No. 9 Texas A&M will play their first game of the Sec Tournament sometime friday. When is a question mark.

There is an 80% chance of Thunderstorms during the early evening hours in Hoover, Ala., making a start time difficult to ascertain. The day’s first game, between Texas and Arkansas, will start no earlier than 4 p.m. central time, and forecasts indicate that start time is unlikely. The Aggies and No. 6 Auburn were supposed to have a first pitch time of 6 p.m.

Stat comparison

Category	A&M	Auburn
Team batting average	.305	.298
Home runs	114	70
Runs scored	477	379
Team OPS	.999	.860
Stolen bases	53	74
Team ERA	5.09	3.55
Strikeouts	488	540
Walks	144	145
Batting average against	.270	.232

Texas A&M (39-13, 18-11 SEC) projected lineup

Position	Player	Stats
1B	Gavin Grahovac	.351/19 HR/71 RBI
CF	Caden Sorrell	.343/23/74
DH	Chris Hacopian	.315/9/33
LF	Jake Duer	.299/6/47
3B	Nico Partida	.317/12/41
C	Bear Harrison	.303/11/33
RF	Jorian Wilson	.302/12/32
2B	Ben Royo	.520/3/7
SS	Boston Kellner	.245/5/29
P	Ethan Darden	4-2, 3.62 ERA

Auburn (37-18, 17-13 SEC) projected lineup

Position	Player	Stats
2B	Chris Rembert	.347/4/42
C	Chase Fralick	.319/14/43
1B	Ethan Bingaman	.326/10/41
3B	Eric Guevara	.340/12/48
LF	Bub Terrell	.307/15/41
DH	Brandon McCraine	.352/1/28
SS	Mason McCraine	.310/5/34
CF	Bristol Carter	.291/2/25
RF	Cade Belyeu	.221/1/11
P	Alex Petrovic	9-2, 3.38 ERA

Keys to victory

A&M:

• Get three good innings out of Darden. He’s been the opener for the last couple of weeks and has been effective his first time through the order. After that, he’s been rocked. If the Aggies are going to keep their pitching on schedule, they need more than just a couple decent innings.
• Smash. With Partida back in the lineup, the Aggies are powerful 1-8 (and Kellner has some pop too). They need to work counts, which they’ve done well this year, and when Petrovic or someone else makes a mistake, they need to jump on it.
• Grahovac and Sorrell keep dominating. A&M’s 1-2 punch at the top of the order may be the nation’s best, and they need keep that up tonight. If they get on base and create momentum, then that’ll help the rest of the lineup.

Auburn:

• Jump out early. If the Tigers get on Darden fast, then the Aggies are in trouble. The goal is to use Darden and one or two other pitchers to get to Clayton Freshcorn, and if Darden’s gone in the second, that’s trouble for the Aggies.
• Keep the ball in the yard. Petrovic has only given up seven home runs in 77 1/3 innings, but the Aggies bring more muscle to the plate than most anyone else. They’re going to look to put the ball over the wall, and A&M has considerably more power than Auburn.
• Get Carter on base and create havoc. Bristol Carter’s batting stats look ok, but he’s 29 of 30 in steal attempts this year. If he gets on, he can cause serious trouble and set the table for Auburn’s very good top of the order.