Earley speaks on A&M's belief displayed in sweep of South Carolina

It was a thrilling three-game set for Michael Earley's Fightin' Texas Aggies, sweeping South Carolina in a series that included two walk-offs and four grand slams. The skipper joined Monday's edition of TexAgs Live to recap a great weekend at Blue Bell Park.

Key notes from Michael Earley interview

• You love wins, and they all feel a little different. You definitely feel different about Thursday compared to Friday. I'm really proud of our guys and doing whatever it took to win. It wasn't always pretty, but sometimes that's how it's going to be. I was proud of them and their complete resilience over the entire weekend.
   
• I went to Franklin and watched my son, Marshall, play. Saturday, for me, that was the most emotional I've ever been at the end of a game. Thursday, you hit the walk-off, and you're like, "Oh yeah. Heck yeah." Saturday was... It's hard to put into words. Sunday, I just kind of hung out. It was definitely a better Sunday after a win. I watched the highlights probably 100 times, and it was still just incredible.
   
• It's real easy when you're winning. Everything looks like it's great, and not everything is set in stone, but I kind of like the rhythm we have. When you're playing well, it allows you to do things. Then, the guys expect to be insert situations. It's just the flow and the rhythm of the game. If you know your coach well enough, you should be ready for the steal sign, or ready for the hit and run sign, ready to pinch hit or ready to go play defense. When you get into a good flow and a good rhythm, and you're playing good baseball, it allows everyone to kind of understand their role more.
   
• Now, the game changes, and it can turn real quick, but when you're playing well like we are, it allows you to get some rhythm within the team and rhythm with making moves and guys, instead of being shocked by stuff, they kind of anticipate it which helps the flow of everything and helps you execute better.
   
• After the game, I found Brad Rudis and Caden McCoy. Rudis won us that game. No doubt about it, he won us that game with how he pitched. It would be really easy to come in and pitch a certain way, like, "Oh, I have to pitch when we're down by 10." But no, he pitched to win the game. He just executed. Same thing with McCoy striking out Ethan Petry with two outs and first and second. Those guys are the reason we even had a chance. The grand slams were incredible, but how Rudis pitched specifically, and then McCoy doing what he did. I don't think he's pitched in an SEC game since that Tennessee outing. There are so many different pieces. Baseball is such an individual sport but within a team game. It's so cool to see so many different guys doing what they're supposed to do, and that all led to an incredible win. 
   
• When we were down in the fifth by seven, I still really felt like we were going to win because I didn't think we could play any worse offensively. It's really hard to describe. The entire game, I felt like we were going to win it. I think that's why my emotions were off the charts after the game because I just never stopped believing. I don't know what it was. It's really hard to explain, but when Kaeden Kent hit that ball off the cap down the third baseline in the shift, I just got an overwhelming feeling that we were going to do it. I guess it's really easy to say now, but I just believe in those guys. They were into it, and they never stopped playing.
   
• With Blake Binderup, he's so big, right? Tuesday in Houston, we had him spread out, just full box, trying to get him lower. He's gotten hammered on some pitches at the bottom of the zone. Now, in our league, the umpires get graded off track man. It's not like the big leagues, where you should grade it off the size of the hitter. No, they just call it to that box. The same strike at the bottom of the zone that Travis Chestnut would get called on him, they technically call it on Binderup even though it's a lack of feel.
   
• We got him down in the box to help with that and keep him in his legs. Caleb Longley decided to cut him off because when Binderup gets in his best position to hit, like if you look at his best swings, he has that natural scissor with the back leg. So we're like, why don't we just go ahead and put him in it? Put him at an angle that gives him a better approach and is as simple as you can possibly make it. He's getting a good feel for it. I think it gets his eyes down there and gets him in his legs more. Binderup has the same type of strength as Jace LaViolette, so he doesn't really need to do much to generate power. We really just took his swing, put it in a position where it's already close to whatever his best swing is and really tried to make it simple for him. He looked great this weekend.
   
