The Texas A&M baseball team, who is entering the SEC Tournament as the No. 2 seed, will play the winner of the contest between the South Carolina Gamecocks and Florida Gators on Tuesday, May 24 at 1 p.m.
The Aggies had a historic 2021-22 season as they finished on top of the SEC West standings for the first time in program history. A&M went 35-17 in regular season play and ended it on a seven-series winning streak.
A&M is led by sophomore infielder Jack Moss, who is batting at a .363 average and has tallied five home runs and 39 RBIs on the season. Moss was left off the All-SEC lists, but his co-star — All-SEC Second Team member and graduate outfielder — Dylan Rock boasts a .337 batting average, a team-high 16 home runs and 49 RBIs.
The Aggies clinched the SEC West title after a win against Ole Miss, 12-5, on May 21. A&M won the series 2-1 following a 14-6, Game 2 loss on May 20. The maroon and white used the loss to propel them the following day.
“We had to take one on the chin hard yesterday and just kind of wear it, but for the most part, that’s been the formula all year,” head coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “We’re going to have to change that formula here coming soon. You have to win more than two games in a weekend, but I’m super proud of our guys.”
In his first season coaching with the Aggies, Schlossnagle quickly turned the program around from its 2020-21 season, where A&M went 29-27 overall and 9-21 in SEC play, finishing in last place in the SEC West.
Despite the successful end to the season, the road wasn’t always easy for the Aggies, especially during non-conference play.
“You have to give every ounce of credit to our assistant coaches and the players,” Schlossnagle said. “For those guys to just stick with it when it seems like yesterday, we were getting walked off against Wichita State in Frisco. Losing two out of three to Penn and then you lose [Kalae] Harrison and [Trevor] Werner, but the guys just kept playing and kept believing. They bought into our system and bought into our culture.”
Florida enters into the tournament as the No. 7 seed after a 35-20 season, finishing second in the SEC East. South Carolina is the No. 10 seed in the tournament and finished fifth in SEC East standings with a 13-17 regular season record. The Gators and Gamecocks are slated to play on Tuesday, May 24 at 1 p.m.
“Hope we’re not finished yet,” Schlossnagle said. “We got a whole lot more baseball to play.”