Losing a series — to anybody — can never be considered a great thing. Even when it’s on the road against the No. 1 ranked team in America. Here’s what I will say, however: After watching A&M look defeated and lifeless in game one of the series at Arkansas in a 13-0 shellacking, it was great to see the Aggies not pack it in like many of us seemed to have when it looked like that beatdown was some type of nail in the coffin in a dead end of a season for Texas A&M. The Ags showed a ton of resilience in coming back over the next two games, giving the Hogs all that they could handle over the ensuing 19 innings and winning on Sunday. That’s hard to do immediately after getting beat by 13 runs in game one.
At this stage in what has been a rocky 2021 campaign and what certainly appears to be a not so ceremonial conclusion to the Rob Childress era on the not-too-distant horizon, you look for little morsels of positivity to cling to. You look for that Aggie Fight that we all yell about and sing about and have always desired to see in our teams, dating back to the Fightin’ Farmers more than 100 years ago. So with plenty to be concerned about, right off the top, my takeaway from the series in Fayetteville is that Arkansas is a national title contender, that A&M (21-17 overall and 4-11 in SEC play) has its work cut out in an effort to crack the top 12 in the SEC and reach the SEC Tournament in late May and that the Aggies displayed a lot of heart and guts after such a tumultuous opening game in the series.
Each week, we look back on the week that was with a “Good, Bad and Ugly” spin-off and breaking it down in four categories: Good, Average, Bad, Excellent.
Here is this week’s G.A.B.E. looking specifically at the 1-2 showing in the three-game series at #1 Arkansas...
Will Frizzell. It took big #50 until the third game of the series to get unhooked, but boy did he make up for it in game three or what? Frizzell went a combined 1-for-8 with 3 strikeouts in Saturday’s doubleheader, and hence the offense scored just one run total in 19 innings on the day. But in game three, the fourth-year slugger woke up the bats early with a two-out solo shot to center field in the 1st inning — his 12th of the season — and that led to a 3-for-4 afternoon, including 3 RBI and 3 runs scored. The SEC’s leader in total bases has put together an absolutely exceptional season, and with 5 SEC series left in the regular season, I’m certainly on 20-homer watch for Frizz, something that has been done at A&M just three times ever and not once since the turn of the century.
Ray Alejo. The sixth-year senior was the only member of the A&M team to manage a hit in each game of Saturday’s doubleheader. Now, he was just 2-for-7 on the day, but that’s Ted Williams-level stuff in comparison to the rest of the lineup during that nightmare of an afternoon-evening. On Sunday, Alejo struggled in a 0-for-4 showing, but despite that, the 24-year-old remains A&M’s best and most capable option in that leadoff spot. It’s not perfect by any stretch, and you’ll get a touch too many strikeouts with Alejo in that spot, but he’s far and away the best solution to A&M’s ongoing woes in the one-hole.
The entire offense. In the opening two games — during Saturday’s doubleheader — the Aggies scored just one run in 19 innings and had just 8 hits in that span. Only one guy (Alejo) had more than one hit on a day where the Aggie bats struck out 26 times, walked just 5 times, went 2-for-16 (.125) with runners on base and 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position. But on Sunday, A&M rose to the occasion at the plate, scoring 11 runs, pounding out 11 hits and belting 2 homers. The Aggies had 7 RBI and went 6-for-15 (.400) with 2 outs. Will Frizzell led the charge with that 3-for-4, 3-RBI performance. The veterans rose up, as Hunter Coleman blasted a three-run jack and Bryce Blaum and Mikey Hoehner each collected a pair of hits in the game. Freshman Kalae Harrison also got in the act with a 2-hit afternoon. Just a nightmare showing on Saturday against the nation’s No. 1 team, but a nice bounce-back display offensively on Sunday vs. a pitching staff with holes and that has been gashed at times this season.
Dustin Saenz. The junior lefty struggled once again in game one, allowing 6 earned runs in 5 quite shaky innings of work, which also featured 4 free passes and just 2 strikeouts. Five of the 6 runs came in the opening 2 frames, and he’s fortunate it wasn’t worse after 2 innings of action. Saenz had trouble with location, throwing just 62 strikes in 103 pitches (60.2% strike rate). And when he did get it over for a strike, it was pummeled more often than not, especially by the top 4 in the Hogs lineup, which combined for 10 hits, 3 home runs, 2 doubles, 9 RBI and 10 runs scored in the game. I would say that, at this point, Dustin’s place as game one starter is on the chopping block, and I wouldn’t at all be surprised to see Bryce Miller re-claim that spot that he held solely for Opening Day by the time Tennessee comes into town next week.
