W said:

---

the player that hit the 2-run homer in the 8th inning is from Missouri City, TX.

the player that hit the 2-run homer in the 10th inning is from Illinois.

Van Horn is simply better at recruiting, scholarship allocation, and roster management

---

Agreed.
But they also had one (or two) from Rosenberg, Southlake, and I forget the others.

Arkansas did not make the NCAA tournament last year . They were horrible . Think about that for a minute.

JUCO bats are the quickest way to add offense to a lineup. We have not been a team that has sold out by going the JUCO route , but it has helped many teams over the years and we should consider it IMO .

Who is a good two hole hitter ?

Here are our strike out percentages in CONFERENCE play

12.5
19.6
23.2
28.0
28.3
28.9
29.9
31.7
32.5
34.8
38.5

without knowing who these belong to which way do you go ?

Some look for all the measurable (similar to mlb scouts), some look for players. Some get caught up in the PG ratings, which can be solid if they are seen by PG but misguided if they're not. Put it this way, some programs only go after the diamonds while others look for the diamond in the rough. I give you an example of three outfielders I was very aware of in my sons class. Two were very highly rated prospects by mlb scouts and PG, the other was a lightly recruited player. He had some interest from Baylor but that was about it as far as Texas D1 schools went. One of the top prospects was Ryan Johnson and the other I won't name but both had all the measurable. Tall, strong arm, fast and could hit and hit for power. The lightly recruited player was a switch hitting contact hitter, fast with a strong arm but only 5'11". A recruiter was at one of our games talking to me about the prospects and I told him simply that I understood the love fest for the top guys but that this player was a better player and if I had to have one of the three at bat in a do our die situation, I take the lesser player every time. I had watched this kid demoralize the Texas pitcher of the year in one at bat where he went down 0-2, watch or fouled off 9 other pitches to work it to a 3-2 count. The pitcher's shoulders were slumping and he was looking to the dugout trying to figure out what pitch I can throw this kid to get him out. On the 12th pitch, he throws a thigh high slider that was drilled to the left field gap for a leadoff double. The team proceed to score 4 runs that inning because the pitcher was completely rattled. We know Ryan's story and with any luck he's still has a great future. The other top prospect, that was offered by everyone including A&M and went to a power house ACC program, is out of baseball. The lesser was offered by that recruiter and has been a two year starter and we faced him last night in the 5 hole for Arkansas.

hogfan14 said:

---

BQ_90 said:

---

I thought the batter for them last night that did most of the damage was from Houston.

---

If you're talking about Biggers we signed him out of a JUCO. In fact the only reason we noticed him is because we missed a regional last year so we were at the JUCO World Series scouting while the NCAA tournament was going on lol.

Do you guys recruit California at all? I wouldn't think you'd need to since Texas has so much talent, but we usually sign a couple from there every year that want to play in the SEC since we're closer than teams like Florida or South Carolina. We also take the best players from states where college baseball is nonexistent (like New Jersey) and combine it with our best in-state players and the players we get from Texas. We don't really recruit the southeast at all.

---

Arkansas has to recruit out of state. A&M might cherry pick a guy or two, but it doesn't make as much economic sense for out of state players to come to A&M and pick up what their partial scholarship doesn't cover as it does for Texas kids.

OKCAGS said:

---

Arkansas did not make the NCAA tournament last year . They were horrible . Think about that for a minute.

JUCO bats are the quickest way to add offense to a lineup. We have not been a team that has sold out by going the JUCO route , but it has helped many teams er the years and we should consider it IMO .

---

what's interesting...and again this goes back to roster management/scholarship allocation...Arkansas might bracket their dreadful 2016 season with Omaha appearances.

some coaches...instead of focusing on being good every year...focus on being strong in intervals. Like when they know they will have a junior / senior heavy team...and add jucos & D1 transfers to that group to create a super-team so to speak.

and it seems like Childress tried that by adding transfers Boomer, Barash, and Pennington to the 2015/2016 clubs that already had talented junior & senior (high school) players. It almost worked. But it's left the 2017 team bereft of talent in the spohomore & junior classes

dermdoc said:

---

except for Shewmake. So our pitching, defense, and base running have to be perfect. And I wonder what our team batting average is in SEC play with risp? Damn, it seems we have had terrible at bats with runners at second and/or third.

---

So nothing has changed!!

It's been like this for years. We play in a conference that does not play small ball yet we insist in using that strategy with the same results over and over and over.....in other words, in typical fashion, we underachieve

Hop said:

---

It's a talent issue. There is very little hitting talent on this team. Unless they can get some of these highly regarded hitters from going pro, which has been very difficult for this staff to do over the years, that talent issue isn't going away.

---

And when I say this, you people yell at me and call me a troublemaker.

twk said:

---

hogfan14 said:

---

BQ_90 said:

---

I thought the batter for them last night that did most of the damage was from Houston.

---

If you're talking about Biggers we signed him out of a JUCO. In fact the only reason we noticed him is because we missed a regional last year so we were at the JUCO World Series scouting while the NCAA tournament was going on lol.

Do you guys recruit California at all? I wouldn't think you'd need to since Texas has so much talent, but we usually sign a couple from there every year that want to play in the SEC since we're closer than teams like Florida or South Carolina. We also take the best players from states where college baseball is nonexistent (like New Jersey) and combine it with our best in-state players and the players we get from Texas. We don't really recruit the southeast at all.

---

Arkansas has to recruit out of state. A&M might cherry pick a guy or two, but it doesn't make as much economic sense for out of state players to come to A&M and pick up what their partial scholarship doesn't cover as it does for Texas kids.

---

I always thought that getting partial scholarship put you with in state tuition rates, but may be mistaken on that.

We've never had a good hitting coach in the history of the program. I mean a true professor of base knocks.

