The Texas A&M men’s baseball squad heads into the Southland Conference play this weekend in a three-game stint against Incarnate Word. The Islanders come into the match sitting 6-7 overall, while facing powerhouse SEC opponents in Texas A&M and Missouri.

“The last four or five games we played against Manhattan, UTSA and Texas A&M … I thought we really competed at the plate,” said senior first baseman Luke Marbach. “The pitchers have done a really good job from start to finish.

“As a team, we always talk about winning each inning, especially the bottom three innings in seven, eight and nine. We’ve really come together through these games as an offense and a defense, playing with a lot of high energy in swinging the bat.”

The University of Incarnate Word heads to the mound holding a record of 8-3 with wins over Stephen F. Austin (9-3) and UTSA (7-3) respectively. The Cardinals have shown a big offensive presence with ten run wins over Bradley (19-9) and Oral Roberts (17-5) during last month’s games.

“One of our bigger concerns is we expect Incarnate Word to come in very offensive meaning we have to match that,” said Head Coach Scott Malone. “My expectation for the team is to come in ready to attack and have a good offensive weekend right of the bat. We have an older veteran team who knows what to expect in a conference series … were ready to play at a high level.”

The last time these two teams met was March of 2019, which resulted in the Islanders beating out the Cardinals in a 2-1 fashion during their three game conference series. The first match begins Friday night at 6:00 p.m. on Chapman Field with the following games carrying over to Saturday, March 7, at 4:00 p.m. and Sunday, March 8, at 1:00 p.m.