There’s always a little bit of an empty feeling when you win a weekend series but lose the game on Sunday. Especially when you leave a small village (14) on base in the final game and fail to deliver on ample opportunities with a sweep right there for the taking.
However, when you step back and think about what the Aggies accomplished the last few days, going on the road and taking a series from a top-15 LSU team in arguably the most hostile college baseball environment in the country is one heck of a job well done.
Texas A&M showed some incredible grit and toughness in Baton Rouge. Who knows if the Ags will prove to be the better team in 2022. They hadn’t been through the first month of the season, and there’s a good chance they won’t be moving forward.
Still, this past weekend, the Texas Aggies were the better club. They pitched better, played better defense and delivered in the clutch at a far superior clip to that of the highly talented Bayou Bengals. On top of that, Jim Schlossnagle and the coaching staff punched almost all of the right buttons in the series, and the little decisions and coaching nuances made a difference between winning and losing the series.
Meredith Tabor, TexAgs
Despite A&M having led 6-2, LSU scored five runs in their final four at-bats to steal Sunday’s finale.
It’s a new season once SEC play starts, and right now, the Aggies aren’t just 12-7. They’re also 2-1 in league play and coming off of a successful and highly encouraging weekend of baseball.
Here’s a statistical look, By The Numbers, at A&M’s 2-2 week and series win over the Tigers...
D+.100 - Difference in A&M’s batting average with runners on base vs. LSU in the series. With runners on, the Aggies hit .350 compared to a .250 showing by the Tigers. LSU was just 4-for-28 (.143) in the first two games — both A&M wins — before exploding with nine hits in 24 at-bats (.375) on Sunday with runners on base. The Ags hit .392 the previous week after back-to-back .226 showings vs. Penn and in the Frisco Classic with runners on base. This is quite encouraging in that key category of late. However, with runners in scoring position, the number dips to .256 in the series as compared to LSU’s .320 average with RISP (up from .250 with runners on).
.316 - A&M’s average on the weekend with two outs. The Aggies delivered 12 two-out hits in the series and came through with several clutch knocks in critical two-out situations.
.429 - Batting average for Jack Moss against LSU. The sophomore went 6-for-14 with two doubles and two runs scored but did not drive in a man in the series. Moss continues to square up the baseball and get on base at an astronomical rate despite the power numbers not yet being there (0 homers and nine RBIs on the year). He’s slashing .403/.482/.463 and has 13 walks as compared to just five strikeouts. Moss and Kole Kaler (18 walks, 15 strikeouts) are the only players on the roster that have walked more than they’ve struck out. Moss leads the team in average, on-base percentage and hits (27). He sits sixth in the SEC in average and 12th in OBP.
.471 - Dylan Rock’s batting average last week. The UTSA transfer went 2-for-4 with an RBI in the loss to Houston on Tuesday and then tore the cover off the baseball in the LSU series, going 6-for-14 with a double, two home runs, three RBIs and four runs scored. Rock has hit safely in six straight games and has had multiple hits in his last four contests — raising his average 86 points in a span of about eight days and moving his season slash line to .300/.403/.517. He’s now locked in a four-way tie for the team lead in home runs with three and leads the club in slugging percentage (.517).
Jamie Maury, TexAgs
Dylan Rock was one of three Aggies to register a multi-hit performance in Friday night’s LSU series opener, going 2-for-5.
1 - Errors by the Aggies all weekend. That one miscue was a hotshot ground ball through the wickets of Ryan Targac at third base on Sunday. Compare that to six errors for LSU in the series. Texas A&M is fielding .980 on the season (.970 is average, .975 is very good, .980 and above is elite) despite being without wizard-like shortstop Kalae Harrison for two weeks and former shortstop turned third baseman Trevor Werner — an outstanding defender — having played four games this season. So far this season, every team in the SEC other than Missouri, Ole Miss and LSU are fielding above a .970 clip. A&M is in sixth but just two percentage points away from a tie for third and four points away from second. Arkansas leads all teams at .987.
5 - Hitters boasting a batting average above .300 through five weeks. Jack Moss leads the way at .403/.482/.463, followed by Austin Bost (.333/.430/.470), Brett Minnich (.323/.458/.508), Troy Claunch (.318/.397/.439) and Dylan Rock (.300/.403/.517). Meanwhile, infielder Ryan Targac has increased his average 119 points in March and is currently up to a respectable and surging .255. The last time the Aggies had five or more hitters finish the season with an average above .300 was in 2016 (six). A&M also has five hitters with an on-base percentage over .400 and five guys with a slugging percentage over .450.
