End the debates! 2024 Ags reach program's first championship series

Press conference video courtesy of the NCAA

Game #65: #3 Texas A&M 6, Florida 0
Records: Texas A&M (52-13, 19-11), Florida (36-30, 13-17)
WP: Justin Lamkin (3-2)
LP: Liam Peterson (3-6)
Box Score

OMAHA, Neb. — The debates are now settled.

By advancing to the Men's College World Series championship, the 2024 Fightin' Texas Aggies are now undoubtedly the best baseball team in program history.

"We've played really good baseball," A&M head coach Jim Schlossnagle. "You have to give all of the credit to the players."

With a 6-0 Wednesday win over Florida, A&M advances to a best-of-three title series for the first time in Aggie baseball's 144-year existence.

A&M will face No. 1 national seed Tennessee beginning Saturday at Charles Schwab Field Omaha.

"We're excited," Schlossnagle said. "I'm excited for the 12th Man. A&M is an awesome fanbase with incredibly proud and awesome people. You want to reward the commitment that they've made. I think we've done that.

"Obviously, we'd like to win the whole thing, but it has been a good year to this point."

Fittingly, the Aggies spun their 12th shutout of the season to get there, blanking the Gators to equal a program record set by the 1990 club.

Leading that charge was Justin Lamkin, who offered five innings of three-hit baseball.

The lefty from Corpus Christi struck out nine in the process to set an Aggies in Omaha record.

"I think the big part of it is having self-confidence in myself, knowing I can go out there, and I can compete," Lamkin said of his success. "Having true confidence in all my pitches has really helped me out."

Along with his three innings vs. the Gators on Saturday, Lamkin has offered eight scoreless frames on the game's biggest stage.

Behind him on Wednesday was a filthy outing from Josh Stewart after an eight-pitch cameo by Chris Cortez.

The right-hander combined a low-90s fastball with a disgusting sweeper to rack up four punchouts.

"It means a lot to me," Stewart said of advancing. "I grew up a big A&M fan. It's awesome to be a part of the team that's able to be the first team that has made the finals. It's really cool to be a part of."

As he so often does, Evan Aschenbeck closed down the ballgame with two innings to pitch A&M into the championship series.

Through three games in Omaha, the Aggies have surrendered just three runs total.

And Florida rarely threatened, leaving the bases loaded in the third before stranding a pair in the sixth and eighth, respectively.

Conversely, Gator starter Liam Peterson walked in a run and gave up another on a Caden Sorrell sacrifice fly in the first.

Peterson recorded just one out.

Jamie Maury

Florida left eight men on base in Wednesday night’s contest.

"It's just about putting up the best ABs you can," Sorrell said. "I was just trying to put a good AB and drive the run in any way that I could."

The freshman outfielder added the exclamation point in the sixth in the form of a two-run home run off Brandon Neely as the lead swelled to 5-0.

"I know he's pretty fastball-heavy," Sorrell said. "He has a lot of arm-side run and ride on it, so I was just sitting fastball, trying to get something that started low or middle.

"Luckily, he threw a fastball that was pretty much middle-middle."

A&M's other runs scored via Gavin Grahovac's RBI double in the fifth and Kaeden Kent's run-scoring single in the ninth.

Both finished 2-for-4.

This stay in Omaha is becoming more and more unlikely as the Aggies have been hit hard by injuries.

Braden Montgomery and Shane Sdao were lost in the super regional.

Jace LaViolette tweaked a hamstring on Monday vs. Kentucky but played on Wednesday.

Hayden Schott, Jackson Appel and Ted Burton are among the key contributors playing at less than 100 percent.

Somehow, that doesn't seem to matter.

They'll play for a title anyway.

"From a team standpoint, you just rally around it. That's all you can do. You can't control it," Schlossnagle said. "You out-team the other team. That sounds coachy, but that's the way we talk about it."

Now 8-0 in the NCAA Tournament, the Aggies receive an additional day of rest by avoiding an "if necessary" contest on Thursday.

They'll practice and address the media on Friday before Saturday night's Game 1.

It will be the first time that one of A&M's "big three" sports — football, men's basketball or baseball — has played for a national championship since 1939.

Additionally, it will be Schlossnagle's first shot at the game's ultimate prize in his eighth trip to Omaha's pearly gates.

"I'm a college baseball fan, too," Schlossnagle said. "I'm tired of leaving before the championship. Personally, it's awesome. It's fun to be a part of. Excited to play an awesome Tennessee team."

These Aggies sit just two wins away from achieving immortality, but where they stand in A&M lore is already cemented.

It's no longer up for debate.