Outscored 23-1 in the last 18 frames, Texas A&M failed to respond as Alabama took two of three from the Aggies at Blue Bell Park this weekend. Sitting at 12-15 in the conference, head coach Jim Schlossnagle joined Monday's edition of TexAgs Radio to recap the series loss.
Key notes from Jim Schlossnagle interview
- We have to develop starting pitching in our program. Nobody feels that more than our staff. We saw that with Garrett McMillan and Jacob McNairy for Alabama. It was a great night, and we had a great crowd on Friday. Evan Aschenbeck and Brandyn Garcia are the premier guys on our pitching staff. Justin Lamkin shows signs every now and then. We didn't swing the bat well. We scored one run in 18 innings.
- This is the most bipolar league I have ever seen with what is going on week to week. We are that just as much as anybody. The team that played against Florida better show up next weekend.
- Alabama's lineup started one freshman, and he has 18 or 19 homers. Everyone else in the middle of their order is older guys. There are higher ERAs because of the shrinking strike zone and the emphasis on velocity. You have to be a strike-thrower. McNairy is 22-23 years old. He attacked the bottom of the strike zone. His three pitches were at the bottom of the zone. It's a lot of different things with higher ERAs. Smaller ballparks. Some coaches believe the balls and bats have changed. You have to pitch down and ahead. I think we had 18 ground ball outs on Friday. Aschenbeck didn't have the ball leave the park. The hitters are way ahead of the pitchers, at least in the SEC.
- I'm a big believer in starting pitching, The game starts there. When we finished the game on Friday, the chance of playing two games was very high. We threw Will Johnston cause he was more competitive. He gives up a single, hits a guy and gives up a three-run homer. When you define playing badly, it's free bases and errors. Hitting will come and go. I thought McMillan had a lot to do with that. We popped a lot of balls up on Saturday. I thought we got outplayed. Playing badly is one thing, losing is another. When a game gets to a point where you feel like the opponent had control, we had a runner on and two outs in the eighth. I wanted a right-hander to go out there and get an out. Yeah, it's ugly. There is nobody else to run out there.
- I will take the blame for that. In 33 years of coaching, the home team makes the decision if the field can play. You include the other coach in the conversations. Once the game begins, it belongs to the umpires. We looked at the conditions. We were told the forecast for later in the day would be some level of thunderstorms on and off. Alabama had a charter flight at 7 p.m. on Monday. I'm trying to take into account the lives of others at the ballpark that put this thing together. I didn't think it was right just to sit around just because they had a flight. We said we weren't going to move forward. I called Alabama's coach, and he said he understood. I don't know if it's cause he's the interim coach or felt differently and didn't want to say it. The higher-ups at Alabama called the league office. I sent the team home, and 20 minutes later, people on the other side said they were upset. The decision was ultimately in the hands of the league office. Our field crew worked and worked on the field. Of course, the sun came up and dried it up, and it was fine for play. We got out players back, and we wanted to play.
