Riding High From Hoover, Aggies Look To Conquer Stanford Regional, Cal State Fullerton

Battle-tested and proven, Texas A&M looks to take control of Stanford Regional for a shot at the College World Series.

In 33 years of coaching college baseball, Texas A&M Aggies manager Jim Schlossnalge has never made a trip out west to Stanford. There's a first time for everything for life — even for a longtime coach looking for new life at a different program.

Texas A&M baseball heads to Palo Alto for the Stanford Regional beginning Friday evening at Klein Field. The Aggies, who picked up the second seed after an improbable run through the SEC Tournament last week, will face No. 3 seed Cal State Fullerton at 9 p.m.

No. 8 national seed and host Stanford will face off against fouth-seeded and Mountain West Conference tournament winner San Jose State Friday to begin the double-elimination round robin. The two losing programs will play the earlier game Saturday, while the winner will meet later that evening.

“We played our way into [this seed],” Schlossnagle said Monday following the announcement. “We’re playing well. We get the chance to be a part of a great regional and we’ll see how we do.”

There are plenty of firsts for Schlossnagle in 2023. Sure, it's his second season at Blue Bell Park, but this version of the Aggies drastically differs from the program that finished No. 3 in the final Baseball America poll following their run to the College World Series.

Last season, A&M relied heavily on transfers like position players Kole Kaler, Dylan Rock, Troy Claunch and right-hander Micah Dallas to set the tone en route to Omaha. This season, a rag-tag combination of veterans and newcomers has seen a fair share of highlight moments and low struggles at the plate and on the mound.

Timing has been everything for the Aggies — including their run to a second seed in the regional out west. A&M was considered a bubble team entering the final week of the regular season. Before picking up a series victory in Starkville over Mississippi State, most projections had the Aggies as either a No. 3 seed or missing the postseason altogether.

Now, the Aggies head to one of the more rigorous regionals among the 16 locations. The four programs have a combined 43 College World Series appearances and six national titles, with the Aggies and Cardinal each reaching Omaha a season ago.

“The thing about our league is it prepares you for everything,” said Schlossnagle, who mentioned the Aggies had played nine games in 11 days through Sunday. “We’re prepared. We just need to rest. We all need a lot of rest this week to get ready for that trip.”

A&M is battle-tested; make no qualms on that front. As the 10th-seeded program in Hoover, the Aggies had to battle their way through high-level competition just to remain in national tournament chatter.

Bats swung big, pitching hit the right corners and quickly teams knew what the Aggies were capable of. Behind stellar starting pitching, A&M eliminated four of the top seven seeds: second-seeded Arkansas, third-seeded LSU, sixth-seeded South Carolina and seventh-seeded Tennessee.

Troy Wansing and Justin Lampkin delivered one-hit performances against the Volunteers and Gamecocks, respectively. Will Johnston picked up his first career quality start after being relegated to the bullpen for most of his Aggie tenure. Senior Matthew Dillard held his own in four innings against the Hogs' high-scoring offense, while freshman Shane Sdao and junior Evan Aschenbeck looked mostly in control coming out of the pen.

While the Aggies fell short against fourth-seeded Vanderbilt Sunday in a 10-4 conference championship loss, they gained confidence on the rubber. A&M entered "The Met" with a team earned run average (ERA) of 5.73. They returned to College Station boasting a starting pitching ERA of 0.99 and a team average of 2.35.

“I think we’re starting to play our best baseball as a team, as well as a pitching staff,” Johnston said. “I think we’re really starting to do a good job on that side of things, whereas I don’t think we were doing our best job on the front half of the season.

"We are peaking at the right time."

The Titans (31-22) play in a small-town conference but carry a big-time resume. The four-time national champions boast a team ERA of 4.96 and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 2.15, both of which rank inside the top 70 nationally.

Sophomore right-hander Evan Yates finished the regular season with a 3.57 ERA and 63 strikeouts, while senior Fynn Chester and junior Tyler Stultz finished with seven wins in at least 15 appearances.

Cal State Fullerton had Schlossnagle's number during his tenure at TCU. In 19 appearances against the Titans, the Horned Frogs went 7-12, though those staffs were coached by legends Dave Serrano and Rick Vanderhook. 

A&M holds an all-time record of 5-7 against CSU, with their previous matchup coming in a 7-6 loss in 2013.

Schlossnagle knows what a tyrant Cal State Fullerton can be, but it's not the only baseball titan at Sunken Diamond. Stanford, which won the Pac-12 regular season title, has been a staple for decades under Mark Marquess and Dave Esquer.

The Cardinal wins in all three stages of the game. They feature a team ERA of 5.99 and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 2.08. Offensively, led by projected future first-round pick Tommy Troy, Stanford ranks top 25 in batting average (.317), hits (633), and slugging percentage (.546).

Schlossnagle said pitching would be a strength for the Aggies in night games as play seems to get "deeper" once the sun goes down.

“As far as the environment goes, it’s a little different than the SEC, but I think it’ll be really fun for us to play in,” shortstop Hunter Haas said. “Baseball is baseball, so I think we’re prepared.”

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