The Battalion — February 22, 2024

Primary elections open

The hours are as follows:

Early voting for the 2024 primary elections opened on Feb. 20 and will continue until March 1.

The primary ballot lists presidential candidates such as Donald Trump and Nikki Haley for the Republican Party, and Joe Biden running as the incumbent for the Democratic Party. Additional offices on the ballot in Brazos County include U.S. senator, U.S. representative for District 10 and sheriff.

The Brazos County Republican ballot also lists propositions such as Proposition 1 which proposes “eliminating all property taxes without increasing Texans’ overall tax burden,” and Proposition 13 which reads “Texas should ban the sale of Texas land to citizens, governments and entities from China, Iran, North Korea and Russia.”

Registered voters can place an in-person ballot at any listed early-voting location in their respective county. Brazos County registered voters can choose between five polling locations:

• Brazos County Election Administrator Office (McLeod Training Room)

• Arena Hall

• Galilee Baptist Church

• College Station Utilities Meeting & Training Facility

• Memorial Student Center (MSC)

• Tuesday, Feb. 20 to Friday, Feb. 23 — 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

• Saturday, Feb. 24 — 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

• Sunday, Feb. 25 — 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

• Monday, Feb. 26 to Friday, March 1 — 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Upon arrival at any voting location, registered voters are required to have one form of valid identification including but not limited to a voter ID card, a valid Texas driver’s license or a U.S. passport.

Brazos County offers mail-in ballot options for voters who are over 65, out of the country during early voting and election day, disabled or confined in jail. One mail-in option is an application the voter can fill out and return to the county. For voters wishing to submit a mail-in ballot, the last day to receive an application is Friday, Feb. 23 at 5 p.m.

Alternatively, absentee voters living outside the county can write a letter with their name, local address, address where they are, reason why they’re absentee voting and a party preference and mail or fax it to the Brazos County Election Administrator Office. If mail-in voters choose the later option, Brazos County requires that the letter have the voter’s signature.

Primary Election Day is on March 5.

4:30-6 p.m.

• I-Dinner will be on Wednesday, Feb. 28 located in MSC 2300 from 6-8 p.m.

• I-Show will be on Thursday, Feb. 29 in Rudder Theatre from 7:30-9 p.m.

By Stacy Cox @StacyCox05

From Monday, Feb. 26 to Friday, March 1, the International Student Association will host International Week, or I-Week. During the fiveday-long celebration, there will be a different focus each day to spread cultural awareness.

During I-Week, students will have the opportunity to learn about other cultures, see their own culture represented, participate in activities and experience the various traditions of other cultures.

This year, I-Story will showcase films and genres that represent each country’s culture. Other events consist of sharing cultural exhibits, artwork and food. The location and times of the individual events of I-Week are as follows:

• I-Exhibit will be placed on Monday, Feb. 26 in the Rudder Plaza from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

• I-Story will be on Tuesday, Feb. 27 in MSC 2404 from

• The final event, I-Art, will be on Friday, March 1 at the J. Wayne Stark Galleries from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Student Development Specialist in the MSC Programs Valerie Wilson, Class of 2014, serves as the advisor for the International Student Association.

“The International Student Association’s mission breaks down into three parts,” Wilson said. “… one is to be a resource to the over 6,000 international students on campus … second is to share global cultures with the rest of campus … the third part is to develop global leaders.” Wilson said international students face challenges that domestic students don’t.

“International students tend to struggle with their identity,” Wilson said. “They might say, ‘I know what an Aggie looks like, but is that a role that I can fill?’ Many international students struggle with practical things, like they don’t have a car or a driver’s license in this country … or for many, there is a language

barrier.”

Despite cultural differences, Wilson said international and American Aggies also face similar challenges like studying.

“Every issue that American students are facing, our international students are facing those same issues, but then extra things on top of that, including hateful behavior towards them,” Wilson said.

Vice President of External Programs of ISA physics doctoral candidate Arjun Sengupta said as an international student he struggled with cultural differences.

