Jim Schlossnagle details Texas A&M's series at Florida, busy week ahead

Texas A&M baseball dropped its first series of the year on the road to Florida. Head skipper Jim Schlossnagle joined Monday's edition of TexAgs Radio to discuss the three-game set and the busy week ahead, playing four games in four days, hosting PVAMU and Mississippi State. 

Key notes from Jim Schlossnagle interview

• I didn’t talk to the team after the game. We all know what these weekends are. They’re heavy-weight fights. Every single pitch has so much magnitude on it, and both teams are really physical.

• The bottom line is that they got one more swing of the bat and that separated the series. Road teams in the SEC this weekend were 4-17, so trying to find a way to win a game or two on the road is a challenge. We have warts like every other team, but we’re in the fight, and it’s going to be like that every weekend.

• With Chris Cortez, it’s the best stuff combined with strikes that I’ve seen since he’s been here. Hopefully, he’s found a role there in being able to come out of the bullpen, but he’s got to be consistent with it.

• They took worse swings off of Brock Peery. The question was could I live with him throwing to Jac Caglianone in a tied game, and to be honest, that wasn’t something I was ready to do at the moment. I thought Josh Stewart was the way to go and then Braden Montgomery saved us with the throw.

• I told Peery after the game on Saturday to be ready because he was going to pitch more than one batter, and that he was going to be the difference-maker in that game. He was but we didn’t win it. I had planned on him throwing to multiple hitters, for sure.

• I told them before Saturday’s game: If I were the coach of the other team, I would want to see if an undefeated team that we just punched in the face rolls up or if they are going to come back and fight. We got down, responded well and were able to hold on on Saturday. 

• You’re never going to have better players than the other team in this league ever. Everybody has as good a player, so it comes down to how you play.

• I don’t know if I can be more proud of a player than Gavin Grahovac. The way he handled himself in a lead-off role in his first SEC series, at Florida, big crowd, a nationally televised game, and the way he’s played defense. It’s not his natural position. He’s learning that position, but he’s played great. My primary goal for this team is to keep the best players healthy and fix the pitching so that we can try to find a way to win these series.

• Hayden Schott had a solid weekend. Ted Burton put together some really good at-bats. Ali Camarillo fights his way into at-bats. We have a revolving door at designated hitter and trying to find a hot hand there.

• I think we’ll look back at this series and be glad we got one because it will mean a lot. Hopefully, you’ll look back and see two Super Regional caliber teams, or at least one for sure.

• For Wednesday night, we’ll change a few things. Hopefully, we can score and get some guys out. Jackson Appel won’t catch that game, but he will play.

• We should be mature enough to handle a 4:00 game vs. Prairie View A&M and then get into a conference series. We aren’t digging ditches. We’re playing baseball, and I think if you asked everybody, they would rather play games than practice. We left some guys home that have been playing well for us. I just need to manage some at-bats that give us the best chance to win the game.

• I'm really proud of Jace LaViolette. A lot of the walks he takes this year were strikeouts last year. If we can get guys like him on base in front of Braden, Schott and Burton... The first key to scoring runs is getting on base. It shows he’s controlling the strike zone, and that just means he’s going to get his swing on his pitch and that should be a positive result fairly often.

• I moved Appel up yesterday. The question is, who do you use to protect Montgomery? That’s why I put Burton behind him. When you have a couple of switch hitters in your lineup, having them spread out makes it harder on the other coach.

• Appel might go in that cleanup spot, and in the cleanup spot these days, you don't need a power hitter even though he hits for power, you need someone who’s going to put the ball in play. The key for Appel is keeping him healthy.