Look Past SEC Favorite, Texas A&M Baseball Built Like National Contenders
There was something special about that Texas A&M baseball team in 2015. You remember, the one that started off the year 24-0?
What a roster. Headlined by a future Houston Astros prospect, a World Series closer and a couple of guys just playing a game, the Aggies won 50 games on their way to heartbreak in the Super Regionals against TCU.
Standing on the bench of the opposing dugout was Jim Schlossnagle, set to take the Horned Frogs back to a familiar home in Omaha, Neb. He'd been there twice already and would head back two more times before calling it quits in Forth Worth in 2021.
He's now running the show in College Station and the No. 7 Aggies are humming like a national contender through two weeks of play. Schlossnagle needed an offseason to build a team ready for the College World Series in Year 1.
He's set on returning to Omaha in this third season. And following a 9-2 win Tuesday night over in-state rival No. 23 Texas, there's little to wonder about the Achilles heel in the lineup.
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Pitching? A&M lost pitching coach Nate Yeskie to LSU in the offseason, leading to a more youthful approach. Max Weiner might not have been the name on most radars, but the 29-year-old major league has tempered the rotation to create a cohesion of accuracy and power.
The Aggies posted a 0.87 ERA with 12 strikeouts at Disch-Falk Field. Shane Sdao recorded the final six outs via the K, while Evan Aschenbeck allowed the only earned run on a sac fly to center field by Peyton Powell.
They entered the night with a nation-best 1.45 ERA and left with an even lower 1.41. Josh Stewart picked up another strikeout while Chris Cortez worked out of two jams in three frames.
Batting? Both preseason All-Americans Jace LaViolette and Braden Montgomery are hitting over .381 with six home runs and 21 RBI apiece. The top three of A&M's order are batting .348 or higher with Ted Burton in the No. 5 hole hitting .353.
On Tuesday, the roleplayers shined. Penn transfer catcher Jackson Appel silenced the crowd that sent fans flooding to the exits with a no-doubt two-run home run blast to left field.
Montgomery, a transfer from Stanford, also sent one over the fence in the first to extend his hitting streak to four games. Entering the week, he said he was "looking forward to seeing what they’ve got.”
The Horns got to see the man from the Cardinal roster that defeated them in the Super Regionals last summer do it all over again on their home turf.
Columbia transfer Hayden Schott picked up two RBI on the night. Burton, a newcomer from Michigan, earned a run with his sacrifice fly to center in the seventh.
The crowd booed, hollered, bellowed, and bickered, then became silent as an A&M manager was struck by a foul ball and needed medical assistance. It was the one moment of the old Big 12 rivalry set to be renewed in the SEC starting July 1 that stood still and in unison.
It won't be that way in November at Kyle Field, but this was a non-conference game, after all.
The Longhorns (7-5) remain a favorite to return to Omaha under David Pierce. Perhaps the Aggies caught Texas midway through a slump. The Longhorns were losers of three straight coming into Tuesday's game.
Maybe the Aggies (12-0) are just riding the good vibes. After a hostile game in Arlington resulting in a 4-0 win over Arizona State, the Aggies would notch back-to-back victories to close out the Globe Life Field Series 3-0, outscoring opponents 23-8.
Or, maybe it's both? Perhaps the Longhorns are a College World Series favorite that would lose in a win-or-home against the Aggies? They just won on the road while listening to the largest crowd for a regular season game in Longhorns history.
Do you think A&M would be fazed by the bright lights of TD Ameritrade Park?
Competition is stiff in the SEC this year. Reigning champion LSU still has a potent offense despite losing Golden Spikes winner Dylan Crews. Tennessee features one of the best all-around rosters in the sport. Arkansas looks untouchable and smells like this is its year.
And Florida? Jac Caglianone is the best show in college baseball. If he's not beating you at the plate, he's winning on the mound with a 3.00 ERA and 18 strikeouts next to his name.
It'll be a dogfight to the finish in Hoover, Ala., for the title of SEC champion, one the Aggies should be in moving forward. A&M looks a like full-fledged roster that won't just rely on the power bats.
It'll have the pitching on weekends, ones that'll raise the bar for the bullpen to carry the torch and finish the job after four innings of near-hitless ball.
It'll have the consistency at the plate to keep innings pressing on, from leadoff man Gavin Grahovac to last-man-standing Ali Camarillo, trusting a blend of contact, torque, and drive.
And it'll have the right man at the helm, who's been here before with a roster built like a national title could be about ready to breakout into second gear.
That Aggies team of 2015 was memorable. Fans still bring it up at Blue Bell every so often between innings.
This A&M team could be better. It's off to its best start in nine years and doesn't look like it's slowing down entering a five-game home stretch before conference play begins.
You wonder how fans will remember this roster when all is said and done?