• Ryan Prager is trending in the right direction. He's still making some adjustments and trying to clean a couple of things up to get him back to where he needs to be, and I think he's really close to that. I really can't wait to see him throw on Thursday with some of the things he's been doing and just the progression of getting him back to where he is. I thought he was taking a step in the right direction. You know how it is. Baseball is hard. One thing leads to another. One little mechanical thing can turn into a big thing down the road, but he's doing a really good job and I definitely think he's trending in the right direction.
   
• The Myles Patton thing happened real quick. Part of Patton was we had so many runs we didn't get to cash in, which I don't care what anyone says. I know you play the game no matter what, but if you're up 5-0 as opposed to 2-0 or 6-0, it just changes the momentum and how you feel. He gives up the first-pitch homer, and then the ball gets away from him. I still liked him against Petry.
   
• All I can do as a coach is see the best version of you, but I also see what was your last outing. Like how did you look the last time? Because if it was really good, then I expect that again. Going to Clayton Freshcorn and then going to Luke Jackson was based on how they pitched on Tuesday, which was electric. They didn't have maybe their best stuff, but I'll expect it the next time. Sometimes, it's hard as a coach. You can't predict. I'm not down in the bullpen, so all I envision is your best stuff, specifically how you pitched in your last outing. That's why I went to those guys, and they'll be getting the ball again.
   
• Describing Kent as "low heartbeat" made me laugh, but I get what you're saying. He is a hot-blooded dude, but in moments, he definitely has a low heartbeat, and I think that's a confidence thing. Something about that moment doesn't bother him, and it's evident at this point. He's starting to stack them up. He gets this look in his eye. I don't know what it is. It's just this calmness and this focus that I wish he could channel at all times. It's hard to describe, it's a cerebral type of deal where he just goes in there, and he gets so locked in I bet he can't even hear anything. What a great at-bat. The guy throws a ball and throws another ball, but it's called a strike, so they completely swung the count and changed the momentum, which would have been like a “Ball 12” chant. Takes a ball and then gets one he can hammer, and just an incredible swing. I think the pitch was pretty good velocity, down and in, and he just turned on and kept it fair, which is really hard to do.
   
• I'm hoping I have what they call "good problems to have" here soon with the health of our lineup. Caden Sorrell is even running better in the game. You see, at times, he'll kind of pick it up. He has to get to certain percentages. He just has to keep that hamstring healthy. You can see what we've been saying, like how much injuries have hurt us, but the return of Sorrell how much it's helped us. I'm going to be really cautious and not throw him in the outfield until I feel like he's overly ready, just because you can see how important he is to our baseball team.
   
• Gavin Kash was available this weekend. He was actually up and ready to go in the bottom of the ninth inning. I just decided not to use him. He'll be in a bigger role this weekend. Just not exactly sure what yet.
   
• Hayden Schott is swinging the bat well. He looks good. He's been doing everything he can to try and produce for this team. He was trying to spread out. He was getting his foot down early and all of these things. I think with Schott, it gets overlooked, and he'll never say it, but he hurt his knee last year like 90 percent of the way into the season when he was already rolling. He tore a ligament in his knee a week before the season. He's grinding through some things.
   
• I told Schott on Friday before the game that he was trying all of this stuff, and I just kicked him out of the cage, not in a bad way. I said, "Go upstairs." I got him with one of our video guys and said, "Go watch all of your extra-base hits and all of your highlights from last year and this year. I don't want you to be half of yourself. I don't want you to be a shell of yourself. I want you to be you. We're not doing all this spread out. That's not how you hit." I think if he can get in that rhythm and that flow. How the wind blows in this ballpark, it kind of tailors to his swing with that oppo juice he's got. In a perfect world, we get Sorrell back in the outfield soon, and then Schott, I think, is getting close to form, and he could DH, but time will tell, for sure.