Tale of the Tape - Texas A&M / OSU Comparison

Oregon State plays Texas A&M in the first game of the TCU Regional in the NCAA baseball tournament at 12 noon PST today. The Beavs have had good luck in Texas this year (Sun Bowl, CBI) and hopefully that continues.

Texas A&M was ranked #1 in one pre-season poll so you know that they have talent. Of course, being ranked in a pre-season poll isn't always the best thing or a great indicator of anything (OSU - SI - 2001). So how did the Aggies turn out in comparison to the Beavers?

Hitting

Team           AVG SLG%  OB%   AB   R   H 2B 3B HR  BB  SO SF SH SB-ATT FLD%
Texas A&M     .297 .487 .395 1954 404 581 94 18 80 236 435 19 43 74-106 .971
Oregon State  .275 .375 .390 1733 355 477 81 13 22 283 332 26 59 50-66  .976

Clearly Texas A&M has the edge on the long ball. The closest Pac-10 team to their HR total was ASU with 68. But they don't hit a ton of doubles or triples despite their decent SB numbers. Perhaps that, combined with the low walk totals and high strikeout numbers, is why they scored nearly the same amount of runs per game as the Beavs (6.97 to 6.83). So despite the slightly better numbers, they are effectively as good as the Beavers on offense.

Pitching

Team           ERA  W-L  SV    IP   H   R  ER  BB  SO  2B 3B HR   AB B/Avg
Texas A&M     4.34 36-22 13 511.2 499 289 247 160 544 123 16 41 1968  .254
Oregon State  3.69 35-17 13 464.0 404 217 190 182 401  71  9 30 1706  .237

Right off the bat, the Beavs are simply allowing less runs per game regardless of being earned or not (4.17 to 4.98). That may be due to the much high opponent slugging %, or just the batting average against in general. However, both teams have very similar WHIP with OSU at 1.26 and T&M at 1.29. That means that they allow roughly the same amount of people on base. Texas A&M appears to have much better control and K's a lot more people, but the control means that they are getting hit harder than the Beavs. If OSU's bats are hot, then the Aggies will be in trouble. Otherwise, it could be a long day.

OVERALL

These teams seem very evenly matched up. Perhaps that's generally what you'd expect from a 2 vs. 3 seed matchup at a regional. Looks like its going to take a full team effort either way. The pitching and hitting need to be on. The Beavs have the edge in pitching and the Aggies is hitting. But the edge either way isn't big so anything could happen. Prepare for a nailbiter. If I had to make a prediction, I'd guess 6-5 Beavs. But that's mostly because I'm an OSU fan. Could eaily go the other way.


I'll be on twitter during the game so follow me if you are on twitter too at http://twitter.com/JasonOSUBeavers and join the conversation!

Go Beavs!