Concerning the bunt to the first baseman, the radio announcers pointed out that in one of the two previous games, the tu first baseman played behind the 1st base bag - an apparent mistake on his part. In that case, a bunt to the first base side with runners on 1st and 2nd was preferrable - according to them.

However, in game 3, the 1st baseman corrected his position, played in front of the bag in the bunt situation, and made the play at third.

Although Kiel has played well, particularly as a freshman, he likely just made a mistake in reading the first baseman's position. He also has likely not had to bunt a lot when he was in high school. Finally, you would hope that a lead-off man would have reasonably good bat control. I don't think that's Kiel's strong point

I really don't like bunting very much, as the lack of success on our attempts this weekend shows. I'd rather our batter try to hit to the right side and advance the runners that way. Unfortunately, I'm not sure Kiel has the bat control to do that.

TAMU1990 said:

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No, just need to get to 13.

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14 guarantees an invite - 13 is a bubble situation that we could easily get left out

TAMU1990 said:

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No, just need to get to 13.

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Not necessarily

dcg4403 said:

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The Weast Side of Kyle said:

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He's a first time Head Coach. Have y'all already forgotten what Vitello said of his situation?

If we brought in a coach with experience that didn't perform flawlessly y'all would still be feeling the same way.

Experienced coach that doesn't pan out = washed up
Inexperienced coach that doesn't perform right away = Not Ready

Unfortunately there's not another Schloss-level coach (with good character) that's available in college baseball.

I honestly don't think our fanbase has a very good feel for what makes a good coach either.

Earley is OUR guy.

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I absolutely refuse to jump on the fair weather fan bandwagon.

All of you anti-Earley and anti-A&M baseball fans are embarassing to this team. I was emotionally outraged after Game 1 vs TN. Then this team went on a head hunting mission to beat #1 on road, #2 on road and then had an opportunity for another #1 on road.

You maddening people! But things in perspective for just a second.

A&M has NEVER beat a #1 and #2 in its history on the road in a season. Maybe never regardless of road or home.

If they had beaten Texas on the road, that has never been done by any team in NCAA baseball. And there is a damn good reason for that.

Yes, Earley is developing as a 1st year HC. Absolutely. What did you think? Jesus??? He is a 1st year HC. Did you think he would be Schloss 2.0?

He made some judgement calls that didnt go his way. He made some mistakes.

I certainly did not like the move in Game 1 to not give Schott the chance to be the hero. Made zero sense to me.

At the very minimum, you have to chill the hell out and give Earley the opportunity to prove himself out. It is extremely likely this team makes the tournament. A HOST is certainly extemely unlikely.

This team easily has the talent to make it to CWS and do some serious damage.

All your criers, don't you realize A&M just lost to the #1 team in the nation. A team that has created a clear gap in the SEC field. And we lost to them by a single run every game.

Ever think for a second, that if we meet again, Earley learned from the 1st series and will give us a improved chance to win?

And you cannot blame Earley for the bats going cold. A single swing was the difference in all 3 games. That was the error of margin.

But now all the haters come out. Go somewhere else and do all the true baseball fans an opportunity to enjoy A&M baseball without all the hate.

Bring the hate when the season is over and they choke themselves out of the tourney. Then you have a rightful voice. But that hasn't happended yet and I promise you it will not occur.

Let's move the f on. Let's forget the noise and take the series against LSU. We can revenge Texas in Omaha. That should be our focus.

All you haters are CLUELESS. Texas right now could go down as the best regular season team in the history of college baseball if they keep winning. Certainly a Top 3 team. Yet, Earley is the one to blame. When in reality, losing Schloss was the real reason. And we still have a lot of baseball ahead of us and an opportunity to make a historical run ourselves.

And I still believe Texas falls on their face in either the Regional or Super. Weiner is the key to this all regardless.

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Lol

We have to let this season play out before evaluating Michael Earley's first season. After a 1-9 SEC start, I did not think we were going to win more than 8 SEC games, but we won 7 of 8 SEC games before getting swept by the No. 1 team by the narrowest of margins. Yes, it was a gut punch, especially the 3rd game in which we led by multiple runs on multiple occasions, but we still have a good chance of reaching the tournament. We have 3 SEC series against LSU, Missouri, and Georgia remaining. We will probably need to win 6 of our last 9 SEC games to finish 14-16 in SEC play to make the tournament. If we make the tournament, we might face Texas again.

