Andrew Monaco highlights Texas A&M baseball's recent success

The "Voice of the Aggies" joined us in-studio to discuss all things Texas A&M baseball as Michael Earley & Co. prepare to face Sam Houston and No. 1 Texas in the Lone Star Showdown this weekend. Additionally, Andrew Monaco spoke on Mike Elko's second-year squad.

Key notes from Andrew Monaco interview

• If you're going to go through a struggle in the season, when are you going to do it? When it's early, you panic, but when you see a turnaround, its identity merges. If a team sees something not working, what change can you make? It's nice to also get a little healthier. I like the run Texas A&M baseball is on.
   
• They’re going to go into the lab and the bullpen. You have to make revisions. I think Caden Sorrell gave the lineup a huge boost. Terrence Kiel II now knows what it's like to be a SEC leadoff hitter. Jace LaViolette is Jace, as Arkansas found out this weekend. You have to give a lot of credit to Wyatt Henseler to protect LaViolette, but also Sorrell in the four spot and Bear Harrison in that five spot.
   
• The lineup got longer. It's coming together, late there for sure. Does every school have flaws? Yeah. Whoever covers them better will win a series. They are playing center, and we are getting questions answered in the bullpen. Weston Moss and Luke Jackson, in game three of that series, were phenomenal.
   
• The entire staff and this lineup have been good since Michael Earley got here. He’s a great guy. When the moment came, he seized it and went through the rough paths. I think it just made him a better head coach. Unfortunately, it came early, but then you see success. That's Earley always being Earley. When the head coach doesn't change, it instills confidence and makes you work a little harder.
   
• Earley is going to fight for his team. It's not like “Hey, look at me.” It's not that way. With Tennessee and Tony Vitello, after the no-hitter, run-rule, what are you mad about? Will you come out and have pride? He wasn’t predicted to sweep. I think that's bounce back. Then, to out-volunteer Tennessee. They outslugged them, outpitched them and outplayed them. If you're remembering that doubleheader, that's when they started running. They responded to the pressure, and then the games weren't close. The way they did it, I think that Vitello has a little respect.
   
• You have to realize, just like with basketball, you need to figure out, after a losing streak, how to turn it around. Do you know what I mean when I say get Wade Taylor IV his record? LaViolette was going through the same thing. It's in your mind. You have those things. You can't be an underdog. At times, you could be, but when those numbers or your school name change, those expectations change.
   
• As a fan, the work in the dark is after the bowl game for football, the lifting and the practices. We love to see some of that. I’m always excited about the new names. Was there someone on the cusp last year who played pretty well, like Myles Davis last year? I like to see guys coming back from an injury. How are the young players developing? We forget. It doesn't mean that because they didn't take a nap this fall, they won't. It's also who came in and who we see.
   
• The Maroon & White Game also scratched a bit of the itch. You have more with what happens in the fall. The work right here will determine who starts. Who's first and second team, as the athlete? It's this work right now. We may be surprised.
   
• We talk expectations. You've got to be LSU good every week. I think Marcel Reed owns that type of drive. It's that drive and work ethic in Reed. He wants to be the best and will do what he needs to do to be the best. He doesn’t just think, “I'm QB1. It'll come.”
   
• He has been through it. It's not another first for him. It's Mike Elko’s second year. I'm excited for what's to come.