“The biggest struggles of being an international student are the cultural differences of what words are and aren’t appropriate to say in different situations and also learning how to interact with the people at A&M,” Sengupta said. “ISA has provided a safe space for other students and myself to share experiences, make new friends and cultivate a diverse friend group.”

Vice President of Marketing for ISA and electrical engineering sophomore Lakshya Vason said attending I-Week as a freshman international student was an eye-opening experience.

“As a freshman attending I-Week, I had an overall great experience,” Vason said. “Mainly, the

best thing about I-Week is that you get to meet and interact with so many new people. I also got to meet a lot of international students going through the master’s program and networked with them to get their experience being an international master’s student.”

Wilson said everyone should attend not only to network but also to experience cultures in a way that doesn’t require them to spend an excessive amount of money.

“A lot of the time if you want to see these certain types of dances or hear these stories from these people, you have actually to go to their country, and that’s a huge investment of money and time,” Wilson said. “It is such a valuable way to learn about new cultures without leaving the A&M campus.”

Vason said there are many reasons students should attend.

“You do get a free t-shirt, and I would definitely recommend that you attend so that you do not miss I-Dinner and I-Show because it will be the highest in production in terms of food and performance,” Vason said. Sengupta said he is looking forward to all the various displays of culture. “I’m excited to see a mix of cul-

tures,” Vason said. “I’m also looking forward to our international dinner that will feature a buffet of cuisines from various cultures. I believe students should attend to not only have a good time, but to be amongst a diverse mix of cultures.”

Since I-Week will last for five days, Wilson said students are not required to attend all the events each day of the week.

“You don’t have to spend the whole week going to all of the events. you could go to one or two, just go to the ones that are the most interesting to you and fit in your schedule,” Wilson said. “A lot of them are also come-and-go events.”

With midterms right around the corner, Vason said he saw the event as a way to break away from the stress surrounding this time in the semester.

“Especially with midterms coming up, it’s nice to have this event to kind of get a break from the constant exams and refresh your mind,” Vason said.

Sengupta said attending the festival can help change the minds of visitors.

“You will gain a deeper understanding of the different cultures from attending the event, making you a more holistic and empathetic person,” Sengupta said.

A&M research lab discovers new species, studies populations

By Mikayla Martinez @Mikayla25news

While taking a deep dive into the study of fish ecosystems, Aggie scholars are making a splash in aquatic research at the Texas A&M Winemiller Aquatic Ecology Lab. Lab namesake and professor Kirk Winemiller, Ph.D., researches ecology, food webs and the correlation between these topics and their effect on aquatic ecosystems in Texas. While researching, Winemiller and colleagues have even discovered new fish species, such as the Cichla cataractae.

Winemiller said he and a team of colleagues recognized an undescribed fish species while in Guyana researching the “niche relationship of two species of peacock bass, large predatory fish in the family Cichlidae.”

While exploring fishermen who post photos online of their trophy fish from the area, Winemiller no-

ticed the fish appeared atypical compared to its look-alike species.

“Most species in that family are relatively small, and some are popular aquarium fish, but these peacock bass are popular sport fish, and there are two species in Guyana,” Winemiller said. “I was one of the people on the team who recently described it.”

Winemiller travels to immerse himself in research and assists local environments in Texas. Alongside Winemiller, academics and ecologists are continuing their extensive research in Texas waterways to witness the human impacts on the local environment.

“When you understand how ecological systems work, you perceive what we’re doing to them more deeply,” Winemiller said. “We want to try to minimize our carbon footprint.”

There is a sense of urgency among scientists to resolve issues such as climate change, waste and water scarcity affecting local and wide-scale populations, he said.

“There are a lot of environmental issues right here at home, in Texas,” Winemiller said. “At the same time, I am drawn to the tropics, and there are lots of problems in the

tropics … A lot of that biodiversity is under threat from human impact. The tropical region is changing very rapidly just from human population growth, economic development, changing land use.”

On a larger scale, Winemiller said a part of their mission is problem-solving that benefits people in the state of Texas and more broadly in the U.S.