5 - Home runs for A&M against LSU. The Aggies entered the SEC opening series with just nine dingers through the first 16 games but hit a pair of bombs on Friday night and added three more on Sunday. The Aggies remain in last place in the SEC in home runs (14, tied with South Carolina).
5 - Home runs allowed by the Aggie pitching staff against the Tigers. A&M entered the series having given up just two home runs total in 16 games. Even with the rough weekend with the long balls, A&M ranks second in the SEC behind only Vanderbilt (four) in home runs allowed this season (seven).
6 - Stolen bases (in seven attempts) for the Aggies in the LSU series. Four of those came from Ryan Targac in Saturday’s game alone. With 30 steals, the Aggies sit third in the category among SEC teams and trail Missouri and Tennessee by just three.
6 - A&M pitchers with at least a 3:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio so far this season. Nathan Dettmer leads the way at 10:1 (20 Ks, two walks), followed at the top by Micah Dallas at 8.75:1 (35 Ks, four walks). Dallas is ninth in the SEC in strikeouts.
7.90 - Combined ERA of A&M’s weekend rotation vs. LSU. Nathan Dettmer (3 ER in 4.2 IP), Micah Dallas (5 ER in 4.2 IP) and Ryan Prager (4 ER in 4.1 IP) combined for 12 earned runs in 13.2 innings of work. The trio had just 18 combined earned runs allowed through the first month of the season entering the SEC opener but came back to Earth in a big way over the weekend. Even still, Prager sits 12th in the league in ERA (2.59), fifth in opponents average (.160), tied for third in hits allowed (13), tied for sixth in runs allowed (seven) and tied for seventh in walks allowed (seven).
Jamie Maury, TexAgs
A&M’s arms lead the SEC in fewest total walks allowed at 51.
9 - Major offensive categories in which Texas A&M sits in the bottom third in the SEC through five weeks. The Ags are 12th in average (.275), on-base percentage (.387) and strikeouts (167), tied with Missouri for 12th in hits (173), 13th in slugging percentage (.410) and total bases (258), tied for 13th in home runs (14) and runs (113) and last in RBIs (100).
11 - Combined hits by A&M’s top two hitters in the lineup, Kole Kaler and Austin Bost. Kaler went 5-for-14 (.357) with a double, three RBIs and two runs scored. He has hit safely in four straight games. Meanwhile, Bost went 6-for-15 (.400) and has a five-game hitting streak going with four multi-hit games in that span.
13 - Walks by A&M pitchers vs. LSU. The Aggies have done a tremendous job this season of limiting free passes. The strike zone seemed to get tighter and tighter as the series went on in Baton Rouge, and A&M paid the price. The Aggies walked just three batters through the first 14 innings of the series but finished game two with six walks in the last four innings and added four more walks in Sunday’s game. Freshman Ryan Prager entered Sunday with just three walks in his first four starts, but he walked three Tigers in game three of the series. Nonetheless, the Aggies lead the SEC in fewest total walks (51). Nathan Dettmer is second in the league with two walks allowed among qualifying arms. Micah Dallas is sixth (four). Prager is tied for seventh (six).
+14 - Advantage in the hit column for the Aggies in the LSU series. Texas A&M racked up 39 hits on the weekend and hit .336 as a team as compared to just 25 hits for the Tigers (.253 overall).
28 - Number of strikeouts by A&M’s pitching staff in the series with the Tigers. That’s just over a strikeout per inning, which keeps pace with their season-long pace of 9.4 Ks per nine innings. While that number looks really good on the surface, the Aggies rank next to last in the league in strikeouts (173).
47 - Number of stranded base runners in four baseball games last week. The Aggies left 11 men on base in an 8-2 loss to Houston on Tuesday night. And despite a ton of success at the plate in Red Stick, A&M stranded 10 runners on Friday, 12 on Saturday and an astounding 14 on Sunday. Compare the 36 runners left on base by the Aggies to just 21 for LSU, and that’s a dubious stat that makes you even more thrilled that A&M was able to get out of that place with two wins.
I think that’ll just about do it for this week.
Another important week ahead for the Aggies with a trip to Rice in the midweek followed by three home games against Auburn. The Auburn Tigers are 14-6 and coming off of a series loss at home to Ole Miss. This is quite an attainable series and another chance for the Aggies to gain even more momentum early in SEC play with back-to-back series wins to open things up.
We’ll catch ya at the ballyard!
