It’s not time to hit the panic button yet, but some of the same issues from last year are showing up early in this season. Much like last year if the hitting gets a little cold the late-inning pitching struggles to close out games.
While the matchup with the Portland Pilots (5-1) game stayed tighter all the way through compared to the 10-4 loss Friday, the Aggies still came up short 4-1 dropping them to 3-3 on the season. The Aggies had opportunities to score but they left ELEVEN runners stranded on base. The few bright spots came from pitcher Troy Wansing who struck out nine through 5.1 innings and Hunter Hass went 3 – 3 reaching base safely after all 5 plate appearances. Texas A&M coach gave a few comments after the game highlighting the issues and while it’s still early, he understands the need for urgency:
“It’s still the same story,” A&M head coach Jim Schlossnagle lamented postgame. “When you’re not scoring a ton of runs, then every single pitch and every single at-bat is so magnified. The job of a relief pitcher, we talk about this from day one in the fall, is you got to get out the first guy you face.”
“It’s like life. You get tested, and you don’t understand why,” Schlossnagle said. “Certainly, you can point to reasons why you think we should be better or win more games or have won more games, but I’m not giving up on these kids. We’re seven games into the season. We got a lot of baseballs to play. But that’s not discounting that we don’t have a sense of urgency to win because we know how important this game is.”
After Saturday’s loss, Portland clinches the series and will be coming into the final game on Sunday very confident. The Aggies will have a lot to play for and I’m sure they want to end the series with a win getting them back above .500 on the season.
You can catch the game on SEC + network at 1 pm/CT
Series finale with Portland set for 1:02 p.m. first pitch on Sunday. https://t.co/MbTyb94cCV
— Texas A&M Baseball (@AggieBaseball) February 26, 2023
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