I’ll make this intro short and sweet. You love seeing a win over Texas anytime you can get it.
Especially when the game is in Austin. No doubt it’s extra sweet when it comes against a preseason No. 1. A&M hit its way to a huge win over the Longhorns on Tuesday night and followed that up by pitching its way to a 3-2 win at Alabama in game one of a three-game series this weekend.
But the Aggies kicked the ball around and didn’t pitch well enough to secure a series win. There’s such a fine line between a series win and a series loss. If the ball bounced a certain way here or there, we’re talking about a huge road series win for a suddenly surging A&M program.
Instead, we’re reacting to a 1-2 showing in Tuscaloosa for a team that finds itself fighting like crazy and sits in the middle of the pack in the SEC West at 16-11 overall and 4-5 in league play.
Let’s dive into it, shall we? Here’s a statistical look, By The Numbers, at A&M’s 2-2 week and series loss to the Crimson Tide...
.133 - Logan Britt’s batting average last week. The third-year sophomore went 1-for-5 against Texas and 1-for-the-series in Tuscaloosa, finishing the week 2-for-15. He did not drive in a run all week and scored just one run of his own, walking just twice and striking out five times. Britt is a bit of a conundrum because he is one of the most physically talented players on the roster (if not throughout the SEC). As soon as you think he’s busting out, becoming a true veteran of this league and about to work his way into the middle third of the order, he goes out and hits .133 on the week.
Meredith Tabor, TexAgs
Before Sunday’s loss, the Aggies were one of nine teams nationally without back-to-back losses.
It has got to be frustrating for Britt and certainly for Jim Schlossnagle and hitting coach Michael Earley. Britt has to step up and become a more consistent offensive piece to the puzzle — at worst bolstering the bottom of the lineup and at best adding a dangerous weapon around the six-hole. However, there won’t be any moving up in the order if we keep seeing such dramatic rises and falls out of Britt.
.474 - Batting average for Jack Moss in four games last week. The sophomore slugger went 9-for-19, including a masterful performance in a win at No. 8 Texas, going 5-for-5 and hitting for the cycle. Moss drove in five runs in the game. He currently leads the team and sits in a tie for seventh in the SEC with a .379 average. His OPS is just under 1.000 (.991). His 39 hits put him in a tie for fifth in the league.
0 - Earned runs allowed by freshman Brad Rudis in two outings — both A&M wins — last week vs. Texas and Alabama. Rudis came in on the fly after Walker Zander’s ultra-short one-out start in Austin and allowed one unearned run on one hit in 1.2 innings, calming things down for A&M and giving time for the bats to get rolling.
Friday night in T-Town, Rudis came in for Chris Cortez with two outs and the bases loaded in the eighth and got the big strikeout to end the inning. He then went three-up, three-down in the ninth — two via the strikeout — to preserve a 3-2 A&M win and pick up his second save on the season.
The Madisonville High School product’s 3.00 ERA is the lowest of any healthy pitcher on the roster. He has given up just one earned run since Santa Clara in mid-March and has helped numb the pain of losing fellow freshman reliever Robert Hogan for an unforeseeable amount of time with an arm injury.
1st - Dylan Rock’s ranking among SEC hitters in home runs in conference games (tied at the top with two other hitters). The grad transfer from UTSA has belted seven homers this season, and five of those have come in SEC play. Rock did not homer in his first 12 games as an Aggie and had just one dinger in his first 15. He has come alive since the LSU series, homering in six of his last 11 games. On the season, Rock is slashing .347/.442/.642. In league games only, he ranks sixth in average (.375), second in hits (15), tied for eighth in RBIs (10), tied for first in runs scored (12), tied for 13th in on-base percentage (.444), tied for second in slugging percentage (.800), first in total bases (32) and tied for first in home runs (5).
2nd - A&M’s SEC ranking in batting average in league games only. The Aggies are hitting .280 on the season, but that number jumps to .294 in SEC action. That trails only Georgia (.297) in conference games. The Ags are also tied for first in hits (94), second in doubles (19), fourth in OBP (.372) and fourth in SLG (.465).
Jamie Maury, TexAgs
A&M’s pitching has been less than reliable up until this point in the year as they continue to search for answers in SEC play.
2 - Hits in the Alabama series for leadoff man Kole Kaler. The Hawaii transfer went 2-for-15 (.133) against the Tide with no RBIs, no runs scored, no walks and five strikeouts. Kaler had been having a nice little season up to this point and actually had a 10-game hitting streak going into Saturday’s 0-for-5 showing in Tuscaloosa. Every player has weeks like this, so it’s nothing to get too hung up over. Still, it goes without saying that your leadoff man must provide you with a base runner at a much higher clip.
A lot of things change when Kaler gets on base, allowing A&M’s two best bats (Rock and Moss) to hit with action on the bases in potential run-scoring situations. This is an elementary thought, but it holds true: It’s way easier and more likely that the Aggies produce a crooked number when Kaler is on base early in an inning than he’s not. And he wasn’t on base much at all in the series loss to the Tide.
