Diamond Notes: No. 10 Aggies drop one spot after defeating Texas, taking one game at LSU
The Aggies fell just one spot in the D1 Baseball poll to No. 10 after going 2-2 last week on a very difficult four-game road swing against two of A&M’s most bitter rivals ... Texas and LSU. Rob Childress’ squad traversed the treacherous week with quite a few ups-and-downs, and after a 1-2 showing in Baton Rouge over the weekend, the Aggies find themselves smack in the middle of a logjam in the SEC West. A&M is (25-8-1) overall and (7-4-1) in league play and alone in fourth place in the West ... just a half-game behind Arkansas, LSU and Ole Miss. All three are tied at (8-4).
Meanwhile, Mississippi State and Auburn are just a half-game behind the Aggies and one game out of first. That’s six teams in the West division separated by just one game. All six teams are ranked in the RPI Top 25 and in the Top 22 of the D1B Poll. Four of the six - Arkansas (4), LSU (7), Auburn (8) and A&M (9) are ranked in the RPI Top 10. Mississippi State is 12th in the RPI.
Someone asked me on Saturday if I thought the Aggies were a College World Series caliber team or if I thought A&M would host a Regional. My answer was, “Get back to me in about three weeks.” It’s impossible to try to peg what is going to happen in 2019 and what the outlook will be like for the Aggies come early-June.
There’s just too much baseball in front of them, and the teams are separated by such little margin, it’s a fleeting proposition to attempt to project how everything will shake out in this conference over the next six weeks. Especially when you consider that LSU is the only SEC West opponent that A&M has played thus far. That is about to change. Auburn comes to Olsen this weekend. Then comes the trip to Oxford next week to take on an explosive Ole Miss team coming off a sweep over Florida.
A&M could rise up and win the league. It could also finish sixth in its own division. My gut feeling tells me the end result will sit somewhere in between both ends of the spectrum, and that we’ll be talking about a team with a Regional host resume heading down the home stretch in mid-to-late May. But get back to me in about three weeks and I’ll have a better answer for you.
Here are some Monday afternoon thoughts, notes, stats and interesting nuggets on the A&M team coming out of the LSU series and heading into the Family Weekend series at home against Auburn.
Hitter of the Week:
C Mikey Hoehner| 7-for-18 (.389); 1 double; 1 HR; 4 RBI; 4 runs
The junior came back to the lineup after missing only one game with a groin injury that was originally thought to keep him out for a couple weeks. Hoehner showed a lot of toughness in battling through pain to catch for nine innings on Tuesday night in Austin. Not only did he catch the entire game against Texas, he also collected three hits and hit a critical second inning home run to
help lead the Aggies to a big victory in the State Capitol. After that, Hoehner rolled down to the State Capitol of Louisiana and caught all 27 innings in the LSU series. He was tremendous behind the plate and went 4-for-13 at the plate, eventually climbing back into the four-hole for game three of the series. The JUCO transfer backstop leads the Aggies in walks (20) and on-base percentage (.425). He’s also tied for the team lead in doubles (7) and is tied for third in hits (36).
Pitcher of the Week:
LHP Asa Lacy | 6.0 IP; 1 H; 0 R; 4 BB; 11 K
The sophomore southpaw earns the Pitcher of the Week award for the third consecutive week and continues to dazzle on the bump for the maroon and white. As good as his numbers would indicate, you have to have watched the game to fully appreciate how great he was Saturday against LSU. Coming off of a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to the Tigers on Friday night, Coach Childress handed the ball to Lacy for the early game of a doubleheader and he completely overwhelmed and shut down a loaded Tigers lineup. Lacy worked in the mid-90s with a fastball that touched 97 MPH on multiple occasions. He also had the curve ball and the changeup cooking, which allowed him to keep the Bayou Bengals off-balance throughout his six innings of work. Lacy walked four batters and that got him into a couple of mini jams, but he always found a way to dig deep and make big pitches when he had to have them. Lacy leads the Aggies and ranks among the very best arms in the nation with 79 strikeouts in 48.2 innings pitched. That’s an eye-popping 14.6 strikeouts per nine innings and ranks top five nationally.
Who’s Hot?
LHP John Doxakis - The junior left-hander pitched well enough to win the game Friday night in Baton Rouge. Dox took the ball in game one and battled his tail off over 6.2 innings of work. He scattered four hits and punched out four without issuing a free pass. That’s two games in a row for Dox without allowing a walk. You’d certainly like to see the fastball more consistently in the low-to-mid-90s because he has that level of heat in his arsenal. But the slider was very effective - especially to right-handed hitters - and he had good command on the changeup as well. Tough luck no-decision for No. 14 and the Jonathan Ducoff dropped fly ball in the seventh probably kept him and the Aggies from winning the game. But a very good outing and you have to feel good about the 1-2 punch of Dox and Lacy moving into the the heart of SEC play.
