Legendary football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant once famously said, “Ties are like kissing your sister.” Years later, a far less successful coach who also stopped through Kentucky - Guy Morriss - uttered a similar but way more creepy phrase involving ties. At any rate, there’s certainly an empty feeling when you don’t lose a competitive sporting event but you also don’t win it. Baseball is not intended to end in a tie. It’s meant to be played as long as it takes to determine a winner. But even in these money-making times in college athletics, when you’re dealing with college programs on college budgets, there are times when travel constraints get in the way in baseball and softball on “getaway day” and forces games to end abruptly. That was the case on Sunday, when the rubber match between Texas A&M and Missouri ended after 10 innings in a 2-2 tie. Missouri had been on Spring Break all week and spent the entire week on a Texas swing. Because of that, the athletic department flew them in and out of The Republic commercially and didn’t utilize the typical charter flight option employed by most of the major sports in the SEC. It was determined before the game that no inning could start after a specific time and the game ran into that time limit after 10 innings of play.
A weird way to end a weird series that was as evenly-played as the 1-1-1 record indicates coming out of the weekend. There were great moments. There was also insult and injury. And the biggest insult of all should be thrown the way of the umpiring crew, which appeared inept and overmatched throughout the series. I say that with no A&M bias whatsoever and I would be shocked if those on the Mizzou side wouldn’t say the same thing.
Once the smoke cleared on the weekend, the Aggies (23-6-1; 6-2-1 SEC) sat alone in first place in the SEC West at 6-2-1 ... a half-game ahead of LSU, Auburn and Arkansas in the standings. A&M also rose one spot to No. 9 in the D1Baseball.com poll and the RPI is at No. 14 nationally after three weeks of SEC play. Those marks will be put to the test this week, as a very banged up group of Aggies hit the road for four extremely challenging games. A&M is at RPI No. 17 Texas (20-11; 3-3 Big 12) Tuesday night at Disch-Falk Field before heading down to Baton Rouge for a three-game series against RPI No. 10 LSU (19-9; 6-3 SEC) starting Friday.
Here are some Monday afternoon thoughts, notes, stats and interesting nuggets on the A&M team coming out of the series split with Mizzou and heading into an important week away from home...
RF Logan Foster | 6-for-15 (.400); 2 RBI; 2 runs
The junior is not putting balls out of the yard - just one home run on the season - but is finding barrels at a more consistent rate than at any point in his career outside of the first three weeks of his freshman season. Foster raised his slashline to .307 / .379 / .396 with a six-hit week. While you’d love to see that slugging percentage hovering around .500 and not a shade under .400, you have to love the fact that he struck out just twice all last week and has nearly as many walks (12) and strikeouts (17). The concern is that the compact-but-powerful has become a singles hitter with an occasional double mixed in here and there. Foster has a team-leading six doubles and just one dinger but there is no reason why someone as talented as him shouldn’t have 20-plus doubles and eight-plus bombs per season at this level. It’s encouraging how well he’s seeing the ball and you hope the forthcoming wind shift will impact his extra-base number in the back half of the 2019 season.
LHP Asa Lacy | 7.2 IP; 4 H; 0 R; 1 BB; 12 K
The sophomore followed a very impressive 13-strikeout performance at Kentucky with an even better outing Saturday in game two of the Missouri series. That’s baseball, but nobody should get saddled with a no decision that pitches as lights out as Lacy threw on Saturday. He was virtually unhittable for 119 pitches before being relieved with two outs in the eighth inning. Here’s an excerpt from my post-game writeup following his outing...
“Lacy was was brilliant in this one and had outstanding command of all three pitches, on a chilly and overcast afternoon in Aggieland. He moved to the stretch-only after first inning issues with condensation on the rubber, and was nearly unhittable throughout his 7.2-inning start. The four-seam fastball lived in the mid-90s, touching 97 on at least two occasions and consistently sat at 95-96 MPH. He tossed a career-high 119 pitches in the game and pitch number 117 hit 93 on the radar gun at Olsen. THAT is why Lacy projects as a potential top 5-10 pick overall in the 2020 MLB Draft and is what Dox doesn't quite have ... mid-90s heat consistently and the ability to reach back and touch high-90s when you need it. But when you add in the plus-plus curve ball from the left side, it makes Lacy one of the most feared and toughest-to-hit arms in the entire country ... not just in the SEC.”
Lacy’s 68 strikeouts currently ranks sixth nationally and tied for tops in the SEC. He’s also sixth in all of Division One baseball in strikeouts per nine innings (14.34).
LHP John Doxakis - The junior was “good” for the third straight start after getting roughed up four starts ago by Gonzaga. I wouldn’t label any of his outings since the Baylor gem as “great” but he’s battling on the mound and limiting free passes, and is still very tough to beat on Friday nights. Dox allowed three runs (two earned) on 10 hits over 6.2 innings of work Friday vs. Missouri. That’s the bad news ... way too many hits allowed.
But the good news is that he didn’t walk a man and punched out eight batters in a 92-pitch effort. The slider doesn’t quite have the bite that it did early in the year, and the fastball is in the high-80s and low-90s vs. the low-to-mid-90s range that it sat early in the season. But the pitchability is there. The lefty ace has walked just one man in his last two starts and only three batters in his last five starts ... striking out 33 in that span. Everyone is waiting for the “great” Doxakis to show up again, however, and there isn’t a reason to believe that it won’t reappear sooner than later.