Moo Menefee. The big lefty has dealt with a lot off the field recently, as Ryan Brauninger recently revealed on radio that Moo’s dad engaged in a rough battle with COVID. Thank God it looks like Todd, a great Aggie, has made huge progress in his recovery, but there’s no doubt that Moo has had a lot of real world stuff on his mind during his recent struggles on the mound. I don’t want to make an excuse, but we sometimes don’t truly know what these young men are going through that could lead to ineffectiveness on the field of play. Having said that, Menefee is struggling with command in a big way of late, and it reared its ugly head once again late in Sunday’s game. Up 11-7 in the 7th, Moo hit the first batter he faced on a 3-2 pitch and then walked the next guy. Two batters later, nine-hole hitter Zack Gregory homered down the line in right field to plate 3 and make it a brand new baseball game in the late innings, giving the Hogs new life and all of the momentum in the process. With Moo’s recent struggles, there’s no way that Rob Childress will have much confidence putting him in a tight game at this moment, and that has contributed to an extremely tight bullpen right now. Seriously, who do you trust to get outs in critical spots right now out of the pen other than Chandler Jozwiak and sometimes Mason Ornelas and Alex Magers?
Chandler Jozwiak. The junior lefty was the tough-luck loser in a 2-1 extra innings defeat in game two of a doubleheader. Joz allowed just one unearned run in 3.1 innings of work in relief of Bryce Miller, allowing 4 hits with no walks and 4 strikeouts. He threw 42 strikes in 56 pitches (75% strike rate) and stymied a great Arky offense until they finally got over on him in the 10th inning, opening the frame with back-to-back singles and scoring on a Ty Coleman error at second base. Then on Sunday, the Brenham product came on in a massive jam created by Trevor Werner issuing three walks in the frame (one intentional), the first two coming on eight pitches. Facing the white hot Matt Goodheart and three-hole monster Cayden Wallace with the bases loaded and no outs, Joz struck out both sluggers and needed just 8 pitches to do so, walking off the field victorious for the first time in an SEC game in 17 days. Jozwiak boasts one of the nation’s best strikeout-to-walk ratios (66 strikeouts and 8 walks for an 8.25 K/BB ratio) and also has a ridiculous 14.1 Ks per 9 innings. He’s most certainly been one of the few bright spots on the 2021 roster — right up there with Frizzell’s prowess at the plate — and is one of the reasons to keep following the program closely the rest of the way this season.
Bryce Miller. The fourth-year junior enjoyed a very nice bounce-back game in his second start removed from a two-week absence due to COVID protocol. He was a bit shaky with the command, walking 5 Razorback hitters and hitting one more while tossing just 65 strikes in 109 pitches (59.6% strike rate). But credit Miller for being able to work around all of that action on the base paths to get through 6 innings with only allowing one run ... a 1st inning solo home run by Matt Goodheart. Miller gave up just 2 hits to a team that had scored 13 runs earlier in the day during game one of the doubleheader. He struck out 10. Not quite in the “excellent” category on a typical week, but due to process of elimination in the realm of starting pitching and how rough starting pitching has been throughout the losing skid in the SEC, Miller's mound effort goes under “E” this week.
