Michael Earley reviews Texas A&M's 'frustrating' series loss to Kentucky

A&M won their first game of SEC play, and Jace LaViolette hit a record-breaking home run, yet the Aggies walked away from the series vs. Kentucky disappointed after dropping Saturday's and Sunday's contests. Head coach Michael Earley joined TexAgs Live to chat about the result.

Key notes from Michael Earley interview

• I feel like it's close to being good enough. I always do. It's definitely progress. That's the tough part, right? You feel like you found a little bit offensively, and you battled back in a game. You battled back in another game. In the end, you have to win the series, and we didn't do that. You want to be better and keep getting better, which is good, but where we're at, you have to continue to win baseball games. There’s no lack of heart. There’s no lack of compete. We just simply have to win, and we didn't get that done this weekend. We needed at least one more game.
   
• I give full credit to Kentucky. Minus Justin Lamkin hitting some guys, but the stuff wasn't down. Our starting pitchers threw strikes. Ryan Prager threw a lot of strikes. That was a complete hat-tip to Kentucky. That was a really good offense this weekend, and then they did a lot of little things right. They hit some balls hard, and they found some hits, but they were all over the barrel. They competed. Our guys filled up the zones. I'm not going to get mad at pitchers for giving up hits. You don't want to scare them out of the zone. That's the tough part about pitching. The stuff wasn't down. They just got hits. Credit to Kentucky.
   
• With Weston Moss, you would love to have him on Sunday, but is there any chance of taking him out of that game on Friday when he's rolling and he can get a win? You want to get that win, and you feel like you can get one more, so I wish I had him, but I don't regret using him at all. The performance was dominant, and we needed it. You still expect the other guys to pitch the way they're capable of pitching and they haven't.
   
• Caden McCoy continues to move himself up. He will continue to get more opportunities because he's flat-out earned it. We have to get these other guys back on track of being strike throwers.
   
• Clayton Freshcorn, the reason we brought him here and what we've seen since he's been here, except recently, is that he's an elite strike thrower. He's still that same guy. We're just going to get him right. I still see the best version of every single guy. We just have to get them to that point and make sure we're clicking on all cylinders. We're going to throw some different guys out there. You only have so many to attempt it with. McCoy continues to prove that he deserves the baseball.
   
• With the offense, it was definitely progress for the swing decisions and quality of contact. They did a good job. Now, we're back up to the level of expectation, so let's continue to do that and continue to perform. I think they did a really nice job coming off of the weekend we had prior with the strikeouts. Consistent, competitive at-bats one through nine in the order was a complete 180. They did a good job, and that's always been the expectation, so they have to continue to play at that level and then some.
   
• The guys haven't lost their competitive edge yet. They won't lose it. That's something that will stay whether we win another game or not, which we will. They're always going to compete. They're always going to fight. There's no lack of care. Sometimes, there is a lack of execution, a lack of coaching or a lack of making a play. It's all of that. Not a lack of effort. You want to go into battle and be in a situation like this with guys around you that care, and that's what we have. Maybe it makes it a little easier, but it's still frustrating, obviously. I love my players, and it does make it a lot better when you have guys out there competing and battling.
   
• It was great having Caden Sorrell back. The No. 1 thing is getting him in the game and coming out of the game healthy. That was a big part of it. Battling back from that injury, we didn't want any setbacks, so that was a huge positive. Adding him to the lineup just really gave us a bit more length and kept the balance, especially against a team like Kentucky.
   
• Adding a left-handed bat like Sorrell and keeping the left-right balance with a team that has a decent amount of left-handed pitchers in the bullpen was really good. He did a nice job. He'll continue to get better. He only had a few live at-bats leading up to that. You can see the kind of player he is and how he adds some length to our lineup. We just have to keep him healthy, and we're going to try and DH him for as long and as much as possible just to be extra cautious on that hamstring. At some point, we'd definitely like to get him back in the outfield, but I want to make sure we keep that bat in the lineup.
   
• I liked the balance Terrence Kiel II in the leadoff role gave us, especially with Kentucky starting a left-handed pitcher on Sunday. Kiel has been really good. It's just one guy who is doing well. You can see Kiel is a leadoff hitter and the type of guy you want there. He's overly proved himself. We'll continue to roll with him for the foreseeable future. Maybe something changes with the matchup.
   
• It's more about what Kiel is doing rather than what Kaeden Kent is not. I believe in Kent. I think hitters hit, and Kent has always hit, whether it's summer ball or in college, so we're going to move him a little bit. I think it will give us more depth in the lineup. Kiel continues to be a ball player, and he does a lot of really good things right, just at the plate with his swing decisions and the pitches he swings at. When he gets on bases, he can really run.
   
• Every inning it's about keeping the energy and staying energetic. You play each pitch. You play situations at times, or you play the score, but you just keep going whether you hold them or you don't hold them. The energy and what you bring in between innings and during the innings is a standard whether we're up nine or down nine, or they score, or we score. You want to continue to just play the game, and I thought they did a really good job of that.
   
• They would answer. We would answer. They would answer, and they got us two out of three, which was the tough part. From the standpoint of how I manage it, I'm very upbeat in the dugout. Being tense without getting the players too worked up. It's just competitive with a lot of competitive guys. You don't really change much. You just keep going, keep going, and see what happens at the end of the game.
   
• With Gavin Kash, that ball has to go home. I can't remember who the runner was at third, but just how the speed of that ball was hit and the score, he needed to throw home. I didn't get a chance to talk to him about it because he got hurt in that inning, and I just left him be because he was upset enough. He has to go home there. We brought him in, and our pitcher executed the pitch, and we executed the home-to-first double play, which was huge. On his ball, just how it was hit and the speed of the ball, he has to immediately go there to cut off the run and not worry about a double play.
   
• I'd be lying to you if I said this wasn't tough, but I'm telling the truth when I say I knew this job was not going to be easy. It's not all roses, right? I definitely don't like losing, but I like challenges, and I like figuring stuff out. I think you find out who you are, who the people around you are and who your team is when times are at the darkest. That's what I like about it. I don't love being in it, and I don't love having to like that.
   
• It's been challenging, but I think challenges bring out the best in people. There's no quit in me, and there's no quit in my team. We're going to continue playing. Hard is what it's supposed to be. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. I love my job, and I love my players, so we're going to continue to go out there and play our tails off.