Aggies Pitching Keeping SEC Title Chances Alive Entering Quarterfinals
The pitching problems found in College Station have been nothing more than pitching positives in Hoover, Ala. At least that's the way Jim Schlossnagle is looking at it.
Texas A&M baseball is only a year removed from making it to the College World Series semifinals. In large part, pitching from its starting trio of Micah Dallas, Nathan Dettmer and Jacob Palisch carried the weight en route to Omaha.
Based on their past three games at the Hoover Metroplex, pitching once again could carry the load for Schlossnagle if A&M hopes to punch a one-way ticket back to Omaha in two weeks.
The Aggies are turning heads and punching out players at the SEC Tournament entering the quarterfinals. On Thursday, A&M made history behind a one-hit seven-inning performance by Justin Lampkin in a 5-0 win over sixth-seeded South Carolina.
Two days prior, lefthander Tory Wansing mowed down seventh-seeded Tennessee in a 3-0 win, allowing just one hit in eight frames. Since the start of the conference tournament in 1977, seven games have ended in one-hit outings.
A&M is responsible for a third of those outcomes in the previous two seasons.
“You want to be playing your best baseball going into the postseason and at the end of the regular season,” third baseman Trevor Werner said. “I feel like that’s where we’re at right now with our pitching staff and offense, and we’ve played great defense all year. It just feels like things are coming together."
Werner is onto something when talking about timing. Lampkin entered the final regular season series with a 6.70 ERA and was coming off a four-run fizzle against Alabama. Since facing Mississippi State, he's proven to be a future ace in the making.
Lampkin flirted with a no-no bid through four frames before Gamecocks second baseman Will Tippett led off the fifth with an infield single. He struck out nine batters and issued three walks. In four different instances, Lampkin put runners on with two outs.
On four different occasions, he left the mound unscathed.
“I’m really proud of Justin (Lamkin),” A&M coach Jim Schlossnagle said of the Aggies’ starting pitcher Thursday against South Carolina. “I thought I was going to be the first guy at breakfast … and he beat me there. So I knew he was ready to pitch.”
Wansing's one-hit bid comes with a bit more validity. A transfer from Purdue, the 6-4 southpaw was expected to take over for Micah Dallas as the new No. 2 in the rotation. Instead, Wansing bounced from Saturday starter to just another name in the bullpen by midseason.
His performance against the No. 19 nationally-ranked Volunteers likely has Schlossnagle putting him back on the mound for starts in the NCAA Tournament. Wansing lowered his ERA from 5.98 to 4.99 and struck out seven batters without issuing a walk.
“At the start of this tournament, Troy set the tone for us, and we’re trying to do as good as him or better and go from there,” Lamkin said.
Currently, A&M's 2.25 team ERA ranks first among teams in the SEC Tournament thanks to the duo's 15 innings of scoreless work. Sure, Wansing and Lampkin have been dynamic, but the Aggies' bullpen deserves some credit, too.
The combination of Evan Aschenbeck, Shane Sdao, Brayden Garcia, Ty Sexton, Chris Cortez, and Matt Dillard has allowed six runs on four hits and nine walks. The six-man staff has retired 11 batters via the strikeout.
Don't Wednesday's 6-5 loss to Arkansas fool you. Sdao struck out four batters before issuing a one-out walk in the seventh. Garcia's fastball hung too high on a 2-1 count to eventually load the bases for a grand slam swing from Jared Wegner.
Cortez issued three consecutive walks to load the bases Thursday after punching out the first two batters. Dillard closed the door on a USC comeback with a strikeout in the eighth to leave runners stranded.
“What (the Aggies) have done this week solidifies them going to the NCAA Tournament. I know they had some concerns about that,” Gamecocks coach Mark Kingston said. “I have a lot of respect for them and how they go about their business, and I think they’ve earned their way in pretty comfortably at this point."
Sitting at 2-1 through three games, the Aggies have likely guaranteed their spot in the NCAA Tournament next week, regardless of the outcome of Friday's quarterfinals matchup against three-seeded LSU. Too bad A&M's pitching hasn't gotten the memo.
The program wants more. More strikeouts. More swings and misses. More wins.
At this point, would a third one-hitter from junior Will Johnston be out of the realm of possibility?
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