Us against the world.
That should be the mentality of the Texas A&M baseball team going into the rest of the season.
After the mid-week gut-punch loss to Texas State 7-2, in which the Aggies displayed poor pitching and even worse at-bats, the top-ranked squad can right their ship on Friday, Feb. 28, when they head to the newly renamed Daikin Park, home to the Houston Astros.
Now, about the competition. They don’t look like the average Cal Poly or Texas State team that has failed to see the postseason in recent years.
While Arizona is the only one of the three opponents the Aggies will face in the Classic with a record above .500, an urgency to live up to lofty expectations has emerged from every corner of Aggieland.
The No. 1 ranking comes with the double-edged sword of knowing that they’ll get every opponent’s best shot. A&M found that edge in its loss to the Bobcats and is going to need to fight desperately against teams with real battle experience already this young in the season. Arizona, Oklahoma State and Rice await the king of college baseball, hungry to get a piece of what the Bobcats carved off.
What needs to be fixed
In both the Cal Poly and Texas State losses, offensive production and a bullpen collapse were key factors in the visitors taking down No. 1.
The hit ratio was nine-to-seven in the Bobcats’ favor and it was six-to-five in the Mustangs’ favor. Something must change for a team that was expected to be among the best in generating production at the plate. With injuries affecting heavy hitters in sophomore third baseman Gavin Grahovac and sophomore outfielder Caden Sorrell, players like junior center fielder Jace LaViolette and graduate designated hitter Hayden Schott need to pick up the extra slack.
The Ivy League transfer Schott collected just two hits in his six plate appearances during the team’s two losses. While it is still early in the year, the giant 6-foot-6 LaViolette has yet to come alive. Through the first six games of last year, the MLB prospect garnered 10 hits and nine runs, compared to this year’s five and seven, respectively.
While batter’s box problems are one thing, pitching woes are a whole ‘nother beast.
Nine different Aggies saw action on the mound Tuesday, and none remained for more than two innings. This kind of midweek matchup shuffle is typical in college baseball but not for a top-ranked program coming off a loss to Cal Poly.
Despite gloomy weather and poor game conditions over the weekend, the 12th Man was greeted with a promising start to junior left-handed pitcher Myles Patton’s career in maroon.
The Long Beach State transfer was dealing in the second win over Elon and the loss to Cal Poly, totaling eight strikeouts in each bout and allowing just one run. More consistency from the rest of the 19 roster-listed pitchers need to help solidify the defense in Houston.
What to expect
Arizona has gained the most experience against top teams so far in its losses to Louisville, Clemson and Ole Miss. The Wildcats will likely be a favorite to upset the Aggies coming off a four-win streak and with their .296, top-100-ranked batting average.
Along with the offensive capabilities of Oklahoma State, which rests at 29th in the country in BA at .324. The Cowboys have shared opponents with Arizona in Clemson and Louisville, in which they lost to the Tigers 5-6 and beat the Cardinals 12-3.
While the final program, Rice, only has two wins so far in the season, don’t count the Owls out just yet as they are looking for their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2017, and a ranked win against the Fightin’ Farmers would help their chances tremendously.
