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Dave Wilson
Texas and Texas A&M meet in baseball for the first time, because the rivals of the dry needed nothing more.
He did not need Texas to arrive as No. 1. He did not need the resurgeting Aggies who had victories on teams No. 1 and n ° 2 of the country in the series of consecutive roads for the first time in the history of the school.
Because he had already Jim Schlossnagle in the center of the storm.
Last year, Schlossnagle led Texas A&M to the series of Men’s College World Series championships, where the Aggies were only seven withdrawals from their first national title in the history of the school, before falling behind in match 2 against Tennessee. Then on Monday, June 24, when the Aggies and thefts were preparing to play the decisive game, the sports director of Texas, Chris Del Conte, announced that Texas and coach David Pierce had made the mutual decision to separate. A few hours later, the flights won a 6-5 victory to crush the hopes of A&M and end a dream season.
Timing in Texas has raised eyebrows with Aggie fans. Schlossnagle had worked with Del Conte à Tcu, where Schlossnagle led to horns in horns from 2004 to 2021, and the two are certainly close friends.
So, after the match, Schlossnagle was asked about his future with Texas A&M, and he did not respond too kindly.
“I think it’s quite selfish about you to ask me this question, to be honest with you,” said Schlossnagle after the loss. “But I left my family to be the coach of Texas A&M. I took the post in Texas A&M so that I never resume a job. And that has not changed in my mind.”
But of course, on Tuesday, June 25, Schlossnagle was the new coach in Texas, and Del Conte delighted journalists with his story of the trainer’s meeting in a snook cemetery, Texas, about 12 miles outside the university station, when the coach returned from Omaha.
“I left at dawn, and I knew that I could not be seen anywhere at College Station, so I went to the Snook cemetery and I waited (Schlossnagle) to come back,” said Del Conte. “The snook cemetery will fall into history.”
The timing was magnificent. For Longhorns, it was the ultimate movement of power. For the Aggies, it was the ultimate betrayal. During his introductory press conference, Schlossnagle apologized for his answer after match 3 of the MCWS, but he did not do little to suppress the negative reaction.
“I had an idea that it would be nuclear, but I did not know that it would be apocalyptic,” Schlossnagle told Paul Finebaum d’Espn. “But it just shows you the passion of the 12th man, to be honest with you. You cannot ask people to be passionate and support your program as I did when I was there, or as you do when you are in a big school like that. And then when something negative happens, or a change, so there will be a reaction to that.”
There are the initial photos, with the strike coach Michael Earley who moves to Austin with Schlossnagle and to be presented in a Longhorns polo shirt. A few days later, the Aggies brought him back as their new head coach.
So, if by chance, the Aggies cross the Snook cemetery on the Austin path, they will be ready to enter a loaded atmosphere, with ticket prices commanding a bonus – at noon Thursday, the cheapest ticket according to the vivif seats was $ 80 – and a rowdy atmosphere expected in the Disch -Falk in Texas in Texas. They have encountered almost 400 times in baseball and cannot even seem to agree when they played for the first time, or what is the record of the series. According to ESPN Research, the Longhorns say that the first match took place in 1903 and they led the 244-132-5 series, while the AGGIES say 1904 and 240-132-5.
This week, Schlossnagle tried to temper the conversation around him.
“This kind of series – Texas and Texas A&M – These things are much larger than any coach or any person or player,” Schlossnagle told journalists on Saturday. “It has been going on for a very long time, and it will certainly happen long after all of us in this room is gone. I’m sure it will be a good time.”
However, he is not bigger than anyone, but Schlossnagle will be the main character in the whole series (Friday 8 and, dry network; Saturday and Sunday, 4 and, ESPN2).
His sense of training is not to be discussed, whose Aggies and Longhorns both assisted. The AGGIES began as pre-season n ° 1 with 10 of the 16 dry coaches voting them as their favorites from the pre-season conference. Then, from the end of February to early March, Texas A&M lost five games, against Cal Poly, Texas State, Arizona, Oklahoma State and Utsa in a six -game section and were swept in their first dry series by Alabama and Vanderbilt. After injuries at Caden Sorrell and Gavin Grahovac, the Aggies drink in April at 13-14 years in total with a 1-8 file in the dry.
Texas, meanwhile, has lost five games all season and is now n ° 1 with a three -game lead in the dry ranking and only four series to play. During their first season in the SEC, the Longhorns have a 16-2 sheet in the league, tied for the second highest victories at the dry at this stage since the conference developed in 1992, according to ESPN Research.
But the Aggies (24-16 in total and 8-10 in the dry) resemble a resurgence group, going 11-2 in April, with a large series of the dry series against then-no. 1 Tennessee and then-no. 2 Arkansas. Now they have a chance to another n ° 1 in the Longhorns.
Aggie fans are experiencing the work of the new Texas launcher coach, Max Weiner, and this was a force for the Longhorns this season, with an MPM of 2.94 to the dry, the second best at the national level, limiting opponents to an average of 0.210. There are seven dry launchers with an ERA of less than 3.00, and three are longhorns: Dylan Volantis (first to 0.47), Max Grubbs (fifth to 1.71) and Ruger Riojas (seventh to 2.97)
The Aggies will fight this with the hot bat of the All-American Jace Laviolette, who was one of these first difficulties, but now leads the dry in the circuits, the points produced and the OPs in April. Consequently, the Aggies, which have an average of 4.4 points with 10 circuits in total in the start of the conference 1-8, have an average of almost 10 points per game with 25 circuits in their nine championship games in April.
The Aggies sent Sam Houston 13-3 Tuesday evening in seven rounds to clear the decks for their return to Austin behind two circuits of Blake Binderrupt, from the university station.
“Now that the game is finished from today, I’m sure there are a little thoughts that slip into the minds of people where we are going, who we play, who was our former coach,” said Binderrup. “In the end, it’s just baseball. It’s a business trip. We’re going to have fun, but also the goal is to win.”
Win what could be the most important game and series to date in this legendary rivalry. And perhaps even greater than when the two teams clashed in the Men’s College World Series in 2022, the one who saw the Aggies go out in mind.
For Earley, who will face his former boss, he hopes to keep the emotions under control.
“We cannot avoid,” said Earley. “I know that the scenario is there. Bigger this year, probably it will never be, and that’s what it is. ”