A look at the history of NCAA baseball

COLLEGE STATION — Texas and Texas A&M began playing baseball in 1904, but the Aggies and Longhorns didn’t meet in the NCAA Tournament until 110 years later in a 2014 regional at Rice.

UT won two of three against A&M in that regional to advance, and four years later the Longhorns again prevailed against the Aggies in a regional, this time in Austin, as UT eventually advanced to a super regional with a win against Indiana.

However, on college baseball’s biggest stage, A&M prevailed over UT two years ago as the Aggies eliminated the Longhorns from the College World Series with a 10-2 victory in Omaha, Neb.

Now, UT and A&M meet for the sixth time in the NCAA Tournament and the first time on the Aggies’ home court in the postseason. A&M (45-13), the No. 1 seed. 3 of the tournament, and UT (36-22) collide Saturday at 8 p.m. in the College Station Regional winner’s bracket.

The game is crucial for the regional, with its winner needing just one more win to advance to a super regional, while the loser needs three straight wins in the double-elimination format. UT has won 13 straight regional games dating back to 2017 under coach David Pierce, but A&M is the favorite in front of its home crowd. The Aggies also won 9-2 in Austin on March 5 this season, and the Longhorns won 5-2 last year in College Station.

Top-seeded A&M defeated top-seeded Grambling 8-0 on Friday afternoon, and third-seeded Texas defeated second-seeded Louisiana 12-5 on Friday night. Grambling and Louisiana play an elimination game at 2:00 pm Saturday at Blue Bell Park, with the winner advancing to an elimination game Sunday at 2:00 pm against UT or A&M.

“There’s no magic dust, just the formula was right,” Pierce said of UT’s regional wins. “Guys locked in and didn’t make it too big. That’s probably from our perspective on a team: teaching them how to control their emotions and understand that it’s a baseball game.”

Texas holds a 240-131-5 all-time advantage in the series that returns as a conference matchup next season after the Longhorns along with Oklahoma leave the Big 12 and enter the SEC on July 1.