The Battalion — April 25, 2024

White

recounts sexual assault, looks to help other victims

By Nicholas Gutteridge @nico_gjc

When 17-year-old Kenedy White came to College Station, she envisioned a bright future for herself. After being bullied in high school, attending Blinn College with hopes of transferring to Texas A&M to study psychology seemed like a fresh start.

However, just weeks after she turned 18, White was allegedly assaulted in a cabin while on a student trip. In her pursuit, spanning from November 2022 to May 2023, White was engulfed in a hearing process with A&M’s Title IX Office, and therapy would become a twice-a-week necessity alongside PTSD and anxiety treatment.

nothing came of it. She moved inside due to the cold, and the male followed. They talked, he put his arm around her again and she said he put his hand on her thigh.

The Trip

Looking to make new friends, White began her freshman year at Blinn by getting involved with the A&M Coastal Conservation Association, drawing on her longtime interests in environmental protection, fishing and generally being in the water. A month later, the group hosted a beach cleanup trip four hours away in Rockport. White signed up, bringing a friend with her.

“We get to the house, and immediately, we walk in and there were probably five or six of the guys there,” White said. “They were all drinking.” They grabbed a drink and sat down, and when the other girls arrived, the gathering moved onto the patio. There, White said a male in the group put his arm around her. “I was a little anxious about it because I just wanted to make friends,” White said. “I didn’t really want something sexual.”

While she had never been friends with him, she had seen him in the organization occasionally, and they had interacted before. Previously, they matched on Tinder after White swiped right because she “thought it was awkward and funny to see someone [she] had met in [the contion],” but

KENEDY WHITE Blinn Transfer Student “

“I don’t feel safe anywhere”

The Investigation

“I just didn’t say anything, and I was like, ‘OK, he’s not really hurting me, I guess, so it’s OK,’” White said. When recounting the stories to investigators months later, the accounts diverged here. White claimed she got up and walked to her room to grab a sweatshirt, and the male followed inside. He claimed they walked into the room together while holding hands. Both parties acknowledge he laid down on the bed and invited her to cuddle. He said she came willingly. She said she complied reluctantly, laying down as far as she could from him. They stayed there for a few minutes before he tried to kiss her. White said she was thinking she’d just pull away and walk out.

But when he moved in, White said he — 6 feet 2 inches tall and about 220 pounds — rolled on top, suffocating and restricting her.

“Whenever I actually tried to pull away, I couldn’t,” she said. “He just kept pressing himself into me, and I couldn’t turn my head or lift my head up or my upper body at all. I couldn’t breathe, and I started panicking.”

He began groping her chest, she said, before sticking two fingers down her pants. “It hurt,” she said.

In his statement, the man said they chose to go into the room together to cuddle before they began consensually making out. He claimed he put his weight on his left forearm instead of her and that she never tried to get away.

“He never asked if any of that was OK,” White said. “He never tried to get consent from me. He never had any nonverbal consent. He never had verbal consent. There was no sort of questioning if he was going to do this to me because it didn’t matter what I would have said. He was going to do it anyway.”

ing for penetrative sex. “He said, ‘Oh, well, you’re gonna give me blue balls …,’” White said. “At that point, I was terrified. Everybody else that was at the house, they were outside on the patio, and there was music playing so nobody could hear me. … I was just trying to figure out a way to survive that situation and just get it over with because I just wanted it to end.”

Then, she said he asked her to kiss his neck while he masturbated. White said she asked if she had to, and he persisted. Desperate for it to be over, White complied, and he left the room after ejaculating.

In the man’s statement, he wrote she willingly gave him a handjob while his fingers were in her pants. He couldn’t recall who initiated it but said White appeared to consent because “she was moaning, continuing to kiss him, and she nodded okay when he asked if she was okay with his intentions,” the hearing report reads.

The man also alleged White’s friend entered the room at one point to look for something, speaking to White for a few moments before leaving. White denied the claim, and the friend couldn’t recall to investigators whether it was true.