A&M professor and aquatic biologist Joshuah Perkin, Ph.D., works alongside Winemiller. Perkin leads the Riverscape Ecology Lab at A&M, which has delved further to make new discoveries about conservation studies, ecology relationships, fish species and more.

“We think about how differences in the size of rivers, the amount of flows in rivers or the human alterations that happen to rivers how that influences the distribution, abundance and interactions that freshwater species have with each other and the environment,” Perkin said when discussing the difference in research of riverscape and landscape ecology.

Perkin’s research looks at invasive species and how their positions within the ecosystem can lead to a chain of ecological reactions.

Texas riverscapes are witnessing chain reactions from invasive fish species such as the “sucker-mouthed armored catfish,” which are common aquarium fish because they eat algae and clean the glass, Perkin said.

“They cause problems for native species because they consume algae that native fish and invertebrates would consume,” Perkin said. “These armored catfish also burrow into banks and cause banks to collapse. This is happening in the Comal, San Marcos and the San Felipe Creek in Del Rio.”

Perkin said agencies are interested in controlling the populations of armored catfish through spearfishing tournaments.

Spearfishing’s positive impact on reducing the invasive population of armored catfish was proven when Perkin’s team did a “mark-recapture model where [they] put tags in fish.” After killing the fish, Perkin said the spearfishers reported those tags to researchers.

“In a week’s time, if 30 fish are speared in the river, the population does decline, and [they have] some evidence that these management approaches are helping to suppress invasive species,” Perkin said. Perkin said there are many threats

to freshwater ecosystems and their populations throughout Texas.

“In parts of Texas during the drought, there’s not a lot of water quantity in the rivers,” Perkin said. “There are population declines for fish during those time periods.”

Doctoral candidate Rose Blanchard works alongside Perkin in the Riverscape Ecology lab and the Paleo Ecology Evolution and Climate Lab. Blanchard said she studies the western mosquito fish, which feed off mosquito larvae.

Blanchard said she visits streams in College Station to capture fish, later measuring and photographing them in the lab. From her data, she studies the differences between sexes. Blanchard said western mosquito fish are dispersing across the state, killing native fish species.

“In the mid-1800s, people realized that these fish were eating mosquito larvae and were like, ‘Wow, we don’t like mosquitos because they give us Malaria and then we die,’ so they took these fish and plopped them into the water all around the world,” Blanchard said. “Now they are the most widely distributed freshwater fish.”

Photo courtesy of Kirk Winemiller

Don’t pass on the gas

take your crush from physics class to dinner and a movie? Go ahead. The world is your oyster.

It’s difficult to overstate the role that the automobile has played in forming the American spirit over the last 70 years.

Think of classic songs like “Mustang Sally,” “American Pie” and Tom Petty’s “Running Down a Dream” — all draw heavily from a deep reservoir of American romanticism about cars, freedom and a bit of good, old-fashioned rebelliousness. With gas cars now actively shunned as being either environmentally unfriendly or simply a nuisance compared to the supposed convenience of public transportation and self-driving cars, it’s hard to remember why we fell in love with them in the first place.

So, let’s remember what made driving so great in the past and what it still offers today.

Think back to your excitement when you got your first car. Sure, it probably wasn’t the nicest vehicle to grace the road, but that wasn’t the point. It was your ticket to freedom. No more begging your parents for a lift. No more waiting out in the rain for the school bus. Want to

My first vehicle was an F-150, and from the first time I drove it, I was hooked. It wasn’t particularly fast, and the gas mileage left something to be desired, but I didn’t care. Hitting the road on my own for the first time was like finally getting a taste of adulthood — revealing a new horizon of opportunities.

Years have probably passed since you felt the novelty of driving, and, given College Station traffic, you might even consider getting behind the wheel more of a chore than something to enjoy — but bear with me.

Imagine this: you leave work early, gas up the car, then begin to inch your way out of town. You make it past the last red light, and you’re headed off into the unknown. The city’s skyline melts away into the rearview mirror. The only thing ahead is the captivating curvature of a winding country road paired with the vast beauty of Texas bluebonnets and rolling hills — wind courses through your hair. Finally, a breath of fresh air.

