Jim Schlossnagle's fourth-ranked Aggies took care of business against Arkansas to grab ahold of their final conference series of the season. Jim Schlossnagle joined TexAgs Radio to discuss A&M's weekend at Blue Bell Park, the pitching staff and much more.
Key notes from Jim Schlossnagle interview
- I thought it was a great weekend for the program, first of all. The rain stunk to deal with the first night. For that to be a Thursday night and people still show up and be a part of the game, it was an awesome weekend. I feel really good about how we pitched, for the most part, the entire weekend. Two two-out three run homers given up.
- In the third game, I thought Shane Sdao, after the first inning, was pretty soggy. We knew that stuff was going backward, and I was trying to nurse him through one more inning. He got to two strikes on Wehiwa Aloy and left the change-up up. The rest will be good for Shane. He didn't recover great from his first start.
- You saw the back third of Arkansas’ pitching staff, which is more back-to-earth and human-like. Going into the weekend, I think they were a full run better than the second-place team in ERA.
- I told the team after the first game: “The way you beat a good pitcher is you have to pitch with him. Then you have to beat the other guys.” That’s what teams did with Paul Skenes last year.
- We pitched with them. Evan Aschenbeck was great. We got the one run.
- In the middle game, we runners on first and second with nobody out. Jackson Appel was up and we didn't score. In the back half of the game, we were facing great pitchers.
- Going into the third game, we had scored four runs in 20 innings and had won a game. They had scored six runs, three on one swing, in 20 innings and won a game. We were pretty evenly matched.
- Our lineup has depth, but it can be pitched to, just like anybody us. A pitcher executing pitches is going to beat any lineup. When we are healthy, there are more guys you have to execute pitches to.
- We need to look at Tanner Jones and Justin Lamkin. If you remember, in midweek, we threw Lamkin for two hitters to kind of jump-start him. It didn't work out. It wasn’t what I had hoped for it to be.
- I told Lamkin when I brought him in the game, “Remember when you closed that game for us against Texas Tech at Minute Maid your freshman year, and you were blowing 92 to 94 mph fastballs past them? Pitch like that today.” He did. I am hoping that jump-starts him as a starter.
- I thought Tanner Jones was great. His fastball was down with good velocity. The breaking ball was good.
- I am going to wait and see who we play. We could start Tanner and use that as an opportunity to say the bullpen appearance got him going. In the worst case, we found another right-handed arm with experience throwing strikes. In hindsight, I would have brought him in earlier and gotten one more inning out of him. He had never relieved for us.
- The first game in Hoover, it could be Tanner. We could piece it together with other guys.
- As much as I love him, Chris Cortez needs bases to work with. He got three outs as he walked the bases. It's scary to bring him unless you have the base open. He is gaining more confidence, and maybe I need to try it. Brock Peery hasn’t pitched in a couple of weeks, so we need to get him out there.
- I knew going into the weekend I wanted to have Ryan Targac active. He can play multiple positions if someone goes down. I was looking for opportunities to put him in throughout the course of the weekend.
- That inning unfolded. I wish I had brought him in when Gavin Grahovac homered to give him more time to prep, but at the same time, it was cooler what happened. Everybody saw him come in, and it happened so fast.
- I did tell that home plate umpire, “If you ring up No. 12 right here, you will get shot before you walk out of here.” I was happy for Ryan.
- Targac has been so great. He had an opportunity to sign. He wanted to come back to school. I told him about a month and a half ago that I thought there was a cool moment coming for you. I didn't think it would happen this weekend.
- As cool as Troy Claunch wearing No. 12 and Austin Bost No. 12, how cool would it be to be the first national champion No. 12? Maybe that happens. Maybe it doesn't. Targac has swallowed his pride and truly been the 12th Man. E. King Gill didn't play, but he was at the ready. That is what you can be and still be a great leader because you are so respected.
- I thought we had great defense. Ali Camarillo is a great defender and put together a great year. I think we have proven we can win games in a variety of ways which is important in the postseason.
- I thought about moving Caden Sorrell up in the batting order this weekend. I thought about hitting him fifth.
- Next year, we will have Gavin back, Jace LaViolette back, Sorrell and Wyatt Henseler. Maybe Appel and Hayden Schott come back to school. I love Jack Bell. He is a heck of a player, and so is Jett Johnston. Hopefully, those guys will stay. We are super excited about our young players, whether they believe it or not.
- If Ryan Prager throws, when does he throw and how much? You want him to be rested for the regional, but you want him to be sharp. If we win on Wednesday, do we roll him out in the second game? Probably. Would we throw him for 100 pitches? Probably not.
- I don't want to do one single thing to jeopardize a regional.
- The first reason I didn't want to start Lamkin on Friday is that if I do and I am the hitting coach for Arkansas, the scouting report will be more of what you have seen. It will not make them change at all. The second reason is that Florida won. Now, we are a top-four seed in Hoover. That meant a lot.
- I wasn't trying to play reindeer games. I told Lamkin, you are still starting, just the second or third inning. Brad Rudis was going to hop on the mound and throw 10 pitches, and that's what happened.
- We will head out Monday morning. Knock on wood, the weather is supposed to be pretty good. You get to watch a lot of good baseball and put off the stress of a game until the last possible second Wednesday night.