The man testified that he asked her for oral sex once they left, which he claimed she agreed to, doing so until he asked if she was interested in sexual intercourse. He said she declined after he stated he wasn’t looking for a relationship.

That Monday, she went to a previously scheduled therapist appointment and was told it was sexual assault. Because it happened with an A&M student, she took it up with the university’s Office of Civil Rights and Equity Investigations and submitted a report. The response came almost a month later, requesting White set up a Zoom meeting with them.

ulate me and get me confused in what I had said and make me say something that didn’t add up to what I had said before.”

One of the options presented to her was a full investigation with a final hearing — the only avenue leading to consequences, including potential expulsion for the rest of the year and a mark on his transcript indicating a Title IX violation. With that in mind, and because she said she didn’t trust the police, she pursued it.

The office was supposed to give the man a notice of investigation and a no-contact form, but after waiting three weeks for the meeting, it took another three weeks for the forms to reach his email. An interview with White followed, where investigators questioned her about that night.

“It was just victim blaming,” White said. “Trying to manip-

The Trial

Six months after the incident, the hearing was finally held over Zoom. Each party, their counsel, witnesses and the hearing officer attended — the last of which was the sole decider if there was a 50% or more chance the man did the alleged actions. “I’m on the verge of a panic attack because I can’t breathe,” White said. “I’m terrified to see his face. I’m terrified to hear his voice.”

One particular interview was “just dehumanizing,” she said. “[They asked,] ‘What were you wearing?’ What does it matter what I was wearing? I was wearing black sweatpants and a black sweatshirt. What does that mean?

What difference does it make?”

As previously reported by The Battalion, Title IX Coordinator Jennifer Smith said in an email late last year that the Office of Civil Rights and Equity Investigations, which oversees Title IX, was understaffed. Smith said the office would total six case managers and a deputy Title IX coordinator by November 2023, an “appropriate level of staffing for [their] workload.”

A counsel was assigned to her by March. But for the months and weeks leading up to the hearing, White claimed they barely updated or contacted her.

At this point, White was attending therapy appointments twice a week. Her grades were slipping, she began anxiety medication and a few months after the incident, her therapist diagnosed her with PTSD.

by the time I got to the last page, I was having a panic attack in this Zoom meeting in front of these people while they’re staring at me crying my eyes out, hyperventilating in a room alone,” White said. She received the ruling via email a month later. Opening it, she found that the hearing officer declared him innocent. She had a week to appeal but decided there was no point.

Her opening statement, marked at the top with Psalms 23:4, began the hearing. “The changes in who I am are the result of being a victim of sexual assault,” she wrote.

pulled back, but he grabbed it again.

“He claims he accepted her rejection of sexual intercourse and then asked her to kiss his neck while he masturbated so he would not have ‘blue balls,’” the report reads. “He claims she immediately began to kiss his neck and never pulled away while he masturbated for 2-3 minutes.”

“I pulled away again,” White said. “Then, for a third time, he did the same exact thing and put it inside of his sweatpants on his penis. I pulled it away. And he finally kind of realized that I was not OK with what was going on, and he leaned up off of me.”

penis. I pulled it away. And he leaned up off of me.”

White said once the man left the room, she also left to speak to the other women. There, she recounted everything, stating, “Can you please make him get out? I can’t be around him. I’m scared. I just can’t be around him.”

He began isolating her from the others on the trip, White said, and telling the group they consensually hooked up. Many of the men on the trip were his close friends, some for up to two years.

“I try to do everything to fix this, but it doesn’t go away,” White said. “It’s still there. No matter how much I shower, no matter how much I clean my body. Somebody has taken something away from me that I can’t get back. I don’t feel safe in my own bedroom. I don’t feel safe anywhere. I’m always looking out for the next predator. And that’s not OK.”

White moves on from Blinn and will officially transfer to A&M in the fall of 2024. Despite persisting PTSD, anxiety and sleep issues, White said she’s not giving up.