There are no pesky coworkers or demanding bosses. Nobody is telling you what you can or cannot do. It’s just you and the machine, and

you’re in complete control. To go north, east, south or west is up to you. It’s your life, after all.

It’s more than just transportation. It’s a relief from the chaos of modern society — an opportunity to grab the present with both hands and form it in whatever way you please. At its core, driving is what it means to be human — to be free.

Compare this with public transportation. The train or bus operates on an unchangeable course set by a bureaucratic committee. There is no room for agency or independence. You are merely shipped off to a set, predetermined location with your fellow travelers.

Recall Tracy Chapman’s 1988 “Fast Car,” which depicts a young couple’s attempt to leave their life of poverty in the dust. Could you imagine her trying to escape life’s troubles in a big city trolley? With a car you have a sense of agency. With some packed city bus, you are merely a cog in a machine.

The self-driving car suffers from this exact problem. You are put at the mercy of a hunk of metal powered by a battery and some lines of code. Your desires are merely suggestions to the computer. You have lost all sense of control and agency, and I don’t know about you, but the idea of putting my life in the hands

of some computer code propelling me at 70 miles per hour is a terrifying thought. Some of you may think this is all simply sentimental bluster, but first, let’s consider a world where driving is a thing of the past.

My mind drifts to the movie “WALL-E,” where the incredibly overweight remnants of humanity are carried around atop lifeless, automated pods. Their eyes are glued to the colorful screen in front of them as they slurp an unidentifiable liquid from giant cups. Not a care in the world and content to be ferried around by a robot, humanity’s industrious spirit is reduced to chronic passivity.

Perhaps an exaggeration, but it’s symptomatic of a larger problem with society’s obsession with “convenience.” We have automatic lights, locks, window blinds, vacuums and kiosk cashiers. Almost every aspect of our lives is dominated by technologies that promise to make life easier and in many ways it’s been a blessing. However, when the entire human experience is scrutinized under the lens of “How can this be made easier?” You might as well be asking, “How much freedom am I willing to give up for the sake of comfort?”

Simply put, driving is one of our

last bulwarks against society’s endless march towards automation. It is one of the few activities left that requires complete attention. Tapping the brakes, pressing the accelerator and feeling the RPM drop as you shift to a higher gear, it’s all part of an intricate dance between man and machine. It speaks in a language you inherently understand.

The feeling of connection is a sensation impossible to replicate with a soulless self-driving car or bureaucratic bus route, and we shouldn’t give it up for the sake of adding another superficial level of comfort to our lives.

The best thing about driving isn’t the fun to be had behind the wheel, rather it’s the inherent humanity of the activity — a sanctuary from the dizzying technological progress of society. Even though cars look different than they did 100 years ago, their essence remains the same. When I put my hand on the steering wheel I am declaring my independence to the world, and I don’t need a robot to do it for me.

Ryan Lindner is a political science senior and opinion editor for The Battalion.

We’re being emotionally blackmailed

Opinion writer says tipping culture has gone too far, pressures consumers

Isabella Garcia @Isa_TheBatt

In economics, the fundamental truth is people are rational. In college, it’s that we’re broke.

Let me set an all-too-familiar scene. It’s 11 p.m. and you’ve been marinating in the oppressively musty pile of depression that is the Zachry Engineering Education Complex for the past six hours. Consolation BadChx is absolutely warranted. As if watching the last of your grocery money dwindle away with the tap of a card wasn’t enough, you’re borderline assaulted by the dreaded white and blue pop-up: the tip screen.

Where did tipping even come from? Perhaps it was from Europe, where serfs would receive an extra gratuity from their masters for excellent performance. Maybe it was from the wealthy of centuries past who would leave extra money in tavern or shop baskets marked, “To Insure Promptness.”

Wherever it came from, it made its way into ‘Merica and our em-

ployers quickly used it to seek out loopholes in minimum wage laws. In Texas, employers are allowed to pay their restaurant workers as little as $2.13 an hour with the implication that the rest will be made up by tips.