Iraq2xVeteran said:

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We have to let this season play out before evaluating Michael Earley's first season. After a 1-9 SEC start, I did not think we were going to win more than 8 SEC games, but we won 7 of 8 SEC games before getting swept by the No. 1 team by the narrowest of margins. Yes, it was a gut punch, especially the 3rd game in which we led by multiple runs on multiple occasions, but we still have a good chance of reaching the tournament. We have 3 SEC series against LSU, Missouri, and Georgia remaining. We will probably need to win 6 of our last 9 SEC games to finish 14-16 in SEC play to make the tournament. If we make the tournament, we might face Texas again.

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Yeah it might take 6 to make it

If we make the post season, Early gets another year

If not, no

Not all of this is on the coach.

Players who have carried us up until this weekend have to produce.

Moss struggled in games 1 and 3.

Jace and Kent struggled at the plate, Jace was 1-9 in the series, Kent was 0-11.

Players have to play.

RR

MMantle said:

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Not all of this is on the coach.

Players who have carried us up until this weekend have to produce.

Moss struggled in games 1 and 3.

Jace and Kent struggled at the plate, Jace was 1-9 in the series, Kent was 0-11.

RR

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Yep. Our lineup was set well and we were in situations we'd want (our big bats up with guys on base and less than 2 outs). Players not performing in those moment isn't on the coach- he set them up for success.

Iraq2xVeteran said:

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We have to let this season play out before evaluating Michael Earley's first season. After a 1-9 SEC start, I did not think we were going to win more than 8 SEC games, but we won 7 of 8 SEC games before getting swept by the No. 1 team by the narrowest of margins. Yes, it was a gut punch, especially the 3rd game in which we led by multiple runs on multiple occasions, but we still have a good chance of reaching the tournament. We have 3 SEC series against LSU, Missouri, and Georgia remaining. We will probably need to win 6 of our last 9 SEC games to finish 14-16 in SEC play to make the tournament. If we make the tournament, we might face Texas again.

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Exactly what I've said before. There were people early in the season calling for an in-season firing, which would be ridiculous. Now people are wanting to make a decision now to fire him after the season. Not as ridiculous, but still not smart. Let the season play out. See how and where we finish. THEN do an evaluation and determine whether we need to move on from Earley. ALOT of baseball left and this team has talent. Get in the tournament, that's all we need to be focused on right now.

Captain Pablo said:

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TAMU1990 said:

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No, just need to get to 13.

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Not necessarily

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Kendall Rogers thinks the same

MMantle said:

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Not all of this is on the coach.

Players who have carried us up until this weekend have to produce.

Moss struggled in games 1 and 3.

Jace and Kent struggled at the plate, Jace was 1-9 in the series, Kent was 0-11.

Players have to play.

RR

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It was reported by Earley today that Moss was sick last week. Went to the hospital to rule out appendicitis

MMantle said:

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Not all of this is on the coach.

Players who have carried us up until this weekend have to produce.

Moss struggled in games 1 and 3.

Jace and Kent struggled at the plate, Jace was 1-9 in the series, Kent was 0-11.

Players have to play.

RR

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Moss struggling maybe should have been expected by our coach. Per his interview today Moss was sick all week. One would think our coach would have been better prepared and have another pitcher ready just in case he did struggle. Not keep getting him up over and over. And also not letting him walk the bases loaded.


Or is this more acceptable on the job training?

Gyles Marrett said:

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TAMUallen said:

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No, he's not.

I never want to see my coach panicking and looking lost in the dugout when things start to unravel.

You can be an emotional leader. You can not be looking lost and emotional when your initial plans do not work.

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Some of yal have a very short memory. Don't recall the pacing and visible meltdown looks Schloss used to have in the dugout when our pitchers couldn't throw strikes? And visibly pissed about it going to the mound to pull them? I never saw Earley looking "panicked" as you say. I have no problem with a coach looking visibly frustrated a D1 SEC scholarship pitcher not being able to throw the ball over the plate. I don't need him sitting there calm
Emotionless watching that.

Our best players didn't produce. Simple as that. Jace and TK were no shows all weekend. Don't remember Kent doing much at the plate either. Bear has been hot and did next to nothing. If you think Earley coaches those guys to but it hard at 1st to move a runner to 3B then you're ignorant. It was terribly executed by Royo.

We played 3, 1 run games pretty much getting lone less big hit or making one more defensive mistake per game than they did and it cost us. I agree it's Texas, and it's Schloss, so it's different. But if we had gone on the road to #1 Tennessee a few weeks ago and lost 3 games by 1 run each game the meltdown would not be near the same.