The prior months solidified her passion for clinical psychology, where she hopes to become a women’s advocate and help victims of bullying and sexual violence. Using her experience as a springboard, she aims to become involved in the community and help wherever she can. “I can relate to them,” White said. “I know how to address that and communicate to them how I feel and how I’m there for them without overstepping.”

handjob.

White said she finally got a gasp of air before the man asked if she’d give him a handjob. Then, he asked for oral sex, before finally ask-

Immediately, the opposing counsel accused her of “looking for attention [or] a boyfriend,” she said. Even when speaking to White’s witnesses, she said he was aggressive. “I have no words,” a witness texted White after a cross-examination. “He got me [so] flustered, I couldn’t say what I wanted … I have sm [sic] more to say to that man, his questioning was ridiculous.” White claimed the man and his friends collaborated to tell false stories throughout the hearing. “They said I was all over him throughout the weekend,” White said. “They said I had sex with him. They said that I gave him oral sex. They said he wasn’t drunk. They said he was sick. [They said] he didn’t actually drink anything. … They said I bragged about being sexually assaulted after the fact.”

before final-

But the students were dismissive of her story, she said. One girl laughed when she talked about what happened, saying that’s how the male always acted. Later, when driving home with her friend, White said she tried to discuss the events, but they shrugged it off and slept throughout the drive.

Hours later, the hearing — filled with witness statements, cross-examination and more — was over. She was crying, alone and desperate for it to end, “so I can hear that somebody believes me,” she said.

“I read my statement, and

But with her bachelor’s and master’s years ahead of her, White said she’s taking it one day at a time.

“I want to make a change in the school system, in the police system, in the Title IX system and society in general,” White said. “My goal is to help as many people as much as I can for the rest of my life.”

servation associa- White said he then grabbed her hand and attempted to put it outside his sweatpants on his crotch. She grabbed “I pulled away again,” White

asked

A blatant disregard of tradition

Opinion writer says regent’s plan to move Bonfire back to campus would take students out of the experience

John Bellinger and the rest of the Board of Regents, this one’s for you.

“Restoring” Bonfire to campus just might be the worst idea you’ve had yet. Some context is in order. In advance of the upcoming football game with the University of Texas, President Welsh formed a “rivalry committee” of 14 people headed by Regent John Bellinger and Vice President for Student Affairs Joe Ramirez. It includes a whole cast of who’s who in A&M politics: Student Body President Andrew Applewhite, Corps of Cadets Commander Caitlyn Walsh, Head Yell Leader Trevor Yelton and various other relevant personages.

On Jan. 11, Bellinger sent letters to the families of the 12 lost in the collapse asking permission to bring the tradition back to campus. He expressed his condolences for their loss before expounding on the “minimal oversight” and lack of safety measures used by the current off-campus Bonfire.

Following the collapse in 1999, A&M toyed with the idea of reinstating Bonfire with renewed safety measures and oversight, as Bellinger is now suggesting. The plan fell

1974 CONTINUED

After the game, Mark and Allelia headed to a friend’s house for a quiet final scene.

“My good buddies were making bets on how soon we’d get married,” Mark said.

Neither of the two remember who won the bet. But what they do remember is the epilogue.

“Forty-nine years of marriage,” Allelia said. “And it all started here.”

Episode 3: “Building

Spirit is Only Part of Yell Leader Job” (originally aired Spring 1974)

“Have you ever seen the Loupot’s Handbook?” Lasley said.

From his Yell Leader election in 1972 to graduation in 1974, Lasley never set foot on the field without a battered maroon book in his pocket. The handbook contained years’ worth of yells. The author? Judson Loupot, owner of Loupot’s Bookstore. “Go across to Northgate,” Willi-

BIRDS CONTINUED

Collections, or BRTC, where students and faculty organize and report strike data.