See, tipping someone who is paid less than what your drink costs is understandable, but this cultural paradigm has substantially shifted. With the proliferation of touch screens and payment apps like Apple Pay, it has become much easier for non-restaurant companies to ask for tips when you pay with a card.

It started out with the hipster coffee shops innocently providing a new way to encourage outstanding service from baristas, or maybe the high schoolers who flip ice cream in the air for you at Marble Slab. Starbucks, Carport, Sweet Eugene’s and Dutch Bros — to name a few — were quick to hop on the trend.

But should tipping your barista like a waiter be the new norm?

Unlike restaurant waiters, baristas in Texas are paid at least minimum wage without tips. Obviously barista pay is not phenomenal, but it is a minimum-wage job meant to be a

stepping stone towards an actual livable salary. As such, the justification for tipping them now becomes a gratuity for a job well done. It’s one thing if you order seven extra-foam soy chai lattes with sugar-free hazelnut syrup, but what about just a small coffee?

One barista told Food & Wine, “If someone gets just a small coffee, I definitely still notice when they don’t tip,” she said. “When people tip I’ll go out of my way to do stuff for them. There are some regulars who never tip, and I’m just like, ‘Why?’”

Well, why should we be expected to pay extra upfront for a coffee we’ve neither yet tasted nor received? How are we supposed to predict you’re going to do a good job or get our order right? How do we even know the tip will go to the barista and not some random person in the back? An extra buck or two can be completely warranted depending on the order, but it shouldn’t be a necessity to fulfill the basic requirements of your job.

This mentality is precisely what fuels the outrageous tipping culture we see today.

Salons are demanding at least 20% gratuity for your hairdresser. Boys can expect to pay around $45, meanwhile girls are automatically subjected to a wash, cut and style that can easily cost hundreds. Man, I’m just a college girly trying to get a quick cut so I can make my shampoo last longer. At least you can always cut your hair yourself, but what about dermatology procedures?

Especially for botox injections, women are realizing being asked to tip 20% on top of the $1,000 cost is hundreds of dollars going towards doctors or other medical professionals who are most definitely paid well above minimum wage. I went to get a laser procedure done on my stubbornly-dark Hispanic hair, and seeing the tip request was pretty frustrating. How does it make sense that pressing a machine button and moving a painful scanner across my arms for ten minutes deserves an extra $70? It’s gotten to the point where self-checkout machines are prompting us for tips. Keyword: self. You have no interaction with a single employee during a transaction and

yet you’re prompted to tip 20%. There’s not even a guarantee that the gratuity will go to any of the workers because the Fair Labor Standards Act doesn’t extend to machines. Seriously?

How is it fair for the Starbucks barista to expect the same tips as the T. Jin’s waiter who gets paid a fifth of her salary for arguably twice the amount of work? How is it ethical to tip medical professionals who don’t even need tips? How can we possibly justify paying an extra 20% to tablets at self-checkout that have quite literally taken people’s jobs?

These tipping practices are cheap tactics to pressure consumers into feeling obligated; if we refuse we feel guilty, but if we give in we continue to perpetuate this completely unjustified culture that thrives off of emotional blackmail. The card machines aren’t going away anytime soon, but always remember: if you pay cash, they can’t ask.

Isabella Garcia is an economics sophomore and opinion writer for The Battalion.

Ryan Lindner @RyanLindner12

Bats cooking, strikeouts looking

Aggies look to build off strong opening weekend against Seahawks

By Eli Meschko

@EliMeschko

Texas A&M baseball is set to host the Wagner Seahawks in a threegame series this weekend at Blue Bell Park.

A&M got off to as good of a start as it could ask for. The No. 8 Aggies swept McNeese State behind explosive offensive performances and fantastic pitching, as A&M outscored the Cowboys 31-1. A&M then beat Incarnate Word, 9-3, in a midweek matchup to improve to 4-0.

Star sophomore OF Jace LaViolette has led the way for the Aggies through the first four games. He earned Preseason All-SEC honors and was named to the 2024 Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List coming into the season and has not disappointed.

