-6 in the SEC, over the last 12 games. They did manage to win a home series against Georgia two weeks ago, winning two of three and outscoring the Bulldogs 30-17. Kentucky is batting .298 on the season with a .399 on-base percentage and .470 slugging percentage. Chase Estep leads the Wildcat offense, batting .384 with 38 runs, 10 doubles, one triple, nine home runs, 29 RBI and 10 stolen bases.
SERIES NOTES
Texas A&M and Kentucky have met 15 times previously, with the Aggies owning a 9-6 advantage in the series. A&M owns a 6-5 edge in the series since they joined the SEC. The teams have squared off for four series since the 2014 campaign with the road team claiming each series, including a Wildcats sweep at Blue Bell Park in 2017 and an Aggie sweep at Kentucky Proud Park in 2019. In the 2019 series, Braden Shewmake batted 10-for-16 with five runs, one double, two home runs and nine RBI as the Aggies pounded the Wildcats by a combined count of 31-11.