Doctoral candidate Keith Andringa, an on-campus researcher, studies wildlife ecology with a focus on birds and ecological toxins. In his five years with the Lights Out campaign and the BRTC, he has noticed statewide trends in bird deaths from window strikes.

Adringa said some species are more likely to be “supercolliders,” such as low-flying migrant species like ovenbirds or Lincoln’s sparrows.

“Birds have a really complex visual system, so most of the time they can’t see glass … there’s not a lot that can be done retroactively, it can be expensive. New design, new

apart in 2002 when it was discovered that liability insurance for the program would exceed $2 million per year and the university officially canceled the tradition.

Anyone who’s been in Bonfire knows the Aggie Spirit is stronger than that. A group of Aggies got together later that year and started the unsanctioned off-campus Bonfire, which has been going strong every year since. It’s now a registered nonprofit organization under the name Bonfire, LLC. This is the group — the students — that have kept the tradition alive since the university gave up on it.

Despite this, and despite the fact that the collapse occurred not when the rogue off-campus group with “minimal oversight” was building it but when the university itself was in charge, Bellinger evidently decided that now was the time to establish what I like to call his New Army Bonfire.

Bellinger’s guise of condolence and professionalism fell away during in-person meetings with the families, an anonymous committee member told the Texas Tribune.

“‘He strongly implied, if not said, that the families who didn’t agree with bringing back Bonfire … they didn’t understand the spirit of the tradition and what it means to Aggies,’” the committee member said, according to the Tribune. “‘It felt

ford said. “Somebody was showing us pictures. It’s not there anymore. I think it’s a bar. But when we were here, Loupot’s was where everybody went to buy brass, everything for uniforms and all that. Loupot graduated in 1932 and loved it. On the tile, there’s still ‘Loupot’s come the Aggies’ or something like that. That’s where everybody shopped.”

Back then, according to Williford, every student had a copy of the Loupot’s Handbook free of charge.

“You could just get one,” Williford said. “And if you couldn’t afford books, Loupot would kind of carry your finance.”

Lasley doesn’t know if Yell Leaders still carry the handbook. To him, it’s as much a part of the uniform as their coveralls. He’s witnessed each new group of Yell Leaders since his tenure — and each little change.

“We have a Yell Leader reunion every 10 years,” Lasley said. “They line us up from oldest to youngest of the Yell Leaders. The old guys get down here, and they do everything kind of bent over. And then

architecture is really the best way we can support [migratory birds].”

Andringa said.

Replacing campus windows with more bird-friendly glass could cost thousands or millions of dollars, depending on what type of glass is used and the extent of the replacements.

In response to this nationwide trend of massive bird fatalities, Nix, alongside guidelines from the American Bird Conservatory, put forth a petition for increased safety standards for new buildings.

While a petition may take some time to create a safer campus for birds, Andringa noted students can play a role in saving birds while they walk to classes.

“On campus, if you see a bird strike, so a bird that is sitting by a window, either dead or alive, you should report it to iNaturalist or

like it was just a box to check in saying that, ‘Hey, we tried,’ before creating this tradition that he [Bellinger] wants to bring back.’”

I’ve come to expect some slimy behaviors from our Board of Regents, but even for me, this is a new one. To look a parent in the eyes and suggest that opposing a program that defeats the entire purpose of a tradition — the tradition their child died for — is a new low.

But it doesn’t end there.

“The committee is in the preliminary stages of considering ways to have official oversight of the bonfire,” Bellinger wrote in his letter.

The off-campus “bonfire,” to adopt the derogatory lowercase used by Bellinger, would be consumed by the university’s heavy-handed supervision. Worse, according to a Texas Tribune source, student involvement in this new bonfire would be minimal as they’re proposing hiring a construction company to build it.

Currently, Bonfire is entirely student-built. Students use axes to chop down and trim the trees; students hoist massive logs onto their shoulders to transport them from the woods to the trailer; students use pulley systems and brute strength to lift these logs and hold them in place while other students use baling wire to secure them to the stack.

