Texas A&M rides dominating sweep of Vandy to top of college baseball rankings

Published Apr. 15, 2024 4:02 p.m. ET

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The Texas A&M Aggies had quite the weekend.

The Aggies (32-4) surged to the top of the college baseball rankings with three straight dominating wins over Vanderbilt, posting a pair of shutouts and a collective 36-6 margin.

It was the program’s first sweep of Vandy and the most runs Texas A&M has scored in a Southeastern Conference series. They’re off to their best SEC start through 15 games (11-4) since 2015 and lead the nation in wins.

“I can’t imagine it being much better between the crowds ... It felt like a super regional every day,” Aggies coach Jim Schlossnagle said.

Texas A&M started off with a 15-0, mercy-rule game with Ryan Prager pitching a complete game (seven innings) shutout while allowing only four hits and no walks.

Tanner Jones followed with his best outing for the Aggies, going 7-1/3 scoreless innings in a 9-0 victory. It was the first time Texas A&M had produced back-to-back shutouts in SEC games since 2016 and was the team’s national-best eighth of the season.

The Aggies scarcely even needed their bullpen.

“Five pitchers in a three-game sweep of one of the best programs in our sport,” Schlossnagle said. “It speaks to how well we pitched and how well we obviously swung the bat.”

The Aggies hit nine homers in the series, including two apiece from Jace LaViolette and Braden Montgomery in Friday night's opener.

The 22,489 fans marked the second most to attend a weekend series at Blue Bell Park.

IN THE POLLS

Texas A&M jumped to No. 1 in the D1Baseball.com and Baseball America polls, ending Arkansas' five-week reign. The Razorbacks suffered their first series loss, dropping two of three to Alabama.

The top four teams in the D1Baseball.com polls play in the SEC, including No. 2 Arkansas, No. 3 Kentucky and No. 4 Tennessee. Oregon State is fifth.

Baseball America has Texas A&M followed by Arkansas, Tennessee, Clemson and Florida State. Clemson went 1-3 last week with a mid-week loss to USC Upstate and a series loss at home to North Carolina State. The Seminoles swept Miami.

MOVING UP

Oregon has opened with five straight Pac-12 series wins, two more than the previous best starting streak. The Ducks (25-10, 10-5) took two of three from Southern California and are a half game behind Oregon State (29-5, 10-4) in the league standings. ... Oklahoma rebounded from consecutive series losses to sweep Kansas State. The Sooners are locked in a first-place tie with West Virginia atop the Big 12, at 11-4.

STRONG PERFORMANCES

Clemson freshman righthander Aidan Knaak allowed only two infield singles while striking out 10 in eight scoreless innings of Sunday's 7-0 win over North Carolina State. ... Omaha's Tyler Bishop went 6 for 6 and hit for the cycle on Saturday, driving in seven runs, scoring a school-record six times and hitting a pair of homers. He's the first Maverick to hit for the cycle since Chris Weimer on Feb. 29, 2008. ... NCAA home run leader Charlie Condon hit four more for Georgia last week, going 11 of 17 in four games (.647).

LOUISIANA PITCHING

Louisiana held Marshall to one run in a three-game sweep, winning 3-1, 1-0 and 2-0. Carson Fluno closed the series by taking a no-hit bid into the eighth inning. AJ Havrilla's grounder caromed off second base and into center field to break up the no-hitter. The Ragin' Cajuns are fourth nationally with an earned run average of 3.35. They've won 13 straight Sun Belt games to build a five-game lead over the pack.

Chase Morgan (4-1, 1.90) and Andrew Hermann (4-1, 1.91) rank second and third-respectively, in the league in ERA.

ACC EXPLOSIONS

Georgia Tech rallied from a 7-0 deficit to beat Virginia Tech 11-7 and claim the series victory, getting a three-run homer from John Giesler. Virginia's Luke Hanson hit two of the team's six home runs in a series clinching 16-7 win over Louisville. The 47 runs matched the Cavaliers program record for a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series.

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AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports

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