LHP Chris Weber - Book it. Weber gets the ball this Sunday in a starter’s role for A&M. I feel that coming from a mile away. With Jonathan Childress out for the year with an elbow injury and with Christian Roa’s unknown status moving forward this season, Sunday has been a revolving door and nobody has been fully able to lock it down and run with it. We’ve seen lefties Moo Menefee and Chandler Jozwiak get a start the last two weeks but they struggled in that role. Meanwhile, Weber has continued to get better and better and is turning it on of late. He got a big two outs - one via a strikeout - in the seventh inning in Austin to help preserve the Aggie lead over the Longhorns.
Then in game three of the LSU series on Saturday, the freshman came in for Joz in the third inning after throwing to two batters in the early game and was lights out. Weber allowed a run on three hits in 3.2 relief innings. He walked just one and struck out six. Weber tossed 65 pitches in the game and I think he should be stretched out enough to get the ball on Sunday against Auburn at Olsen. The eyes tell you more than the 4.15 ERA would indicate. The strikeout rate is there in a big way, 40 strikeouts as opposed to 12 walks in 30.1 innings of work. That’s a ridiculous 11.9 Ks per nine innings. Unless Roa is ready to come back (and I haven’t heard that he is), Weber is the next man up for the Aggies in an effort to round out the weekend rotation. I’d put Menefee after that and then Saenz. I like Joz more coming out of the pen.
LHP Dustin Saenz - The sophomore was as good Tuesday at Texas as he’s been in his career. He tossed six strong innings, allowing a pair of earned runs on four hits. He walked three and struck out four. Saenz looked very comfortable on the mound and made big pitches to keep the Texas lineup at bay and not allow the big inning, which has haunted him in the past. The ERA is down to 2.84, and while the strikeout rate is not quite there - just 13 Ks in 25.1 innings - he’s pitching out of jams and certainly looks like the answer on Tuesday nights moving forward.
OF Logan Foster - The junior produced five hits in 15 at bats (.333) last week, including a critical two-run single in the eighth inning of the win in Austin. He also doubled Friday night at LSU and drove in a run in game three of the series. Foster still isn’t backup up balls and driving them out of the yard like many expected he would as a veteran college hitter - he has just one home run all season - but he’s such a better hitter right now than he has been at any point in his college career. The average is up to .310. The OPS is at a very respectable .780. He does have a team-worst 22 strikeouts on the season but has walked 14 times as well.
Who’s Not?
3B Ty Coleman - The freshman went just 3-for-17 (.176) last week while hitting in the five-hole. I love the kid and absolutely still feel he’s a critical piece to the 2019 puzzle and beyond, but that won’t get it done. Ty is better than that and needs to have a bounce-back week in a big way. The glove and arm have been a bit shaky for the better part of the last month - he’s fielding .901 with seven errors on the year - and the slashline has dipped to a respectable but unspectacular .288 / .364 / .394. Coleman is tied for second in RBI (22) and homers (3) and will certainly get plenty of opportunities to regain his early-season form. The Aggies, which still haven’t settled on a consistent group in the middle of the lineup behind Braden Shewmake, certainly need him to get rolling once again and get back to consistently driving in runs and putting pressure on opposing pitchers with his ability to drive the baseball and how difficult of an out he is when things are going well for him in the box.
LHP Chandler Jozwiak - The sophomore lefty was brilliant in 5.2 relief innings last Saturday vs. Missouri but did not have much life on the mound in two outings last week. He gave up a three-run
home run and got hit around the park in a short 0.1-inning stint Tuesday night in Austin. He did not work game one or two in the LSU series but drew the game three start and lasted just two frames, giving up three runs on four hits with one walk and two strikeouts. As crisp as he looked vs. Missouri, he could not have been more flat against Texas and LSU. This was likely a bi-product of his extended outing against MU and the hope is probably that Jozwiak can avoid coming into the midweek game Tuesday against Texas State and will be well-rested for the Auburn series this weekend. Joz is a very important piece to the bullpen puzzle. He’s punched out 45 batters in 33.2 inning of work. The ERA is up to 4.01 after giving up six earned runs in the two outings last week but he’s still most likely your go-to left-hander in the middle to late part of SEC games.
Other thoughts and notes:
As I wrote on Friday night, the defense has become shaky of late and that is concerning right now. A&M committed just nine errors in the first 14 games of the season but have made 27 errors in the last 20 games. The fielding percentage is down to an average .971. A&M is good up the middle with Hoehner behind the plate, Blaum at second, Shewmake at shortstop and DeLoach at center field. But without Hunter Coleman for at least another three weeks, you don’t have a first base option besides Moo Menefee (likely not happening) to give you better than average first base defense. And you can get exposed on the dirt when you don’t have elite level defense at first base. A&M has been making the wow plays but must get more consistent game-to-game, pitch-to-pitch. Pitching and defense needs to be the calling card of this baseball team if it has a legit shot at hosting in the post-season and making a June run in the NCAA Tournament.