Can you guess which keyword

the guys now do, I call them ‘pirouettes.’”

But even though Lasley doesn’t love the shift in style, he said he was always destined to find something wrong.

“My dad is Class of ‘42, and J.O. Alexander was the Yell Leader in his class,” Lasley said. “After a ballgame, I’d go see my dad, and all his old buddies was there. And J.O. stood about it so hot, talking about ‘When you guys gonna learn how to do yells?’ So that’s been going on forever. The old guys never think the new guys are doing it right.”

Episode 4: “Once an Aggie, Always an Aggie” (originally aired August 1970)

“We’ve been buddies since we were 18 years old,” Williford said. August 1970. Williford played saxophone in the Aggie Band and soon became friends with the trumpet behind him: Robert Gaeke.

“There’s so many memories — some of them we can’t tell you,”

Lights Out, which is a great way for the community to band together and collect data about bird strikes.”

Andringa said.

“If you do find a bird that is still alive, don’t try to help it, just move it to a very secluded bush and don’t carry it around … most of the time they need veterinary or medical attention. Not only that, it is technically a federal offense to be moving around any bird species.”

Professor Christopher Butler also loves birds, and frequently displays photos of marsh birds from his research to his students. Most of his research publications have revolved around these elusive birds, and when prompted, confessed to being an avid bird watcher. “My personal favorite bird on campus is the scissor-tailed flycatcher … you can also see western king-

would be missing from those sentences if the university hires a construction company to put this thing together?

Here’s a hot take the Regents have apparently never heard before: it’s not about the pile of logs, and it never was. Why do I feel like I’m trying to explain the concept of Christmas to Ebenezer Scrooge here?

Burn is meant to be a fantastic culmination of an entire semester of hard work and dedication. Students dedicate entire weekends and hours upon hours of their weekdays to putting Bonfire together.

Yes, it’s about beating the hell outta t.u. But it’s also about calluses and ant bites and shooting the breeze with your buddies while waiting for your turn to swing on the tree.

What would be the point of just showing up to a premade stack of logs slapped together by power tools and cranes? That’s not Aggie Spirit. That’s not Bonfire.

I’ll tell you exactly what it is. This is the Regents’ idea of a moneymaker. They want to take our tradition — our Bonfire — and turn it into something profitable for the university. With the UT game coming up, they’ve realized the mistake they made back in 2002: the revenue coming in from the game will vastly outweigh any construction or revenue costs associated with their New

Gaeke said. “We’re lifelong friends, man.”

Across the quad lived Squadron 6, where Chuck Friesenhahn, Don Henson and a group of fish bonded over their shared interest in agriculture. When they returned to campus, the dozen or so of them spent hours in the Century Ballroom laughing and catching up until early in the morning — and staff had cleared every table but theirs.

“We were Squadron 6,” Friesenhahn said. “We had some renowned folks. We did good. We made good enough grades that we had this many fish stay on. Just a few years later, they did away with Squadron 6 —”

“They did away with 6 because their blood alcohol and their GPA became the same,” Henson added.

Like the Scotts, members of Squadron 6 found lifelong love as undergraduates. The opening of the first women’s dorms in 1972 meant couples could spend more time together outside of class — especially when they weren’t supposed to, if

birds, which are going to be bright yellow, also in parking lots.” Butler said. “These are colorful, interesting birds students can see without a great deal of effort.”

Many bird watchers and experts want to increase students’ appreciation of migratory bird species in Texas. With over a third of all bird species in the continental United States passing through, there are ample opportunities for students to witness a massive natural phenomenon. “In 2011, it was estimated … in the Valley that [birdwatching] brought in $307 billion, and now it’s higher than that … there’s a huge economic impact of people traveling to look for migratory birds,” Butler said. Pearson has traveled extensively to look for birds, and documents

Army Bonfire.

Not only is this a blatant slap in the face to the memory of the 12 we lost — not to mention their families, who are likely being bullied into accepting — it’s completely disregarding the point of the tradition.

