Thoughts: Good, bad & ugly from Oklahoma City

TexAgs Road Trip to OKC … presented by Liere Insurance

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Aggies have only themselves to blame, but NCAAs are a different ballgame

GAME #58 (Big 12 Tournament, Day 3): Kansas 5, No. 6 Texas A&M 3
BOX SCORE: LINK

* After a 5-3 loss to Kansas in an elimination game in the Big 12 Tournament, the Aggies are officially out of the running for a national top eight seed. And after back-to-back losses to Missouri and Kansas, the hottest team in OKC entering this week's action is suddenly reeling and limping into the tournament that really counts … the NCAAs. That's the bad news.

The good news is that Texas A&M is "likely" to host a regional next weekend at Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park, and that would be just the medicine that this team needs after taking two hits on the chin in games where the Aggies were the overwhelming favorite. Yes, these losses hurt badly but you can take solace in knowing that this is not the end of the road and that there is still plenty of baseball left to play.

* This game came down to missed opportunities by the Aggie offense and a masterful, gusty, gritty and even heroic effort on the mound by KU fourth-year junior Thomas Taylor. The right-hander tossed an unbelievable 160 pitches over nine innings and used a few Houdini-like moves to get out of jam-after-jam-after-jam in the late innings to preserve the victory and keep the Jayhawks' season alive. Taylor struck out a career-high-tying nine Aggies on the evening.

But the Aggie bats had plenty of chances to blow the game open … especially in the last few innings. However, missed opportunity after missed opportunity proved costly for the team in maroon jerseys, as A&M was just 2-for-19 with runners in scoring position. Here is a late-inning breakdown:

1) Fifth: Andy Sawyers got tossed for arguing a strikeout call on Mikey Reynolds. While I firmly believe in standing up for a player and even getting tossed in an effort to ignite your team, it came back to bite A&M that the orchestrator of the Aggie offense was not in the third base coaching box down the stretch. There were so many decisions to make in the late innings and — while Mike Clement certainly did a nice job — the only coach that needs to be at third is Sawyers. That's a huge part of what he gets paid to do, and he's the one that has the best feel for punching the right buttons at the right times.

2) Sixth: Troy Stein drew a leadoff walk in a 5-3 game. Mitchell Nau stepped to the plate representing the tying run. This was a very tough call and you can't really argue with letting Nau swing away in that situation because he has the ability to put the ball out of the ball park and tie the game with one swing of the bat. But A&M also needed at least one run in that particular moment.

At the same time, Nau is not a bunt candidate. Looking back, I would not have had a problem with pinch hitting for Nau and allowing someone like Jace Statum or Charlie Curl to come on to lay down a bunt and move the runner over. But I really can't argue with this decision … it's just easy to speculate the other way knowing that it did not work out because Nau popped out to second base and Taylor followed with back-to-back strikeouts to get out of the inning.

3) Seventh: Scott Arthur reached on an error at shortstop. A&M again chose to allow Reynolds to swing away and he hit into a 6-4-3 double play. This time, I would have bunted Reynolds or maybe even sent Arthur on a steal and then made the call to either allow Reynolds to swing away or bunt Arthur to third. I felt that the lack of a set play in this situation was a glaring mistake.

4) Eighth: Matt Juengel led off the frame with a single up the middle and moved to second on a fielder's choice E-4 off the bat of Jacob House, putting runners at first and second with no outs. With Stein coming to the plate, this would have been the absolute perfect time to hit for Stein because it was an obvious bunt situation. But A&M decided to let Stein attempt a bunt … something that he has done successfully just twice all season.

It turned out to be the worst plate appearance of the night for the Aggies as Stein failed to get the ball down on the first two pitches and then struck out swinging. Nau and Brandon Wood followed with flyouts to center field to end the threat with nothing to show for it.

5) Ninth: Jace Statum led off with a pinch hit double down the left field line, drawing chalk and tricking into the corner. Arthur then drew a clutch walk on a 3-2 pitch after fighting off some tough fastballs from Taylor. But Reynolds failed to successfully lay down an all-important bunt attempt that would have put runners at second and third with one out and send Naquin to the plate representing the go-ahead run.

Instead, Reynolds popped out to the catcher to totally squash any semblance of momentum that had been built up. Even after that point, A&M still had Naquin and Juengel due up. But Naquin smoked a one-hopper to second for a 4-6-3 double play that end the game … and A&M's 16-year run in the Big 12 Conference.

* The best news of the entire weekend is that Naquin got hot once again. He had a fantastic weekend in OKC and played with ferocious effort from start to finish. He was 1-for-3 with two runs scored and three stolen bases, but if you were here, you also saw the intensity with which he ran the bases, played the outfield and tried to lead his team.

Naquin's approach is back and it showed in the numbers. For the tournament, #18 hit .583 (7-for-12) with six runs scored. He sported a .643 on-base percentage and was 4-for-4 in stolen base attempts. That is the biggest development for the Maroon and White because Tyler has the ability to win games by himself and he needs to be playing his best at the right time … something that he was not able to do last season.

* It's very rare that you see back-to-back subpar outings by Michael Wacha and Ross Stripling. And while the co-aces were not bad at all, they each performed well below the lofty standards that they have created for themselves throughout their storied collegiate careers. Stripling battled throughout the game and found a way to go the distance, finding his curve ball as the game wore on and closing out strong.

But, like Wacha one night earlier, he simply made too many mistake pitches and KU made him pay. It's rare that A&M loses when scoring three runs with Wacha or Stripling on the mound, but that is exactly what happened in each of the last two contests. Three runs just weren't enough and a few mistake pitches here and there by both All-American right-handers cost the Maroon and White in a big way.

* I may be in the minority here, and judging by those that I talked to in the press box, I probably am, but I honestly feel that it may be time to sit Krey Bratsen. Use him as a critical piece by keeping him available for defense and pinch running in the late innings. He's doing nothing to help this team offensively. There is not another player on the team that I want up less with two outs and it seems as though Bratsen constantly finds himself in situations where he's being relied upon to come up with a big two-out hit. And he has not even come close to delivering of late in those spots.

I might get crazy and think about starting Jace Statum in game one of the regional next week. He's a huge improvement at the plate over Bratsen and he doesn't kill you defensively, either. It's button-punching time in Aggieland with the season on the line and this would be one button that I would strongly consider.

* It was a great game all-around by Juengel. He went 2-for-4 and drove in a run for A&M, and he played superb defense throughout the tournament. It looks like Blake Allemand may be out for an extended period of time and it's great to know that Juengel is playing very well with the glove as well as the stick heading into the NCAAs.

* How about Jordan Dreiling? The second baseman is not known for his offensive prowess but he flat dominated Texas A&M pitching in this season. Dreiling went 2-for-4 with two RBI in this game, and for the season, he was 8-for-14 against the Aggies and four of his 11 RBI on the year came against A&M.

That's about it for us here in OKC. We certainly hope that you enjoyed all of the coverage throughout the week. We wish that we had better news to report but we're happy to be out at the park covering Aggie baseball for you guys!

Much, much more to come as the regional host sites will be announced on Sunday and the Field of 64 on Monday at 11 a.m. We'll have reactions after the announcement on Monday and wall-to-wall coverage throughout Texas A&M's run in the NCAA Tournament.