Four Aggies Earn All-SEC Baseball Honors
Texas A&M baseball was projected to finish 13th in the SEC this season under new coach Jim Schlossnagle. Now, it's having several players honored by the league office.
Aggies' designated hitter Austin Bost, infielder Ryan Targac and outfielder Dylan Rock all garnered All-SEC Second Team recognition. A&M reliever Chris Cortez earned a spot on the SEC All-Freshman squad.
Texas A&M’s three selections to the All-SEC First and Second Teams trailed only Tennessee’s five selections for most among teams in the conference.
Rock had been the constant bat for the Aggies' offense since electing to transfer from UTSA this offseason. For the year, he owned a .337 batting average to go along with 60 runs, 12 doubles, a triple, 16 home runs, 49 RBIs and 15 stolen bases.
Rock ranked second in the SEC in on-base percentage (.490), fourth in runs, fifth in walks (.44) and stolen bases, and sixth in slugging percentage (.685).
“He’s a complete hitter,” Schlossnagle said of Rock earlier this month. “He takes what you give him. He’s not going to overswing. He’s not going to get outside of himself. He’s not going to get outside the strike zone, and when he’s healthy — he’s a little banged up right now — but when he’s healthy, he can steal bases."
Bost, the jack-of-trades player for the Aggies, continued his March success down the stretch to close out the season on the right note. He finished the campaign batting .365 with 45 runs, 11 doubles, three triples, six home runs and 32 RBIs.
Bost ranked seventh in the league in batting average and eighth in on-base percentage (.461). He currently led the SEC in 45 hits and was second in batting average behind LSU’s Jacob Berry, who was .385 at the plate.
He also was one of A&M's more versatile players, playing second base, first base, left field and designated hitter throughout the season.
Targac only played infield, but he saw action at three different positions. The switch-hitting junior owned a .298 average and finished with 34 runs, seven doubles, two triples, 13 home runs, 52 RBIs and nine stolen bases.
In league play, Targac only continued to boost his production and show off his power at the plate. It was his late 489-foot home run against Vanderbilt that allowed A&M to win the series and return home from Nashville in control of the SEC.
Cortez commanded the strike zone as a reliever thanks to his 90-plus MPH heaters. A native of Las Vegas, the 6-1, 190-pounder owned a 5-3 record with a 4.78 ERA in 22 appearances. He has 29 strikeouts in 37.2 innings and allowed just 10 walks.
Last week, Cortez was one of the key pieces in the Aggies' win over reigning College World Series champs Mississippi State. Calling on him in the fifth inning, the right-hander pitched a career-high five innings, allowing one run on four hits while striking out five.
The Aggies will face either Florida or South Carolina on Wednesday in Hoover, Ala. at the SEC Tournament. A&M will play at least two games at "The Met" due to the double-elimination rule after the first set of games.
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