Jim Schlossnagle addresses Texas A&M approach to facing Jac Caglianone in CWS opener

The Texas A&M Aggies and head coach Jim Schlossnagle opened the College World Series with the Florida Gators. That meant they had to take on star Jac Caglianone.

After the game, Schlossnagle addressed how Texas A&M approached facing Caglianone in the CWS opener.

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“First at-bat, we played him with four outfielders because we figured — we’ve done it before,” Jim Schlossnagle said. “But when Cags hits the ball in the air, it’s normally only a homer. He only has, what, four or five doubles in the whole season. At one point he only had two.”

In their meeting at the CWS, Jac Caglianone was able to find success against Texas A&M pitching. In the end, he went two for three at the plate with a walk. One of those two hits was a double. That’s after a season where he was one of the best players in college baseball, hitting .414 for the season with a .536 OBP and a .862 slugging percentage. He also had 33 home runs and 68 RBIs.

“But with the wind blowing in, we thought, okay, give ourselves more chances to catch one if he hits it in the air. But once the wind changed, then it was just a matter, you’re trying to catch those liners he hits down the right field line,” Schlossnagle said.

“I don’t know. If anybody has a better idea, let me know. I don’t know how to get him out.”

Despite Jac Caglianone finding success, Florida as a team wasn’t able to find much success against the Aggies’ pitchers. That started with Justin Lamkin, who was able to go three innings without giving up a run before turning the ball over to Chris Cortez and later Evan Aschenbeck. It was Cortez who earned the win.

Now, after beating Florida, Schlossnagle and Texas A&M are moving on to play another SEC school, the Kentucky Wildcats.

Jim Schlossnagle reveals if lengthy delay impacted how long Justin Lamkin pitched

Poor weather made the Florida-Texas A&M game start and go very late into the night. Despite that, Jim Schlossnagle explained that the delay wasn’t why he only had Justin Lamkin pitch three innings.

“We just felt like if we let him go any longer, even if we won the game and won the next game, we’re going to be creating stuff in the third game. And I know you’ve got to win the first one. Everybody says that. But we’re trying to win — we’re trying to win the whole thing or at least give ourselves a chance without [Shane] Sdao,” Lamkin said.

“So we felt if we kept him under a certain number of pitches and we had a day off, and if we could somehow win the second game I think we get another day. Then maybe Lamkin can come back and help us out some.”