So, Mr. Bellinger, I hope you’re listening. I address this to you because I hope to God the current students serving on the rivalry committee at least possess the presence of mind and understanding of their fellow Aggies to know that this goes against the spirit of Bonfire itself.

I hope you come to your senses and realize that Bonfire is not just another tradition you can extort to drum up funds in advance of the UT game. It may be too much to ask, but I hope you can recognize that the point of Bonfire is bringing together students of all makes, majors and walks of life to create something beautiful, something that keeps the Spirit of Aggieland alive and honors the lives of the 12 we lost.

Maybe if you dirtied your dress shoes by standing outside at 2:42 am on Nov. 18 every year with the students you’re purporting to represent, you would understand.

Charis Adkins is an English junior and opinion columnist for The Battalion.

you ask an RA.

“We had restricted hours, which meant the guys had to be out of the dorm by a certain time,” McNeely said. “The RAs back then were required to go to every room and make sure there were no guys anywhere. Can you imagine what we encountered on Friday and Saturday night?”

McNeely came across scenes from a number of reruns from the Class of ‘74. Connections made and the hijinks enacted — sorry, the hijinks theoretically enacted — while seemingly insignificant when they premiered, became memories that extended throughout every season after.

“We’re 72 years old, and we were at A&M for four years,” Gaeke said. “What’s unbelievable is how — and that’s just a blip in the 72 years of our lives — but how profound those four years affected the rest of the 72. We live that every day.”

much of her traveling on her Instagram, which is dedicated to bird photography.

“It’s called @maddies_bird_adventures, and I love it so much. It was so easy to get caught up in tests and exams, and really lose sight of everything, and fall into a deep spiral of stress …” Pearson said. “... the thing that really pulled me out of it was photography … some of my favorite [bird] photos are in the Teaching Gardens.”

As for saving birds, Nix wanted to remind students they can contribute to stopping the mass fatalities seen on campus. “We all can be a part of this. You can just flip the switch, it’s really that easy … you can save energy, save money and you can also save wildlife. It’s a win-win for people and birds,” Nix said.

Bridget Bristow — THE BATTALION

Torch runner tosses fallen torch at the Student Bonfire on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2023.

@Charis_Batt Charis Adkins

Sports editor says Trisha Ford turned A&M softball into a national threat

By Hunter Mitchell @HunterM1001

Thirty-two wins in 2021, eight in conference play. Thirty-one wins in 2022, six in conference play. Thirty-five wins in 2023, 12 in conference play.

Texas A&M softball is in the midst of its best season in the SEC, as the Aggies, with a series and postseason

still left to play, sit at 38-9 and 15-6 in the conference. The Maroon and White are also still in contention for an SEC title, currently only two games behind Tennessee. A&M has never finished above third in the conference since joining in 2012.

In Year 2 of coach Trisha Ford’s tenure, she has turned the No. 11 Aggies into not just a conference threat, but a national one. The Maroon and White now, barring any major late season shakeups, will be hosting a regional at Davis Diamond for the first time ever.

Ford brought life to a program that, despite historic success in the Big 12, had been treading water for years. Aggie fans got a glimpse of it last year, almost making it out of the Austin regional. Now, the Maroon

and White are poised for postseason damage.

A&M is No. 13 in scoring, No. 20 in earned run average, No. 18 in slugging percentage and No. 16 in on-base percentage. The Aggies as a team are one of the most efficient offenses in the country, and the pitching staff, led by junior RHP Emiley Kennedy, has 12 shutouts this year.

Experience has stepped up for the Maroon and White this season. In the portal this offseason, Ford only bolstered it, grabbing graduate OF Jazmine Hill from Arizona State — Ford’s old school — and graduate RHP Brooke Vestal from Ole Miss. Six of the nine players in the starting lineup are either a junior, senior or graduate, and no pitchers are

younger than a junior.