I wrestle with a lot of things when thinking about this lineup...
- Should Chandler Morris start hitting consistently against lefties?
- Should Ty Condel get another look in center field or do you roll with DeLoach in hopes that he finds his swing again?
- Will a clean-up hitter ever emerge in ’19?
- What do you do with Jonathan Ducoff ... could he be your best first base option moving forward until Coleman returns?
- Should Menefee get another extended look offensively?
- When will Will Frizzell turn his head-turning batting practice sessions into consistent college production?
- When will Shewmake and Foster get back to dropping bombs and putting balls out of the yard
- Where is the best place to hit Mikey Hoehner?
There aren’t a lot of answers to these questions but are questions that I’m sure Childress and staff think about every day. The pieces are there but it’s time to get more consistent performances from a talented and experienced group of hitters.
So what would you do with the lineup? I think I would have two completely different lineups right now based on whether you’re facing a lefty or a right-hander.
Here is what I would go with vs. left-handed pitching:
1. Blaum - 2B (R)
2. Hoehner - C (R)
3. Shewmake - SS (L)
4. Foster - RF (R)
5. Morris - DH (R)
6. Ducoff - 1B (R)
7. T. Coleman - 3B (R)
8. Condel - CF (R)
9. Blake - LF (L)
Lefty bats off the bench:
DeLoach, Frizzell, Walters, Watson, Menefee
Right-handed bats off bench:
Wingate
Here’s what I would do vs. right-handed pitching:
1. Blaum - 2B (R)
2. Blake - LF (L)
3. Shewmake - SS (L)
4. Foster - RF (R)
5. Hoehner - C (R)
6. Frizzell - DH (L)
7. T. Coleman - 3B (R)
8. Ducoff - 1B (R)
9. DeLoach - CF (L)
Lefty bats off the bench:
Walters, Watson, Menefee
Right-handed bats off bench:
Morris, Condel, Wingate
Big week ahead for the Aggies. Texas State (20-12; 7-5 in Sun Belt) and head coach Ty Harrington come in with a pretty salty mid-major ball club that is quite familiar with playing the Aggies and traveling to Olsen Field. The Bobcats are not afraid to play anyone and already have wins this season over Utah and Missouri State and three wins against Rice. Those wins have allowed Texas State to bolster its RPI, which currently sits at No. 80. Then over the weekend, Olsen Field should be standing room only with Auburn (23-9; 7-5 in SEC) coming to Aggieland for Family Weekend. The Tigers are coming off a series loss to Arkansas at home last weekend. Their RPI sits at No. 8 ... one spot ahead of A&M. It should be a fun weekend all over this campus, weather permitting, of course.
Key notes from Justin Seely interview
- I feel about what the 2-2 record says. There’s things I’m happy and not so happy about. Four games on the road, two in one day, Saturday. Friday night set the tone for the whole weekend. I felt like we had command and control of the game and just lost it in the last two innings. From our end, we can’t accept that. We need to finish it out offensively and defensively.
- John Doxakis did everything you expect out of an elite Friday night guy. We made an uncharacteristic mistake in the outfield. Coaching that position, I’ve seen stuff like that happen. I doubt it happens again, but it cost us the game. It’s our fault for being in a game that close though. I don’t expect to blow every team out, but we need to capitalize better than we did on Friday.
- The wind was bowing right across the field, and the wind carried the ball from the bullpen to the play. Jonathan Ducoff took his eyes at the ball for a second, and once he did that he lost the ball. He ended up making a good throw to Bryce Blaum, but Bryce ended up losing the ball too as he was moving to his right. It ended up costing us the lead.
- Asa Lacy was fantastic. If you asked him about his performance, he’d tell you he would like better command. He’s being much more efficient with his delivery and isn’t needing to throw it as hard. The thing with Lacy is he’ll do whatever it takes to win. He can get himself out of jams. We put him in tough spots all season and he’s always responded. We’re in a great position with Dox and Lacy.
- Logan Foster is a much more consistent player now. He has the ability to do a lot of things. He’s controlling his bat a lot better. If we were in a situation two years ago with the Texas game on Tuesday, Logan probably takes the hanging breaking ball because he isn’t use to the speed of a game like that. But he’s much more mature and experienced now so he made the play. The power isn’t where we want it to be yet, but I’m optimistic about his power improving soon.
- The defense is going to be the point of emphasis this week. The Sunday issue arose from a lack of health. We had to extend some guys more than we like. There were guys Sunday pitching with more fatigue. From a practice stand point, we need to put an emphasis on the defense. If we’re playing sound defensively, the pitching will be more than good enough.