CHILDRESS: It's just another Big 12 series

Rob Childress discusses this weekend's Big 12 match up between his fifth-ranked Aggies and the second-place Nebraska Cornhuskers. Also, hear what he has to say about A&M closer Travis Starling, who gave up six runs on six hits in his last outing on Tuesday night against Sam Houston State.

During his first season as Texas A&M head coach, Rob Childress took an Aggie squad with a record of 19-27 into Lincoln to face the fourth-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers. This year, Childress will take his 41-8 Aggies, who are ranked as high as No. 5 in the nation, back to Lincoln looking to claim the program’s first regular season conference championship since 1999.

Childress, who was an assistant coach at Nebraska before taking the head job at A&M, said on Thursday that he’s glad this trip is less about his “family reunion” with friends and colleagues.

“This will be my second time to take a Texas A&M team to Lincoln, and I’m looking forward to this being about the two teams that are both having great years instead of me going back and being a family reunion or something like that,” Childress said. “I know it’s going to be a tough test. Nebraska has an incredible team and they play extremely hard. They have as much depth and balance on the mound as any team in our league and across the country. It will be great crowds all week and it should be a lot of fun.”

But even with the Big 12 Championship and a possible national seed looming over the Aggies heading into this weekend, Childress doesn’t plan to make this weekend’s top-five showdown any bigger than any other weekend, adding that his players know where they are in the standings.

“Truth be told, this weekend is no more important than the Texas Tech weekend the Kansas weekend the Baylor weekend or any of the other series,” Childress said. “They’re all the same, they don’t count anymore or less. We just need to do what we’ve done all year long and that’s compete hard and see where the cards fall at the end of the game.

“It’s about executing a routine and taking care of our business. It’s not worrying about all the external factors and all the opportunities the media has to make this a big weekend. It’s just another conference weekend and we have to take care of business.”

Childress not worried about Starling

Aggie closer Travis Starling had a startling outing on Tuesday night in the Aggies’ 13-9 win at Sam Houston State, allowing six runs on six hits in the bottom of the ninth inning before finally slamming the door on the Bearkats.

But Childress is not concerned about any long-lasting effects.

“I really do (still have confidence in him),” he said. “His velocity was good, his breaking ball was very good. He gives up the leadoff double and then gets a couple of quick outs. Next thing you know they hit ground balls where we weren’t and a couple of line drives mixed in with a couple of hit batters and just like that he gives up a six spot.

“It’s better to do it in that situation where we still come away with the win than in a one run game on the weekend. I don’t have any worries with him. He hasn’t been overused or over taxed and I know he’s not fatigued at all. It’s just one of those days. I don’t know that he’s ever been hit that hard even at Yoakum High School, or given up that many runs.”