Here’s a look at what the Aggie bats did in five critical situational areas in the win at Texas State:
Here are the five key split stats in the series loss at Arkansas:
Here are A&M’s updated season totals to this point in all five areas:
Here are the raw numbers from what the Aggie pitching staff did in five critical situational areas vs. Texas State:
Here are the five key split stats vs. Arkansas:
Here are the updated season totals for Aggie pitching to this point in all five areas:
Just one more thing before we wrap up this week. What would you do with the lineup moving forward? A&M is using darn-near everyone right now, and it feels like the offensive staff is resorting to throwing stuff at the wall in an effort to see what sticks. Suddenly, we’re seeing a re-appearance of guys like Logan Sartori, Hunter Coleman, Trevor Werner and even cameo appearances from Zane Schmidt and Taylor Smith. I know Sartori didn’t have much to show for his weekend, statistically, but I liked him in the two-hole on Sunday. He went 0-for-2, but he also walked once and reached via two hit batsmen. I’d roll with Logan in left field and keep him hitting second, platoon Minnich (L) and Britt (R) in right field, give even starts to Blaum and Werner at third base until the cream rises to the top (hopefully) in the next week and keep Hunter Coleman in a pinch-hitting role and continue to roll with Austin Bost at DH. Something like this:
1. Alejo - CF (R)
2. Sartori - LF (R)
3. Frizzell - 1B (L)
4. Bost - DH (R)
5. Minnich / Britt - RF (L/R)
6. T. Coleman - 2B (R)
7. Blaum / Werner - 3B (R/R)
8. Hoehner - C (R)
9. Harrison - SS (R)
Four home games this week, with Texas Southern coming in for a Tuesday night tilt, followed by three games with Tennessee this weekend at Olsen. The Vols have been exceptional this season under former Missouri infielder and Dave Van Horn disciple Tony Vitello. The 42-year-old rising star in college baseball has Tennessee in the top 10 nationally and sitting at 29-8 overall and 10-5 in the SEC after dropping 2-of-3 to Vandy over the weekend. It’s spring game weekend and there should be some very nice crowds for the weekend series, and the Aggies are going to have to play some exceptional baseball to scratch and claw their way to a series win. We’ll of course be there for all of it, with exhaustive in-game and post-game coverage right here at TexAgs.
After the first game, to say we were frustrated would be an understatement. Last night on the plane, there is a huge difference between winning and losing on Sunday. Even if you lose two out of three but won on Sunday, it's a much different feeling. Waking up this morning, and anybody who is a coach understands this, we felt like we should've taken care of business on Saturday in the second game. Now we just have to take a step back and realize we played two pretty complete games. We just made the mistake and they didn't in that second game. There's no way to explain the first game. It was just not good.
Arkansas, in their ballpark, makes a huge difference. It's an offensive ballpark. Their pitching staff has good arms, but their numbers tell you the ballpark is very offensive. When it comes to that first game on Saturday, they socked us in the mouth and we never got up. They manhandled us. The outlook from the dugout is that you're angry. I was upset, not with our players, but without our performance. We didn't do a good job from a coaching standpoint as well.
Getting to turn right around might've helped. I've done this long enough that it can go both ways. It was a very good competitive college baseball game with some good arms going at it. The result withstanding, the performance was much better, complete and indicative of how we feel like we should play.
I thought after the first inning, Bryce Miller was in complete control. That was the best feel he has had of his secondary stuff since Samford. That is who he is capable of being.
Ty Coleman knew the double play was critical and went to go get the ball a little bit so he could get rid of it. He put himself in an awkward position. Will Frizzell has picked that ball like ten times this year, but he wasn't able to pick this one.
What Arkansas did in game one with Goodhart and Slavens, we did in game three with Frizzell and Hunter Coleman. Frizzell got us off to a good start and Hunter hit the three-run home run. The games mirrored each other, but the difference was that they kept pushing. You have to appreciate what Chandler Jozwiak did in that game. He is the epitome of what a college baseball player should be. He gave the middle of their order no chance. He got us off the field and halted their momentum. Trevor Werner and the play he made on that Gregory bunt was a huge play to be able to bounce off the mound and get that out.
If you look at Werner's outings, if you run him out for an inning, he is really good. His struggles have come when you try to extend him. That is on him. He needs to get to a point where he can put it together for multiple innings. We need that from him. We need Joseph Menefee, Mason Ornelas and Alex Magers to get it right and perform in the right spots. Miller and Dustin Saenz gave us enough bullets to where we were able to win the game on Sunday.
I didn't ask the plan for pitching on Sunday. Rob Childress came up to me and told me he had Joz getting ready for the left-handers. It ended up being the right call, allowing us to go after Goodhart and Morris with Joz. You have to appreciate the willingness to get out there and help his team.
What Logan Sartori is giving us is his walks and showing his ability to score when he gets on. He's ready to steal, run and take bases. He is giving the pitcher fits when he is out there. He's not getting a ton of hits right now, but he is giving us some good offense. He is cutting it loose and letting it go. I have to tip my hat to him for letting it rip.