In 12 ABs versus the Cowboys, he homered three times, recorded nine RBIs and walked twice. He added two more solo shots in five ABs against Incarnate Word, and heads into the weekend with a .353 batting average and a 1.235 slugging percentage.

Junior OF/RHP Braden Montgomery received the same honors as LaViolette heading into the year and showed out in his first games as an Aggie. The Stanford Cardinal transfer homered in the bottom of the first to score A&M’s first run of the 2024 season. He ended his weekend with four

hits, five RBIs and three walks in 11 ABs. Montgomery then added another homerun in the matchup with the Cardinals. He heads into the weekend series batting .313 with an on-base percentage of .421.

The real highlight of the series versus McNeese State was the Aggies’ pitching performance. For a unit that struggled last year, the performance on the mound was everything A&M fans hoped for to start the year.

Sophomore LHP Ryan Prager started Game 1 for the Aggies after missing last season with Tommy John surgery. In his five innings of work, he struck out nine of the 17 batters he faced while not giving up a walk nor a run, and only surrendered one hit.

He was relieved by freshman RHP Isaac Morton and junior RHP Brad Rudis. Morton also gave up just one hit, but struck out four batters in two innings while Rudis got out all six batters he faced to close the final two frames.

Sophomore LHP Justin Lamkin started Game 2 and went nearly four innings. He faced 17 batters, recorded six strikeouts and surrendered two hits. Senior LHP Evan Aschenbeck gave up the only Cowboys run of the weekend. However, he still struck out four batters and did not walk any of the 11 batters he faced.

Game 3 only went seven innings as the Aggies got their second shutout of the series. Sophomore LHP Shane Sdao got the start and went five innings. He faced 20 batters and gave up just four hits while recording five strikeouts.

On the other side, the Wagner Seahawks come into this series looking for their first win of the year

after getting swept by North Carolina to open their season.

Wagner lost its three games with scores of 10-3, 16-5 and 20-6, respectively. Although not a great start to the year for the Seahawks, North Carolina is one of the best teams in the country and was ranked No. 15 to open the season.

Senior OF Lukas Torres leads the way for Wagner. He didn’t appear in any games for Wagner his junior year, but started 40 of 48 games his sophomore year. In the series versus the Tar Heels, Torres had a .308 batting average with a .400 on base percentage. In 13 ABs he only struck out twice while walking twice.

was one of two Seahawks to record a homerun.

The other Wagner batter to hit a homerun was freshman INF Connor Roche. The Westwood, New Jersey native didn’t play in the last game of the series but recorded two hits in six ABs. He also had team highs with three RBIs and a .833 slugging percentage. Of course, pitching was the main concern for Wagner last weekend. The pitching staff had an average

ERA of 13.88 and allowed the Tar Heels to bat .374 through the series. In the Tar Heels’ 115 ABs, the Seahawks gave up nine unearned runs while only recording 20 strikeouts. It’s still early in the year, but if Wagner’s struggles on the mound continues, then the Aggies have the offensive firepower to punish the Seahawks.

First pitch of the series is set for 6 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 23. Game 2 is slated for 2 p.m. on Saturday, with the series finale scheduled for 1 p.m. on Sunday.

Graduate C David Melfi also had a solid series for the Seahawks. In 11 ABs he had a batting average of .273, along with a .545 slugging percentage. He struck out four times; however, he

Texas A&M outfielder Braden Montgomery (6) scores the first home run of the season during Texas A&M’s game against McNeese on Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, at Blue Bell Park.

Texas A&M outfielder Jace Laviolette (17) slides into home base during Texas A&M’s game against McNeese on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024, at Blue Bell Park.

Texas A&M pitcher Shane Sdao (38) reacts during Texas A&M’s game against McNeese on Sunday, Feb. 18, 2024 at Blue Bell Park.

Texas A&M outfielder Jace Laviolette (17) reacts after hitting a home run during Texas A&M’s game against McNeese on Friday, Feb. 16, 2023 at Blue Bell Park.

weekly honors of Co-Pitcher of the Week and Co-Player of the Week, respectively, after helping propel A&M to a 4-0 weekend.