Ford has set the Aggies up for success now as they’re currently in the driver’s seat of their own destiny in just her second year. The Fremont, California native has pushed A&M into the spotlight, putting the Aggies amidst the rankings next to perennial powerhouses like Florida, Washington and Stanford.

The main thing for the Aggies is understanding that, yes, this season is historic and it should be appreciated. However, it’s not over. Teams that have random bouts of success sometimes get lost in the fog and then find their memorable seasons over almost as soon as it began. Successful teams, ones like Tennessee, Oklahoma and UCLA who find themselves making deep post-

season runs year in and year out, have one thing in common: Winning is expected.

Although the Aggies are finding themselves in relatively unfamiliar territory, they are not unfamiliar to the game. Not only did Ford win Coach of the Year in two conferences and lead Arizona State to the Women’s College World Series in 2022, but she has a lineup who has been playing softball for a long time.

The Aggies have their coach, and she will keep A&M

Over the outfield wall

No. 1 A&M tries to hold position at home against nation’s best hitter

By Ian Curtis @Texiancurtis

After notching its fth-straight series win against ranked opponents with a road double-header win over Alabama and an 13-11 midweek victory over Houston, No. 1 Texas A&M baseball heads to Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park to face the next team determined to knock the Aggies o of the mountaintop: the No. 20 Georgia Fightin’ Charlie Condons.

I mean, the No. 20 Georgia Bulldogs. Georgia heads to Aggieland after an 15-inning, 4-3 win — on

a walk-o wild pitch, no less — over No. 5 Clemson on Tuesday. With a 9-9 record in conference play and sitting in fourth place in the SEC East, the Bulldogs may not look like an opponent to stress over. But when the top four teams in the country all hail from the SEC, being middle-of-the-pack in the SEC means they can beat anyone in the country on any given day — as the victory over top- ve Clemson shows.

As for why Georgia can beat top- ve teams, look no further than sophomore UTL Condon, the SEC’s star slugger — and arguably the nation’s top player. Containing Condon Georgia has the best hitter in college baseball, and it’s A&M’s job to limit the damage when he steps up to the plate.

Condon leads the nation in

batting average (.477), home runs (26), hits (74) and a host of other statistics that make him a serious contender to be drafted number one overall in the 2024 MLB Draft. This is only his second season playing for the Bulldogs, and his award page in his bio on Georgia’s athletics website is 17 lines long — I checked, twice. We’ll all be hearing his name in the majors soon enough.

Players like Charlie Condon are why God gave man the gift of the intentional walk — and don’t forget, even the Mighty Casey struck out when it mattered most.

But if Condon is in top form, he isn’t a guy that A&M will be able to neutralize with just the right pitching matchup — but that’s not the Aggies’ style anyway.

Despite their No. 1 ranking, the Maroon and White are 16th in the

nation in hits allowed per game. They win their games at the plate, including the seven games they’ve won while conceding eight runs.

In any case, Georgia isn’t the only team with big-time sluggers.

Power at the plate

Condon may lead the country in most hitting statistics, but A&M has a pair of hitters that are hot on his heels.

Junior OF Braden Montgomery is third in the nation in home runs — just four behind Condon — while sophomore OF Jace LaViolette is fth in the country in the same statistic. While the Aggies don’t have anyone with the batting average to match Condon’s, they’ve got seven players batting over .300 — then again, the Bulldogs have six of their own hitters doing the same thing.

Georgia isn’t a defensive pow-

erhouse. The Bulldogs are 54th in the nation in hits allowed per nine innings, and 17th in strikeouts per nine innings — not terrible, but that may not be enough against the lineup of the No. 1 team in the country.

But if the Red and Black want to head home with a series win, it’ll have to be. Because anything involving the top-ranked team in any sport means the margin of error is slim — especially when it comes to SEC baseball.

Case in point, each team’s average scoring: A&M is averaging 9.4 runs a game. Georgia is averaging 9.5. If this series comes down to pure o ense, things are going to be close. The di erence maker might just be a dose of Olsen Magic.