3.2 - Average innings per start last week for A&M’s rotation. Walker Zander got the start in the game against the Longhorns and lasted just a third of an inning, leaving after allowing two runs on four hits. That put way too much midweek strain on an already depleted and overworked bullpen. But to their credit, the relief staff hung in there well enough for the Aggie bats to power their way to victory against then-RPI No. 3.
The best start of the week came from Nathan Dettmer, who allowed two runs (one earned) on six hits over 6.1 frames, walking two and fanning seven in a Friday night win at Alabama. He got nine groundouts in his outing, and that helped him get into the seventh before he hit the century mark with the pitch count and started to wane late at the end of an otherwise brilliant effort.
Ryan Prager was moved up to Saturday after Micah Dallas closed the Tuesday win over Texas, and the freshman struggled in his four-inning start, giving up six runs (4 ER) on seven hits with three walks and four Ks. You had to feel good heading into Sunday with A&M’s oldest and most consistent arm facing Alabama’s number three starter in the series rubber match. But Dallas wasn’t himself in this one, giving up five runs (all earned) on eight hits over 4.2 innings of work. He walked four and struck out four in an 8-4 loss to the Tide.
5 - As in the Five Factors...a stat that we’ve tracked directly and in one place for years but something that we’ve been splitting up this year. Let’s pull it back in one spot moving forward. The five factors to success offensively and defensively/on the mound: Hitting with two outs, with runners on, with runners in scoring position, getting the leadoff man on base and two-out RBIs.
Here’s how A&M did last week on both sides of the baseball last week in four games...
Offensively:
- Two outs: .340 (18-for-53)
- Runners on: .300 (21-for-70)
- Runners in scoring position: .300 (9-for-30)
- Leadoff OBP: .432 (16-for-37)
- Two-out RBI: 11
Defensively:
- Two outs: .244 (11-for-45)
- Runners on: .309 (25-for-81)
- Runners in scoring position: .321 (18-for-56)
- Leadoff OBP: .382 (13-for-34)
- Two-out RBI: 9
6 - Hits for Troy Claunch in the Alabama series. The grad transfer from Oregon State went 6-for-12 in the series to raise his season average back over .300 to .310. That ranks third on the team behind Moss and Rock. Claunch is hitting .342 in league games, which ranks 14th in the SEC. His 10 doubles on the season put him in a tie for sixth in the league, just four behind league leader Cade Doughty of LSU (14).
6 - The number of pitchers logging heavy innings that currently have ERAs over 4.45. That list includes Nathan Dettmer (4.46), Ryan Prager (4.99), Jacob Palisch (5.40), Will Johnston (5.73), Rawley Hector (6.17) and Joseph Menefee (8.53). Of that group, only Prager has fewer hits allowed than innings pitched (Menefee has an even number of hits given up to IP).
7 - Errors last week for the Aggies. That includes four miscues in a head-scratching 10-9 loss to Alabama on Saturday. The issues fielding the baseball directly led to five unearned runs for the Crimson Tide in the game, helping them jump out to a 7-1 lead and overcome a seven-run sixth by the Aggies. A&M’s fielding percentage on the season has dipped to .976, tied for eighth in the SEC. That’s still quite respectable and well above average.
6 - Hits for Troy Claunch in the ‘Bama series. The grand transfer from Oregon State went 6-for-12 in the series to raise his season average back over .300 to .310.
- Author
8 - Combined outs on the season by A&M’s starting rotation after the sixth inning. EIGHT. OUTS. Playing off of the note in the “3.2” stat section... with the bullpen’s ongoing struggles, the number one way to help them out is for the starters to start going deeper into games. The relief group had to toss 24.2 innings two weeks ago and 18.1 innings last week.
You’d love for that number to get to somewhere in the 12-16 innings range (3-4 innings per game). It’s not asking much of your starter to grind out at least five frames for you. It has to happen and is one of the significant issues going on with the 2022 A&M squad currently.
8 - A&M losses (out of 11) in which the Aggies were either tied or had the lead going into the seventh inning. In five instances, the Ags had the lead heading to the final third of the contest, and three of the games were tied. It’s beating a dead horse at this point, but the bullpen continues to be an issue and continues to have to log way too many innings while fighting through quite a bit of health concerns.
9 - Games this season that have been decided by just one run. A&M is 4-5 in those games and 1-3 in four league games that have been decided by one run. For perspective, Alabama leads the nation in one-run games with 13.
The more manageable portion of A&M’s conference slate comes to a conclusion this weekend when Kentucky (18-11, 3-6 SEC) comes to Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park for a three-game series (Thursday-Saturday). The Aggies have to dig deep and find a way to win at least two games this weekend because immediately following the Wildcats are trips to Georgia and Vanderbilt with a home series against Arkansas in between.
A&M feels like it's teetering on the edge and could go either way right now. Win two against Kentucky, and you’re still right there in the middle of the pack in the division. But losing the series ahead of what’s immediately on the horizon could be devastating to A&M’s chances of staying afloat in this league...especially considering the mounting injuries.
It’s going to be a beautiful and incredible weekend in Aggieland with so much going on and so much energy around our community. As always, looking forward to seeing you around the ballpark!
