ENGINE COUNTING
SHADES ON SIX FIRST INNING WOLVES
“Any time a train rolls by Olsen Field it’s
tradition to predict how many engines the
train is equipped with. This is done simply
by holding up a number of fingers 1-5.”
“Everyone will put on their sunglasses for the
sixth inning because it is statistically the most
dangerous inning for a baseball game.”
“You press your middle finger and ring finger
against the thumb making a ‘wolf hand sign and
move it to the beat of the song ‘Wolfpack Theme.’”
HELLO!
“If someone is talking on their cell
phone in the student section, everyone
around them says, ‘Hello,’ really loudly
so they can’t hear the person they’re
talking to.”
ROOF HIT JINGLES
“When the ball hits the roof and makes
a sound, everyone joins in and sings,
‘Schulte roofing, home of the bullet
proof roof,’ the jingle from the Schulte
Roofing commercial.”
BETWEEN INNINGS
“During innings, when people are stand
ing up and walking around, it distracts
everyone else trying to watch the game
and sometimes blocks people’s view ...
The crowd will heckle, for lack of a better
word, the person until they get the hint to
either sit down or leave so everyone else
can enjoy the game.”
PAT HIS BUTT
“Whenever the coach of the oppos
ing team approaches the mound to talk
to the pitcher, the student section will
yell to the coach to pinch/pat/touch
the pitcher’s butt — because they usu
ally do right before they return to the
dugout — so once they do it we all
cheer or start yelling at the coach for
being gross.”
9TH INNING HOPE
“There’s always room for some Olsen
Magic late in the game, so if the Aggies
are down in the bottom of the ninth,
the student section stands to cheer on
the boys.”
BACK IN THE BOX
“The first base coach from the op
posing team has a designated box he
is supposed to stand inside but rarely
does ... It’s pretty funny when the
student section starts making beeping
noises with every step the coach takes,
like a truck backing up, and then ev
eryone cheers once he makes it back
into the box.”
Graphic from file. Quotes from Ryan Hadaway, Shelby Hanner, Kalyn Clark and Kim Spalding. Compiled by Jenifer Reiley.
Aggies to lean on young talent as season begins
Tanner Garza — THE BATTALION
Head coach Ray Childress and his team prepare for practice Thursday before Friday's Opening Day.
By Tyler Stafford
For the first time since falling
to the Texas Longhorns in the
2014 NCAA Houston Regional last
June, the Texas A&M baseball team
will lace up their cleats, don maroon
and white and step out under the
lights of Olsen Field at Blue Bell
Park. Baseball is back.
The 2015 A&M squad hopes to
build on the success of last year’s
team, which finished 36-26 and
earned second place at the NCAA
Houston Regional. It was the eighth
year in a row that head coach Rob
Childress’ team made the postseason
— the 30th time in school history.
The Aggies will turn to their tal
ented underclassmen to replace the
leadership they lost to graduation
and the MLB Draft, namely juniors
Daniel Mengden, Corey Ray and
Cole Lankford.
All told, A&M lost a total of seven
players from last year’s team — in
cluding five to the MLB Draft — but
they are loaded with young talent.
Childress will turn to sophomores
Nick Banks, Ryne Birk and Ron
nie Gideon to lead the offense, along
with seniors Blake Allemand, Patrick
McLendon and Logan Nottebrok.
“We have a lot of depth, both
hitting and pitching,” Banks said.
“Everyone that’s watching looks
for a team with a lot of power and
strengths on the mound and at the
plate. Our expectation every year is
to host a regional and host the supers
so we can get to our one goal and
that’s win in Omaha.”
A&M returns four of its top six in
on-base percentage from last year in
Allemand (.397), Birk (.391), Banks
(.386) and McLendon (.367). While
those guys get on base, Nottebrok
and his team-leading eight home
runs from a year ago will look to
drive them in, along with another
right-handed power threat in Gide
on.
After a freshman season marked
by multiple awards. Banks was
named a Preseason All-American
by baseball websites DIBaseball and
Perfect Game.
Although they lost Mengden, the
Aggies looked primed to reload with
the lively arms of junior Grayson
Long and sophomore Tyler Stub-
OPENING WEEKEND
Game 1
6:30 p.m. Friday
Game 2
2 p.m. Saturday
Game 3
12 p.m. Sunday
blefield, both of whom started the
majority of the Saturday and Sunday
games last season. However, Stub
blefield tore his ACL in the offsea
son and will be out for an extended
period of time.
“Well I’m disappointed for
[Stubblefield],” Childress said. “He
prepared so hard to have a great
sophomore year and, who’s to say
he doesn’t, you know, if we get him
back in the last month and he has a
strong finish. With that being said,
next man up. It’s a new opportunity
for another guy and we got depth on
the staff, and with his injury comes
opportunity for the next man and
that’s the way I look at it. No ex
cuses.”
Childress will look to junior
southpaw Matt Kent and Jason Free
man — the lone senior pitcher — to
pick up the slack along with a bevy
of untested pitchers such as Lee May
Gonzalez, Mark Ecker and Ryan
Hendrix and freshmen Turner Lar
kins, Brigham Hill and Casen Ger-
rard, he said.
“I think the season is going to be
great,” Long said. “We’ve got a lot
of new guys, but we have a lot of the
same guys we had last year, and the
chemistry from last year to this year
is crazy how much more of a team
we play as. Even off the field away
from the field we are always hang
ing out together and I really think
that’s going to help us in our success
this year.”
The Aggies finished last year with
a record of 14-16 in conference play
in a season that saw the SEC send 10
teams to the NCAA Tournament.
After ending last season ranked
No. 25, A&M will begin the 2015
campaign at No. 17.
“Our goals don’t change,” Chil
dress said. “Our goal is to finish at
the top of the SEC and earn an op
portunity to host in the postseason
and compete to get to Omaha and to
be the last team standing. Our goals
won’t ever change for as long as I’m
here.”
A&M opens its season with a 13-
game homestand, beginning Friday
night at 6:35 p.m. for the first of a
three-game series with Holy Cross.
“There’s nothing like Opening
Day,” Banks said. “You can tell.
Everyone gets a little early to the
park and are more energetic. It adds
a little giddy to them. I think for ev
eryone, they’re starting to soak it in
that it’s finally here.”