Have to move on and still in position if take care of business to play in the post season. Hopefully we can go back to Austin for a super regional and get another crack.

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So why didn't the players perform? That's where coaching comes in or doesn't. Depending on the coach.

Why all of a sudden do we start going to the sac bunt?

From the standpoint of maximizing offensive production, it's been proven that it is the worst decision / strategic play in baseball.

Don't give up an out, you never know how many runs might be hiding behind a single out.

As colorado pointed out, many assume anyone can bunt, not true, many have seldom been asked to sac bunt in their careers.

If sac bunt is successful, that frees up an open base, allows pitcher to pitch around next hitter.

Strange.

RR

All of you ragging on Earley need to quit. By y'all's metrics, the only coach decent in the SEC is Deushnagle and he ain't here. Vitello? Earley out coached him apparently since we won the series. Van Horn? Ditto. Vaughn? He's lost multiple SEC series. Is Earley the answer? I don't know, but I'm willing to give him some time to see and I'm talking about past this year, no matter the outcome. He stands for all the right things and his players will go to war for him, just like Vitello's. He's a new head coach and that comes with growing pains. News flash, the sips have whipped just about everybody this year by worse than three one run games.

True, but we lost three games by one run due to some fundamental mistakes. Players will do that sometimes even with good coaching. A pattern of that would be a problem. I agree with giving Earley 3 years, IF he can keep Sorrell and TK, and add more talent. Even good coaches cannot win without good talent.

phatty26 said:

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A lot of us on here have been all season, good and bad. We are still going to be fine Earley is getting better sure we've questioned a few moves he's made despite this we went on the road again to the number team in the best conference. In these three series we are 4-5 any person would take that getting swept at home by Bama was worse IMO. Other points
- we are getting healthy with depth
- pitching how about the effort of McCoy yesterday
- Patton battled his ass off
- Royo was great
- we are ready from this series for the SEC tourney and NCAA tourney
-this also applies to Earley he will improve as well from this game.
All of us here hate losing especially to that team and coach it's little things why we got beat, but we aren't going to bash the team and staff b/c we can see that we have steadily improved and are becoming a great team.

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I tentativley agree. This weekend against lsu will be determining.

I think the emotion is amplified because we have lost in men's sports, especially the larger the game is, for so damn long. Zero nattys in baseball and basketball, EVER; and one in football in the previous era 86 years ago. That creates a lot of angst, especially for a university with the size resources and fan support we have. The reasons for this are many, but nobody cares about the reasons anymore. Poop or leave the pot.

Bookmark this thread and see how many Jack@sses here will own up to their premature shooting off their mouths about how he should be fired, how it will set us back for years, how he will fail miserably, how the season is over, etc.

It would be comical if it wasn't so pathetic.

It seems like the hyperbole has died down which IMO has made for more reasonable discussion. That's good.

MMantle and I agree, particularly about bunting. I just don't see it, particularly in that situation. Say Kiel is successful; then Jake gets walked or never sees a good pitch.

Given the situation last year, I think Early was a reasonable choice. But he's got to prove that he deserves more. He lead us out of the hole once. Now, he's got to do it again. If we make a regional, I suppose he'll be given another chance. Then he has to recruit and develop players. We've seen none of that yet.

He's a nice guy, and I hope he's able to do all those things. He doesn't seem to be a great game day manager to this point, but he'll need more of that to get us into the NCAA playoffs.

It's going to be an interesting year.

Yeah, but why vent all of that negativity here, on the baseball board, and over the only program to play for a championship in living memory?

I get the grief and frustration over A&M men's major sports,, but yesterday was a bit much. ymmv

Why is he the guy?

leftlane4passing said:

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Why is he the guy?

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No one knows if he is or isn't the right guy yet. Let's at least see how this season ends before we even go down that path…I am in the group that thinks missing a regional is cause for termination, but I'm also in the group that says if we can just get hot in a regional we can make a run to Omaha

As far as the bunts called in yesterday's game.

TK bunting in the second inning I believe was overreaction to the scores of the first two games. Earley appeared to think just 1-2 more runs would win the game. I don't agree with this one so early in the game and with where we were in the batting order. This again is a result of his lack of experience.

The bunt call in the 8th was the correct call, just poor execution. Who knows if it was clear to Ben what he needed to do or not though. He seems to be our best bunter so who knows.

nothingbutlove said:

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Yeah, but why vent all of that negativity here, on the baseball board, and over the only program to play for a championship in living memory?

