Opening SEC play with No. 17 Alabama, Earley's Aggies are 'ready to go'

SEC play has arrived as Michael Earley's No. 19 Aggies are prepared to host Rob Vaughn's No. 17 Crimson Tide for a three-game set. The first-year head coach joined Thursday's edition of TexAgs Live to provide an overview of this club before the gauntlet begins.

Key notes from Michael Earley interview

• We have to play better baseball than we have. There's enough talent on the team, and I think we're doing the right things where it was bound to happen. You have to have a sense of urgency without panic. I thought the Rice game, we turned a corner in how we started playing baseball. We took a step back that Tuesday, but it's been clean baseball since then. The guys just seem more confident. Sometimes, when you hit a point as a player, especially as a hitter, you call it rock bottom. You really just start to relax.
   
• It's obvious we've been playing better baseball. It made Sunday hurt more because it brought back the memories of not playing better baseball. You're supposed to have losses like that, and it just shined a brighter light and was harder to get over because after the game, what do you say? As a coach, you're always looking for something to fix, and there wasn't. At the same time, I like where we're at. We're trying to move forward and continue to play good baseball.
   
• It was pretty intense groundball work before a game and then followed up by the next day. Yesterday, because we played so much, we gave them a little lighter practice, but we'll be back at it today. It's what's necessary. It's not ideal. I don't think it's something you want to have to do, but if you have to do it, you have to do it. You have to make adjustments and do whatever the situation calls for. Sometimes, you have to think outside the box. They've been pushing pretty hard.
   
• It's highly competitive guys and challenging them with words, and they liked it. It was like, "OK, push me." It was not anything we hadn't done before, but the timing was unique, and they really took to it.
   
• The Hoosiers will not be in March Madness, so I won't be watching them. I like to watch A&M because I like how they play and how hard they play. I will watch every A&M game until hopefully the national championship, but other than that, I don't think I'll watch more than that.
   
• Terrence Kiel II has been super confident since the day he walked in, but he also really takes to coaching. He has a really good aptitude. I want him to go out there and just let loose. I don't want to put constraints on him. I want him to be himself, and he's done that within the system and how we do things. Talk about an electric player. He puts the ball in play. You know something is going to happen, and it seems like every out is bang-bang or even the plays he makes in the outfield. He's been awesome. I knew he would play at some point. I didn't think it was going to be the first game. I thought his role would be a little different, a pinch runner, defense or replacement, but I think he was just ready. He's done an awesome job.
   
• After a game like Sunday, I present the analytics to the team. It's part of the message. I didn't talk to them after the game. The next day, that's what I talked about, “Did you guys know this or that?” They are shaking their heads. In every game, there's a situation you can point to.
   
• I think the swing decisions have gotten a little better. They need to be a lot better, and I think that will come with guys performing better and not pressing and searching for hits. Hits come and go, but getting on base cannot. Our getting on-base percentage is definitely over 100 of our average. We'd like both of those to bump up. Certain guys have to make better swing decisions and know who they are and the type of team we are because losing those two guys changes it. You're not going to just out-slug people. You can, but you can't win like that.
   
• Jace LaViolette has handled this stretch a lot better than I even anticipated. He's grown, and we have a lot of conversations about the mental side of the game. His whole week was great, and I think he's there. I think you'll see a really good weekend out of him.
   
• Through this stretch, he's still getting on base. We were talking before a game one time, and he thought he was doing terrible, and I'm like, "You realize your on-base percentage is like .465." That was a couple of weeks ago, but he's still getting on base. I think that shows the growth of LaViolette as a player. If you rewind to two years ago, if he wasn't getting hits, he wasn't going to walk either. He's been hitting the ball really hard, and he knows it. From a mental standpoint, he's grown up a lot, for sure.
   
• I feel like we've done as much as what the games presented. There are a couple of situations if I could go back, maybe I would try and make something happen. I don't believe in trying to force an issue. We've done as much as appropriate. We tried a hit-and-run the other day. The guy threw a breaking ball in the dirt, and Hayden Schott fouled it off and did a good job. Other than that, I think we've stolen 16 out of 19 bases, which is good. The only three we got thrown out on, one was a pitch out, and two have been delays where the pitcher did a good job. You always want to manage, but the game has to present itself and give it to you.
   
• Gavin Lyons is going to be really good. I think he has a chance to be really good this year. The only way to find out is to find out. We have some other guys in front of him, but he will be on the roster, and I don't foresee him ever not being on the roster. His opportunity is going to come. He's a really cool kid, and I'm glad he's on the team.
   
• Our starting pitching staff is going to face better competition with conference play. I think you've seen with Myles Patton and Justin Lamkin, they've pitched with some traffic and adversity, and I think they're prepared. Nothing really prepares you for the SEC unless you've done it before or are just jumping in and doing it. We faced Arizona and Oklahoma State, and those are really good baseball teams talent-level-wise. Ryan Prager has been through this. Lamkin has been through it. Patton hasn't, but I think he's very well prepared.
   
• Caden Sorrell is pretty frustrated, as we all are, but no one more than him. He's hanging in there. It's really frustrating. You see a guy that's worked, prepared and had the trajectory heading in the right direction.
   
• Sorrell will end up being fine in the long run. Any type of adversity like this helps you grow in life or as a player. I just feel really bad for him. He'll be back at some point, and we have to steady the ship and make sure we're in the right direction when we get him back. That hamstring heals on the timeline it wants to heal on. I hope we can get into a situation where we can at least hit him for a little bit first or maybe put him at DH.
   
• My friend Rob Vaughn, the head coach for Alabama, is just a really good guy. He's done a phenomenal job. What he did at Maryland was pretty crazy. I think they didn't lose a Big Ten series for two or three years. In the offseason, he would give me advice and just pop in here and there. He's a good dude. He's got good players. They have guys with experience and some good arms. That program was in a decent spot before the turnover, and he's done a really good job of keeping it where it's at and building off of it.
   
• I like our arms and the matchups. I think Justin Lebron has hit 11 home runs, and 10 have been off of right-handers, so we've got some lefties going. He's super talented. I'm guessing the reason he's only hit 10 is because he's probably faced way more right-handers than left-handers. You just have to trust your guys. He's going to hit some balls hard, and you hope they're not at the right moments and, for the most part, they just go right to somebody. He's a great player and really fun to watch, but I definitely like watching him more when we're not playing against him.
   
• I think we're right there, and we've been playing better baseball. There's something to playing perceived better competition, and I hope it brings a little bit more out of our guys. We're at where we're at because of how we played. A lot of that is my fault. All we can do now is play better. It's not just, "Hey guys. Go play better." It's making adjustments, doing the right things, putting guys in certain situations, shaking the lineup up a little bit and going a little more defense over offense because that's what our team is now.
   
• If we look up at the end of the day and we've done the right things, win or lose, what else can we do? That's where we have to get to on a more consistent basis. When we do that, we can explode on teams, or we can beat them 7-1, or we can lose a 4-1 baseball game that you shouldn't have lost. I'm excited for it. I wouldn't say I wouldn't change anything that's happened because I would love to be undefeated.
   
• You have to play well in the SEC to be good. Period. The hard part of it is the competition picks up significantly. You can be undefeated rolling into this, or you could have our record, but if you don't perform in the SEC, it doesn't matter anyway. We're going to have to be more consistent with what we do on a day-to-day basis, and I'm glad we've been trending in that direction, and this is not a week ago heading into the conference. We're ready to go. I think we'll have a great crowd from what I've heard. I like that. I like playing at home, and that crowd in this situation.