How Texas A&M Baseball's Success is Helping Aggies Football

Mike Elko believes the Texas A&M Aggies success on the baseball diamond is helping the Aggies on the football field as well.

April 19, 2024; Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; Texas A&M players celebrate a grand slam homer by Caden / Gary Cosby Jr.-Tuscaloosa News / USA

The No. 4 Texas A&M Aggies might have the best baseball team in the nation.

Over the last few months, the Aggies have dominated their schedule, going 44-11 overall and 19-11 in the SEC.

Even after early May Struggles against LSU and Ole Miss, the Aggies bounced back, taking their final regular season series against Arkansas, and securing the No. 4 seed in the SEC Tournament this week.

It is the kind of winning culture that the football program would love to see next season under new head coach Mike Elko.

And according to Elko, the success of the baseball team, alongside other A&M sports such as softball and tennis actually go a long way toward helping his program do the same next fall.

April 19, 2024; Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; Texas A&M players celebrate a grand slam homer by Caden / Gary Cosby Jr.-Tuscaloosa News / USA

“I think success breeds success, right, in everything that you do and everything that you look at,” Elko said, via On3. “When you see other programs, other teams doing it at an elite level, doing it at the pinnacle of their sport, I think that only builds optimism around this university, this community and these athletic programs. So it can only help when all of your programs are having success. There’s nothing negative about every athletic program at Texas A&M being very successful.”

While football gets the vast majority of the attention, that kind of all-sport success has been seen across the nation at places like Texas, Stanford, Alabama, LSU, and Georgia among others.

How? According to Elko, because success breeds optimism, and optimism breeds championship environments.

“I think it’s just that environment. When it’s going on an SEC weekend, especially like it was (when) we set an attendance record, it’s the spirit, it’s a showcase of what Aggieland spirit looks like,” Elko said. “You say, ‘Hey, take this, feel this environment, now multiply it by twelve-fold and that’s Kyle Field on Saturdays.’ I just think the way Aggies rally around our programs is very impressive, and that shows up in a lot of different ways.”

Elko's Aggies will hope that the success of the baseball and softball teams in their respective College World Series continues this week, and helps translate to excitement next fall when they take the field for their season opener against Notre Dame on August 31.