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READY TO REPEAT Pitcher Brigham Hill ready to build on 2016 success in junior year

By Heath Clary @Heath_Clary

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righam Hill has always played baseball with a chip on his shoulder. He played with it at the beginning of last year when he was fighting for innings out of the bullpen, and he played with it when he took over as the Aggies’ Friday night starter in the middle of SEC play. Don’t expect his approach to change in 2017, even as the junior right-hander enters the season as the bona-fide ace of the Texas A&M pitching staff and a preseason All-American. “Playing with a chip on my shoulder is something I’ve always done since I was little,” Hill said. “When you go out there you have to be confident and feel like they’re trying to take something away from you. Whether I’m relieving or starting, whenever Coach puts me in I’m just going to go out there and do my best. To have success you can’t have the mentality that you’re better than anyone, you just have to go out and do your thing and be comfortable.” After going 9-2 on the mound with a 2.51 ERA in 2016, Hill elected to stay in Texas and not pitch for a summer team like most college players. He threw a career-high 97 innings last year, and he and his coaches wanted to give his arm a rest after a long season. He worked out in College Station at the A&M baseball facilities during the week and spent several of his weekends back home in Nacogdoches fishing and working on his family’s ranch. Hill says his arm feels great, and head coach Rob Childress has been impressed since the fall with Hill’s physicality after an offseason of lifting. Even though Hill comes into the season under different circumstances, he will take his same bulldog-like mentality to the mound every time he takes the ball this season. Although his fastball doesn’t light up the radar gun, he commands it well to both sides of the plate and mixes in a devastating Vulcan changeup that keeps hitters off balance. “He’s deceiving. He doesn’t have an overpowering fastball, but his changeup is the real deal,” said sophomore third baseman George Janca. “He throws that, and then he comes back with his fastball and it makes it look like it’s 10 mph harder than it really is.” Hill employs a relentless style of pitching that fills up the strike zone and attacks hitters all game long. “If you’re not ready to hit when HILL ON PG. 4

FILE

Senior shortstop Austin Homan returns as one of the main leaders for an A&M baseball team that enters 2017 with high expectations.

DON’T EXPECT MUCH OF A STEP BACK FROM AGGIE BASEBALL Heath Clary @Heath_Clary

Lawrence Smelser — THE BATTALION

Junior Brigham Hill went 9-2 with a 2.51 ERA in 2016 after taking over as the Friday starter in the middle of SEC play.

ost college teams that lose more than half of its starting lineup from the previous season retreat into rebuilding mode for a year or two before becoming contenders again. But there are those select few that don’t rebuild, they simply reload. Texas A&M, ranked No. 20 in D1Baseball. com’s preseason ranking, has a prime opportunity entering 2017 to prove to the country they belong in the latter category. And with the return of a deep, talented pitching staff as well as an influx of new position players ready to step up and fill the shoes of departed lynchpins like Nick Banks, JB Moss, Boomer White and more, there is no reason this Aggie team can’t be as good, if not better, than last year’s Super Regional team. The old adage is that pitching and defense win championships, and those appear to be strengths for A&M. Brigham Hill returns as BASEBALL ON PG. 3

PROVIDED

Attendees at MSC SCONA have the opportunity to interact with top U.S. officials.

MSC SCONA to draw in high-ranking officials, over 200 students

The new face of MSC leadership

By Tyler Snell @Tyler_Snell2 Alexis Will — THE BATTALION

mittees and build unity across the university as a whole.” The MSC has 18 committees, and outgoing president and senior Brian O’Hara said Carnegie will do an outstanding job of accomplishing her goals and leading the MSC and the 18 committees. “I think that she is going to do a really good job at empowering our 18 different committees to put on even better programs for students,” O’Hara said. “One of the most important things for the MSC President is

Students will get the chance this weekend to participate in an activity most would assume are reserved for the political elites. The 62nd annual MSC Student Conference On National Affairs (SCONA) will host more than 200 students, with the aim of creating solutions to the problems associated with the theme, “Against All Enemies Foreign and Domestic: Securing the Homeland.” “The conference is all about getting together students from all across the country who have an interest in public service, national security and helping them hone in those skills both professionally and academically,” said SCONA chair Morgan Anderson. “Not only does this bring national exposure because we bring in national

CARNEGIE ON PG. 2

SCONA ON PG. 2

Junior Annie Carnegie has served as the chair of MSC Hospitality, but will now begin preparing to step into the role of the MSC President. Her term will begin April 24.

Junior Annie Carnegie named MSC President for 2017-2018 school year By Tyler Snell @Tyler_Snell2 New leadership will head the Memorial Student Center starting in April as junior Annie Carnegie was selected as the MSC President for the 2017-2018 school year after previously serving as the chair of MSC Hospitality.

Carnegie said one of her goals for the next year is to make the MSC an inviting place for students regardless of their involvement with MSC programs. “One of my largest goals for this year will be to create an environment of diversity and inclusion within the MSC where people within committees and people outside committees, just university students, can really feel welcome in this place, a place where they can come and be challenged and learn a lot,” Carnegie said. “With that, it is also my goal to build unity within the MSC com-