I get the grief and frustration over A&M men's major sports,, but yesterday was a bit much. ymmv

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It never ceases to amaze me how many people think that public bulletin boards are the best outlet for catharsis.

Earley will be judged when the season is over. Let's hope that doesn't happen until June. If it happens on selection Monday, then we'll have something to talk about.

Quote:

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ANYONE that we would've brought in that didn't yield the results tu is having, y'all would want them fired too.

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No *****

It's a game. The results are all that matters, absolutely nothing else.

Weiner is a Pe*N

I had the privilege of attending the Friday t.u. game with Travis Chestnut. On the way to the game, we discussed being a first-year head coach, and I had never seen a man fight so hard to make me understand Earley's perspective. He explained his current coach at St. Edwards and his journey. During his current coach's first year, he made numerous mistakes and had a dreadful season. However, they are now third in their conference and are about to head to the playoffs. I fear that many of you, including me, have no idea what we are talking about. We see the bare basic numbers and say that's the end-all be-all. However, after gaining an inside perspective from Travis on how coaches, teams, and players feel and operate, I can confidently say that we need to give Earley another year. Let him make the decisions he has to make. There have been massive improvements all season, and we need to let the man do what he needs to do.

Renn_dls said:

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I had the privilege of attending the Friday t.u. game with Travis Chestnut. On the way to the game, we discussed being a first-year head coach, and I had never seen a man fight so hard to make me understand Earley's perspective. He explained his current coach at St. Edwards and his journey. During his current coach's first year, he made numerous mistakes and had a dreadful season. However, they are now third in their conference and are about to head to the playoffs. I fear that many of you, including me, have no idea what we are talking about. We see the bare basic numbers and say that's the end-all be-all. However, after gaining an inside perspective from Travis on how coaches, teams, and players feel and operate, I can confidently say that we need to give Earley another year. Let him make the decisions he has to make. There have been massive improvements all season, and we need to let the man do what he needs to do.

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Which is why many of it thought it was a bad idea to hire a first time head coach to take over a team that was 2 innings away from the national championship.

twk said:

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nothingbutlove said:

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Yeah, but why vent all of that negativity here, on the baseball board, and over the only program to play for a championship in living memory?

I get the grief and frustration over A&M men's major sports,, but yesterday was a bit much. ymmv

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It never ceases to amaze me how many people think that public bulletin boards are the best outlet for catharsis.

Earley will be judged when the season is over. Let's hope that doesn't happen until June. If it happens on selection Monday, then we'll have something to talk about.

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On that note, I'll just take a minute to say that I appreciate all the diehards who are more invested in the baseball program (and Aggie athletics in general) than I am. I don't post on this board a ton, but I do read yall's posts to see what's going on, commiserate, etc. But I agree with you that it's not worth seeking catharsis by *****ing about things I don't have any control over.

love Aggie baseball... always have. figure hiring Earley was a mistake given what was at stake and how little had been earned to get the privilege he had dropped in his lap. I would have preferred a hard reset and momentum under someone who actually had substantial D1 experience and knew what was required to develop talent instead of coasting on what you got like most minor-league outfits that he had most of his experience. Not sure what another bad year will cost A&M... might end up like MSU and get drug into a 5 year adventure in suck.

Since he will most likely be retained, his teams better do a much better job of being prepared physically and mentally to compete in the SEC/D1 baseball and be competitive, because despite all the talent..... statistically he has not shown to be competitive. Your team shouldn't have to ride a 'heater' to be a consistent and dominating program.

Many in this thread.

Not that it's going to matter for some of you, but in his interview today Earley made it clear the bunt was called to 3B, just as you would expect, and that Ben just missed part of the sign...

The task is still find a way to 13 or preferably 14 wins and make some noise in the post-season. Unfortunately the sweep this weekend makes it a more difficult as we need to win 5 or 6 out of 9. Every series from here on out is the most important of the year.

If we get in, try to figure out a way to survive and advance through a Regional. Honestly I think with our starting pitching we're better constructed for Supers and we've clearly shown we *can* play with anyone if the offense shows up...

my only issue with Earley is he needs to learn how to argue and get mad… his getting "mad" seems like he can't get there. He knows he should be mad, but he can't really get mad

One of the things about hiring a coach with no head coaching experience. When they do questionable things, is this due to being new or is this just who they are as a coach?

Who knows?