The Texas A&M Softball team is gearing up for the Texas A&M Invitational, set to kick off on Thursday, Feb. 22 at 5:15 p.m.

Davis Diamond will play host to six teams, including Southeastern Louisiana, St. Thomas, North Dakota State University, Kansas and UTSA.

The Aggies are 9-0, run-ruling six games with two wins over No. 14 Oregon.

Junior LHP Emiley Kennedy and junior RF Allie Enright earned SEC

Kennedy is ranked 96th nationally with a 1.09 earned run average. During this past weekend at the Campbell/Cartier Classic, Kennedy struck out 23 players, with 11 of those strikeouts in just one game against the Ducks. She is also ranked No. 12 in strikeouts.

Ranked 11th for her batting average of .609, Enright is already much improved from her .210 mark last season.

“I think Allie is hitting the ball so well because she is in a better posture,” coach Trisha Ford said. “She’s understanding her swing and what pitches to attack and has a better head space in the box.”

As of now, the Aggies hold a solid 26th position in fielding percentages

with .980 and are ranked 42nd with a .330 batting average.

“These next two weeks we have 15 games in a week and a half,” Ford said. “This season is a continual push of what Aggie softball is going to be and how we are going to play. It doesn’t matter who’s on the other side. We’re enjoying it, but there’s a greater mission ahead.”

The Aggies’ first opponent of the weekend, the Southeastern Louisiana Lions, enter the A&M Invitational with an 8-2 record, falling in their last game to South Alabama.

Southeastern senior RHP Mary-Cathryn Comeaux stands at 124th nationally with a 1.24 ERA, while offensive leaders senior OF Ka’Lyn Watson and freshman IF Chloe Magee are tied for 57th with a .500 batting average.

The Lions are ranked 16th nationally with a .369 batting average,

but are only 143rd defensively with a .961 fielding percentage.

In A&M’s first matchup of Friday, it will face off against 1-9 St. Thomas. The Tommies have struggled offensively, batting .184.

Junior pitchers Christina Crawford and Ella Cook have also struggled, as both have earned-run averages of 9.64 and 9.87, respectively. Cook stands as one of the offensive leaders with a .269 batting average along with sophomore P Morgan Klein, who is hitting .231.

North Dakota State, whom the Maroon and White face both Friday and Saturday night, are 6-6 on the season and are ranked 51st nationally with a .64 ERA and 176th with a .247 batting average. Standout players include junior RHP Savy Williams with a 0.64 ERA and sophomore IF Bella Dean with a .385 batting average.

The Jayhawks will play the Aggies on Saturday and have racked up a 4-5-1 record over the first couple weeks of the season.

Junior RHP Katie Brooks is individually ranked 99th with a 1.11 ERA, while the team holds the 117th spot with a .964 fielding percentage and the 66th position with a .307 batting average.

A&M’s final opponent of the weekend is the UTSA Roadrunners, who have stumbled to a 2-8 record and a .187 team batting average.

Junior UTL Jaylen Prichard leads her team offensively with a .320 batting average. Senior RHP Jamie Gilbert stands as the statistical leader in the

with 27 strikeouts and a 2.49

By Braxton Dore, Luke White & Hunter Mitchell @BraxtonD1088, @LukeWhite03 & @HunterM1001

No. 2 Houston @ No. 11 Baylor

Saturday, Feb. 24 — 11 a.m. on CBS Sports Foster Pavilion — Waco

Make sure to mark your calendars for Saturday morning as the No. 1 and No. 4 teams in the Big 12 duke it out in Waco.

The No. 2 ranked Houston Cougars stumbled slightly in its loss to No. 9 Kansas at the beginning of February, but have since won four straight against conference opponents, including No. 6 Iowa State.

The Cougars’ defense has been their biggest asset this season, remaining the best-scoring defense in the nation for most of the season, allowing only 55.3 points per game.