Buford T. Justice said:

---

We've never had a good hitting coach in the history of the program. I mean a true professor of base knocks.

---

Your may or may not be right - I won't be the judge of that - but we have led the B12 and SEC in offense under RC (I wanna say 3 total times).

I have nothing to add to this conversation except that those of you that keep mentioning Boomer--that is almost unfair. If sheer willpower could get a fellow on base, he had it. I swear last year he could just close his eyes and appear on third. Fierce competitor.

Carry on...

Woobie said:

---

Hop said:

---

It's a talent issue. There is very little hitting talent on this team. Unless they can get some of these highly regarded hitters from going pro, which has been very difficult for this staff to do over the years, that talent issue isn't going away.

---

And when I say this, you people yell at me and call me a troublemaker.

---

I assume you aren't referring to me as the "you people".

I beg to differ.

AustinAg2012 said:

---

HoustonAg2106 said:

---

That first game against Mississippi State we played probably our best game offensively of the season (at least best approach) and probably best overall game as well. Since then we are 1-6. WTF happened?

---

I believe it's affectionately referred to as the Aggie Swoon... It happens down the stretch every single season in the three major sports. No cure's been found, so we be f'ed for the foreseeable future.

---

It's a lack of mental toughness.. Like school-yard bullies, when they've got somebody down, they usually keep piling it on.. but, when the other team hits back, or hits first, they fold..

Our talent issue is the symptom of the problem. We are not relegated to poor talent we recruit poor talent.

The problem is recuiting and coaching. We need to recruit more talented players and coach all our players up.

Bernie13 said:

---

I beg to differ.

---

Not every out of stater is a cherry?

Agree that there just aren't many talented hitters on this team. It makes the result of the season last year all the more infuriating. We had a ton of great hitters and still couldn't get to Omaha, much less win a game there. It's a dead horse that we beat every year with a different stick.

RC is a good pitching coach no doubt. But the bottom line is baseball is a sport that only really half the schools in the country participate. We have a top 5 facility, top 5 attendance, yet we have not once in 11 years of RC finished in the top 5.

That's better.

If we couldn't win last year we never will. Not only was that tcu series disappointing it was a choke job of major proportions. We may never have a team that good again. I'm not a Childress fan and never will be.

cedar said:

---

If we couldn't win last year we never will. Not only was that tcu series disappointing it was a choke job of major proportions. We may never have a team that good again. I'm not a Childress fan and never will be.

---

I really hate this attitude. Sorry

Never apologize for it, Ed!

I hear comparisons to Kennedy and Sumlin and I don't accept those. The entire country competes seriously in those sports. Sumlin has a top 5 finish. Even Kennedy made a top 16. I'm not making arguments for them, but imo the most ridiculous is the failure in baseball and the apologizing in a sport that most of the country does not seriously participate

Cool. As long as we are playing I am pulling for the Ags. And I will not adopt a loser mentality. It ain't over until it is over

This argument is incredibly flawed. Baseball is by far the most successful big 3 sports since RC has been here. Sumlin has 1 top five finish but since Johnny has had no success. It is true that Kennedy has made 1 top 16 but so has RC at least 4 times that I can think of as well as one top 8 finish.

Texags Meltdown 2k17 said:

---

This argument is incredibly flawed. Baseball is by far the most successful big 3 sports since RC has been here. Sumlin has 1 top five finish but since Johnny has had no success. It is true that Kennedy has made 1 top 16 but so has RC at least 4 times that I can think of as well as one top 8 finish.

---

how is this flawed? That we are not a perennial top 5 in facilities and attendance? That there has never been a northern school in modern times that seriously threatened for a title? I keep an open mind, but you provided no data at all.

If you don't make it to Omaha you haven't done squat.

Capt. America said:

---

Our scoring needs to be done without the necessity of the boomstick. Situational hitting, bunting, gap shots, and good baserunning needs to be things we work on going forward. I'm all about us raking the damn ball out of the park, but keeping a run rally going can be just as devastating to the opposition. Let's see what kind of changes develop in our style later.

---

I thought Arkansas provided students in state tuition if the state they are from borders Arkansas? I have a few friends whose kids have gone to Arkansas. This would help their athletic recruiting.

the stats page has been updated on A&M's website. Here are the final numbers for the Ags in conference play (30 games):

team batting average ---> .249

only Choruby (.311) and Shewmake (.307) hit over .300 in league play.

only 2 other players hit above .240...Bedford (.277) and Janca (.274). Everyone else was below .240

-----
A&M scored 141 runs in league play. Choruby and Shewmake combined to score 41 of those...29%

A&M was credited with 129 RBI. Choruby and Shewmake combined for 44 of those...34%

A&M drew 96 walks in 30 games

and for the comparison to 2016...

team batting average in SEC play ---> .304

five players hit over .300. Led by Boomer at .471

2 more players hit between .290 and .300

Every starter in the lineup plus the 2 key reserves hit over .240

-----
A&M scored 186 runs in league play. Five players scored 20+ runs...led by Moss with 28 runs scored.

A&M was credited with 176 RBI. Again five players drove in at least 20 runs...led by Melton with 33 RBI

A&M drew 115 walks in 30 games

Cy_Tolliver said:

---

RC is a good pitching coach no doubt. But the bottom line is baseball is a sport that only really half the schools in the country participate. We have a top 5 facility, top 5 attendance, yet we have not once in 11 years of RC finished in the top 5.

---

We don't have Top 5 facilities or attendance nationally. Top 10. But not Top 5.

dermdoc said:

---

Cool. As long as we are playing I am pulling for the Ags. And I will not adopt a loser mentality. It ain't over until it is over

---

How's that working out for you? Seems to me the Childress supporters are the ones with a loser mentality.