Texas A&M head baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle joined Thursday morning’s edition of TexAgs Radio to offer his thoughts on the Maroon & White’s final series of the 2022 regular season as the Aggies are in Oxford to face the Ole Miss Rebels beginning Thursday night.
Key notes from Jim Schlossnagle interview
- I was a little bit surprised the Incarnate Word cancellation became such a big deal. Maybe we could’ve handled it differently and done a press release saying we mutually canceled the game, but frankly, I’m too transparent for that. I made it clear we canceled the game because of RPI, and they canceled to try and save their arms for their conference tournament. I don’t want to make it a habit, but I did what was best for our program. Hopefully, we host a regional to reward our fans.
- I think our fans deserve honesty. I try to be transparent. In my opinion, my job is to do what is best for Texas A&M within the confines of the rules or framework of the sport, RPI included. If that’s a factor in the postseason selection, we have to manage it. I’ll be honest, moving forward, I bet we leave that midweek slot open.
- Super impressed with our team. You have to give credit to our kids. They are fully bought into playing for each other each and every time out. We haven’t had consistent starting pitching, so we’ve been playing from behind and getting it done. Still, we’ve had people go out and get big outs when it matters. Have to do that again this weekend.
- At one point, Ole Miss was the No. 1 team in the country. They have talent. They had some injuries to the pitching staff before the season, but they have worked around it. Their offense is elite. If you don’t make good pitches in the right spot, you can get bloodied in a hurry.
- Troy Claunch is the heart and soul of our team. Every guy is important, but he seems to be the guy that holds things together. He will go down as one of the best guys I’ve ever coached. He’s the guy who you want the ball to always be in his hands when it matters most.
- I told our staff when we got there that these are our players. There is no waiting until next year. These are our guys. These guys are good players. They bought into a system, and they bought into the culture. You’ve seen the results of that. Our story is yet to be written, though.