Another noteworthy statistic that can be game-defining for many teams, but is often not talked about enough, is turnover ratios.

Houston sits atop the national rankings in this category at 7.3, meaning the Cougars are not giving up the rock so easily.

Baylor has made headlines lately due to its ranked wins at home over the Cyclones, Oklahoma and Texas Tech. The Bears fell short against the Jayhawks and BYU on the road, showing how this team plays on the road versus the confines of Foster Pavillion.

Even though the Bears have one of the more dynamic offenses in the country, their offense is far from overcoming the Cougars’ stone wall of a defense, even with homecourt advantage.

Prediction: Houston 76, Baylor 69

No. 13 Alabama @ No. 17 Kentucky

Saturday, Feb. 24 — 3 p.m. on CBS

Rupp Arena — Lexington, Kentucky

Offense, offense and offense. Get ready for a thunderstorm of scoring as the SEC’s top offenses collide at Rupp Arena. Alabama’s 90.7 points per game meet Kentucky’s 88.2, with both teams sharing the same M.O. of intense 3-point shooting.The Wildcats pace the conference at a 40.5% rate, while the Crimson Tide, as Texas A&M fans are well aware of, come in third at a 38.5% clip.

Kentucky’s history has been built on running through the SEC, yet Alabama comes in touting the top spot this year. The Crimson Tide have the look of a program that could make a lengthy run through March by dominating opponents with their up-tempo offense. While the Wildcats are

8-4 in conference action, the talent on their roster gives them a high postseason ceiling.

If there’s one weakness to Alabama, it’s the team’s 4-4 record away from home. Kentucky rediscovered its stride on its home court with a win over Ole Miss last week, and last weekend’s win at No. 13 Auburn gives it plenty of confidence. The 20,000 fans on the Wildcats’ side could be the edge they need.

Prediction: Kentucky 92, Alabama 90

No. 10 North Carolina @ Virginia

Saturday, Feb. 24 — 3 p.m. on ESPN

John Paul Jones Arena

Virginia will make you question how much you like watching basketball. The Cavaliers have achieved a 20-7 record with hard-nosed defense, limiting opponents to 58.6 points per game to pace the ACC. However, like its opponents, Virginia has been offensively challenged, averaging 64.1 points per game for next to last in the conference.

The Cavaliers’ top-notch defense adds to the intrigue of the matchup, as North Carolina boasts the ACC’s No. 1 offense at 82.9 points per game. Senior guard RJ Davis enters as the conference’s top scorer, putting up 21.3 points per game, while graduate forward Armando Bacot and junior F Harrison Ingram are first and fourth in rebounds, respectively.

— Charlottesville, Virginia

Virginia is in need of a big win following Monday’s 75-41 embarrassment at the hands of Virginia Tech. The loss moved the Cavaliers closer to the bubble, marking dangerous territory for a team as the regular season wraps up. A win over the Tar Heels, a projected No. 2 seed, would do wonders for their standing, but they may not have the scoring ability to keep up with North Carolina.

Prediction: North Carolina 75, Virginia 68

Texas @ No. 9 Kansas

Saturday, Feb. 24 — 5 p.m. on ESPN Allen Fieldhouse — Lawrence, Kansas

This game has the makings of either one or two classic Big-12 outcomes: No. 9 Kansas randomly drops a game to an unranked team at home, or Kansas absolutely mutilates an unranked Texas on its home court.

The latter is the more likely outcome. Kansas dropped some strange Big-12 games this season, like UCF and Kansas State, so this game could be a trap game for the Jayhawks, despite being unranked, the Longhorns have managed to hold on to a 17-9 record and a projected 8-seed in the tournament. The only issue with them securing an upset victory against Kansas is one key variable: Allen Fieldhouse.

Historically, the Jayhawks do not lose

at home and this season is no different, as Kansas sits at 13-0 in the Phog. Texas has weapons like graduate G Max Abmas and graduate F Dylan Disu, but so did No. 2 Houston when they were projected to win at Kansas earlier this year; they proceeded to lose by 13.The Jayhawks will run away with this one.