Aggie baseball head coach Jim Schlossnagle recaps Penn series

During Monday's edition of TexAgs Radio, Aggie baseball head coach Jim Schlossnagle joined to look back on the series loss to Penn at Olsen Field, strikeouts coming at an alarming rate, and questions arising at the backend of the bullpen.

Key notes from Jim Schlossnagle interview

• The sun came up. It always shocks me that it does after a night like last night. We're back at it, watching video of Houston Baptist. Moving on.
   
• I'm not a big guy on having big team meetings. The more meetings you have, the worse your team is. This time of year, you want to learn for every game you play. Our main point was that there were so many runs left on base. Situational hitting... We struck out 34 times over the series. Some of those you can live with, others you can't. Every single run has value. When you score three but have a chance to score four, that makes a difference. That first game, we won 5-0, but we could have run-ruled them. We would have used a different pitcher than Joseph Menefee, who pitched his heart out. I'm super proud of him.
   
• Our starting pitching is performing at a high level. We're catching the baseball. But we're hitting .224 with runners in scoring position.
   
• Everyone looks at strikeouts and focuses on the last pitch, but nobody mentions the two fastballs you missed earlier in the count. You cannot be a good hitter and not hit fastballs. You have to be on time for your pitch, especially with a runner on third and less than two outs. You have to get the ball in play. We'll continue to work on it, but it's not like we haven't so far.
   
• In the run-scoring opportunities, the only thing we could have done is a safety squeeze or something like that. Even then, that only scores one run. We want to score more than one. If you put the ball in play, you have a chance to score two runs. We're 14 for 17 in stolen bases right now, so I hate to give up outs when our steal percentage is out. It all goes hand-in-hand, but no doubt playing small ball crosses my mind. To go second and third with less than two outs and to bunt, that's not playing offense offensively, but we might reach that point.
   
• The fact that we lost the series this weekend, if we're that dependent on one player, then we're not a good team. There is no doubt that Trevor Werner is a dynamic player and lengthens our lineup. He's close, but it's an oblique injury. You have to be all the way back with zero pain in anything that you do before you can go out there. Right now, the goal is to have him back for this weekend. You can reinjure those oblique injuries really easily, and I've had kids miss a lot of time with those.
   
• Micah Dallas has been phenomenal. I'm so proud of him. His first start was solid, but yesterday was a start that will give us a chance against anybody we play. He was commanding and getting ahead in counts. He was able to pitch deep into a game. We have to keep Dallas, Nathan Dettmer and Ryan Prager healthy, and they'll give us a chance every time they go out.
   
• Brad Rudis throws strikes. In that scenario, you just want somebody who is going to give you a chance. Early in the year, we're trying to figure out who can do what, and you go with the guys who have thrown the most strikes. Brad is one of those guys. I'm super proud of the way he performed, but we're going to have to start taking a look at some others guys and give them opportunities. It's hard to bring in a relief pitcher that hasn't proven he can throw enough strikes. Still, we're going to have to give other guys the chance to prove they can throw strikes. Rudis is one of those. Chris Cortez is another. Still, we need two or three more.
   
• Dylan Rock is finding his groove. When we get into this warmer weather, Troy Claunch destroyed two baseball yesterdays that are probably home runs. Rock has a couple of them too.
   
• I know we're disappointed this morning, but let's let this thing play out. I still think we're going to be a good team offensively.
   
• We had a lot of hard-hit outs on Friday. The part of team offense that I struggle with is when you have less than two outs and a runner at third base. You're not going to be perfect, but the pressure is on the pitcher. You have to put the ball in play. Austin Bost has been great. I took him out last night to play a little bit better defense, but his spot came up again. You wish things had worked out a little differently. Austin is competitive and on the baseball.
   
• I don't know much about the HBU job. I've known Lance Berkman for a while. He was a player at Rice when I was at Tulane, so I remember trying to call pitches against him to try and get him out. He would work out with us from time to time when he was teammates with Matt Carpenter. Lance also spent some time with us when he was trying to get into college coaching. He's very committed to it, and they're already doing a good job on the recruiting trail. It will be nice to see Berkman and his crew tomorrow night.