Jim Schlossnagle criticizes Texas A&M pitchers, calls for CWS hero

It was a rough day for Texas A&M pitchers on Friday, allowing 13 runs to Oklahoma as part of a 13-8 Sooners victory. Aggies coach Jim Schlossnagle didn’t hold back afterward, either.

Schlossnagle told reporters not to expect any major changes to the pitching staff despite the struggles. He also complimented the hitters for putting up quality at-bats — and criticized the pitchers in the process.

“You’re not going to make some grand change,” Schlossnagle said in his postgame press conference. “You are who you are. So my only message will be it would be nice to see — we’ve seen it. [Joseph Menefee] didn’t have a good day today. He’s normally pretty gritty.

“But you saw our quality of our at-bats against a really good pitcher, regardless of the score, the grit. Austin Bost had the at-bat where he’s down 0-2 and he stayed in it, and he lined out to the second baseman. That exemplifies our team. It doesn’t necessarily exemplify all the pitching staff, unfortunately.”

Jim Schlossnagle: ‘Someone is going to have to give us something’ to advance in the College World Series

Schlossnagle then challenged some of his players to step up and deliver as Texas A&M gets ready to take on Texas in the elimination bracket. The stakes are higher now. A loss means the season is over.

“In order for us to play deep into this tournament, someone is going to have to give us something,” Schlossnagle said. “I think Micah Dallas is capable of doing that. I know [Ryan] Prager is and [Brad] Rudis is. There’s enough guys down there for us to battle in this thing.

“But we can’t give away free bases. Doesn’t matter if the game is played in this ballpark, at Bellevue East, it doesn’t matter. It’s bad baseball. You play bad baseball you’re going to get your tail kicked.”