Think the pitching and defense will need to be the strengths of this team. Not sure exactly how much power we'll have... Although Werner & Smith have pop and Moss has a mature approach. Guys are battling at the plate overall though. Kaler and Rock haven't had great swings at the top of the lineup so far... The staff obviously thought highly of them to hit them 1-2 though to start the year. Hopefully they settle in.
Jim Schlossnagle
Micah Dallas
Trevor Werner
Texas A&M Baseball
Trevor Werner continues hot start as Texas A&M defeats Fordham, 5-3
Game #2: Texas A&M 5, Fordham 3
Records: Texas A&M (2-0, 0-0), Fordham (0-2, 0-0)
WP: Micah Dallas (1-0)
LP: Brooks Ey (0-1)
Save: Robert Hogan (1)
Box Score
It’s Trevor Werner’s world. We’re just living in it.
Texas A&M’s third baseman continued his domination of Fordham pitching on Saturday, aiding the Aggies to a 5-3 win over the Rams. Werner was 2-for-4 with a home run, a double and two runs driven in, giving him six RBIs on the weekend.
“We saw a lot of this from Werner,” Texas A&M head coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “Let’s hold judgment until we get deeper into our season.”
“[Werner is] sitting down there in the six-hole, and obviously, if he keeps doing what he’s doing, we have to move him up a little bit.”
With A&M leading 1-0 in the fourth, Werner tattooed the second pitch of the inning to deep center for a solo blast. The ball flew an estimated 410 feet at an exit velocity of 108 mph.
“It felt great,” Werner said of his home run. “It was a fastball, middle-up, the pitch I was looking for, and I did my damage on it.”
One inning later and A&M up 3-0, Werner roped a ball down the left-field line into the corner for a stand-up double. He’d score on a throwing error that allowed Troy Claunch to reach in which Werner never slowed down at third.
“I hate to put too much on a player too early,” said Schlossnagle. “He’s sitting down there in the six-hole, and obviously, if he keeps doing what he’s doing, we have to move him up a little bit.”
Though the season is young, Werner is hitting .625 and slugging 1.375 after eight at-bats.
“This is what you work for, whether it’s in the fall or early spring,” Werner said of his success. “We have things that we do each and every day and make sure we get done. It’s part of our routine, and it’s nice to see it pay off.”
Texas Tech transfer Micah Dallas was solid in his Aggie debut, working 6.1 innings of one-run ball while striking out five. Utilizing his sinker-slider combo, Dallas induced a lot of weak contact and easy groundballs for his defense to earn his first win in Maroon & White.
“It’s very special, and hopefully, there is more to come,” Dallas said.
To begin the seventh, Fordham tagged Dallas for three consecutive seeing-eye base hits, plating the Rams’ first run.
Jamie Maury, TexAgs
Micah Dallas earned his first victory in a Texas A&M uniform after tossing 6.1 innings and allowing just one run in his Aggie debut.
“Sometimes, the ground balls are going to get through,” Schlossnagle said. “A good pitcher just settles in and gets another groundball, and hopefully, gets a double-play ball. Those balls just got through.”
Reliever Joseph Menefee punched out back-to-back batters to limit the damage.
Fordham threatened again in the eighth, and with two men in scoring position, true freshman right-hander Robert Hogan seemingly forgot there were two outs.
The mental mistake turned into a physical error as Hogan threw the ball away, allowing two runs to score as Fordham trimmed the deficit to 5-3.
“Crazy things like that happen in baseball,” Schlossnagle said. “I don’t really have a drill for that, but he’ll learn from that.”
Hogan bounced back and tossed a perfect ninth to earn his first collegiate save to seal the series victory.
“Our job is to look at each day unto itself, whether we’ve won two ballgames or not,” Schlossnagle said.
The Aggies return to Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park on Sunday looking for the sweep as first pitch is scheduled for 12 p.m. CT.
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