LHP Chris Weber - The freshman lefty came on late in the Sunday game and was brilliant. Weber allowed two hits and no runs in 2.2 relief innings with the game on the line. He walked just one and fanned five, flashing low-90s heat with great command of his secondary stuff. He came on in a tight spot in the sixth inning - bases loaded and one out with the top of the order due up - and immediately got down in the count 3-1 in a 2-2 game with no place to put Josh Hold, Jr. Weber dug deep in that moment and sat Holt down on strikes. He then struck out the dangerous Kameron Misner to end the inning and preserve the 2-2 tie. The aerospace engineering major has had his fair share of first season struggles, but is quietly turning in quality innings for the Aggies out of the pen. The ERA is down under 5.00 at 4.56. He’s walked just 11 in 25.2 innings of work, striking out 33.
RHP Bryce Miller - The sophomore Blinn transfer threw on Friday and Sunday last week, combining for 3.1 innings of scoreless relief against Mizzou. he gave up four hits with two walks and four strikeouts, lowering his ERA to 2.05. Miller has fanned an impressive 35 hitters in 22 innings out of the bullpen. That’s 14.32 Ks per nine innings ... just .02 behind Lacy for the team lead and top 10 nationally if he had enough innings to count in the national stat rankings.
LHP Chandler Jozwiak - The sophomore Brenham native had a semi-rough Tuesday relief outing - two runs allowed on three hits over two innings vs. Lamar with no walks and three Ks - but came back with an outstanding Saturday appearance out of the pen in the 15-inning loss to the Tigers. Jozwiak tossed 5.2 innings of scoreless relief until finally allowing the go-ahead run to cross home plate on an RBI single by Missouri second baseman Mark Vierling in the top of the 15th. Joz was lights out to that point and was the tough-luck loser after an incredible mound performance. He fanned four and walked just one on a cold and windy day in College Station. On the season, Jozwiak boasts a 2.59 ERA and has 43 strikeouts and just 13 walks issues in 31.1 innings of work (12.35 Ks per nine innings).
SS Braden Shewmake - The junior hit .353 (6-for-17) last week after hitting .600 the week before. He drove in three Tuesday in the Lamar game and had three hits in the 15-inning loss to Missouri on Saturday. Shewmake leads the team in average (.339), hits (42), triples (3), RBI (30), total bases (62) and is tied with Ty Coleman Zach DeLoach for fewest strikeouts among players with enough at bats to qualify (10). It should be noted Shewmake has 37 more official at bats than Coleman and 65 more official at bats than DeLoach. He’s a special, special player who is playing about as good of shortstop as anyone going right now. I’ll hit on his need to speak up more and communicate more with his fellow infielders here in a bit, but there isn’t much you can complain about with #8 right now.
1B/C Aaron Walters - The sophomore was just 1-for-10 (.100) last week and is hitting a minuscule .212 on the season with just five RBI and nary and extra-base hit in 2019. And with Hunter Coleman’s broken wrist keeping him at least a month - and Mikey Hoehner’s groin injury forcing Walters to elevate to backup catcher duty - the lefty hitter with a sweet swing is going to have to play every day. The swing is beautiful but the production just isn’t there right now. Everyone is waiting for the light to come on for the coach’s kid from the Hill Country. Walters hit mammoth bombs in high school and was a legit Draft guy coming out of the prep ranks. When will all of that natural ability translate into sustained, consistent success in the SEC? Rob Childress and Co. are sure hoping the answer is “sooner than later.”
LF Cam Blake - The junior and one of the foremost leaders on the A&M team has been up and down all season. Yes, part of that is due to several freak injuries along the way. We’re seeing a stretch of outstanding production followed by a week where he can’t get on base. Last week, Blake went 1-for-8 (.125). It’s a shame that with so many key cogs in the lineup out on Sunday that Blake wasn’t going well enough to be inserted into the lineup in a situation where the Aggies were desperate for a spark on offense. I really like Cam and love what he’s all about as a player, but you want to see more from a junior than a .329 on-base percentage. The four walks and 19 strikeouts is troublesome and is part of why he still hasn’t nailed down a starting spot at the halfway point of his third college season. Hopefully the light comes on soon because there is no doubt he’s one of the nine most talented hitters on the roster and a plus defender in left field.
CF Zach DeLoach - The sophomore went 2-for-15 (.133) and is hitting a paltry .153 / .311 / .203 in 2019. Remember just 13 months ago when Zach’s nickname out of the gate his freshman year was “Chise” ... short for The Franchise? Been a while since we’ve heard that name uttered and you have to scratch your head wondering what is going on with No. 9. He was probably the best high school hitter in Dallas in the 2017 Draft class and came to A&M as a surefire producer at the college level and a legit prospect. DeLoach’s struggles at the plate are quite possibly the most surprising element of the A&M season thus far. Will Bolt has his hands full trying to help Zach figure it out and get back on track. He better hurry or he runs the risk of losing his center field job for good to either Jonathan Ducoff or Ty Condel.
Mitch Mason will be in Austin for the game against the ‘Horns on Tuesday night. David Sandhop will have a full-scale preview of the series at LSU on Friday.
Quote:
"Thankfully, for all of our sanity, there isn't a Clemens boy on the Longhorns roster anymore."