Jim Schlossnagle explains Texas A&M pitching plan in Game 2 of championship series vs. Tennessee

The Texas A&M Aggies and head coach Jim Schlossnagle came into Sunday’s game against the Tennessee Volunteers to win their first national championship game ever.

Early in the game, it’s been tight but the Aggies led 1-0 over the Volunteers when Schlossnagle met with the ESPN on ABC broadcast. There, he explained the Texas A&M pitching plan to this point and moving forward in Game 2 of the championship series.

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Jim Schlossnagle gave the start to Zane Badmaev and it was a tight leash. He gave up a hit to open the second inning and his day was done. Still, he did what the Aggies needed of him.

“He threw enough strikes,” Schlossnagle said. “He threw a split there to the last hitter to get us out of the inning. He gave us what we needed. We were hoping for a few more extra outs, but can’t get greedy.”

Badmaev had made 16 appearances this season going into the game. None of those were starts. In fact, he has made one start in his college career. That was back in 2020 while he was at Tarleton State. Still, in the biggest moment, he was a more than effective opener for Texas A&M.

To replace Zane Badmaev, Jim Schlossnagle turned to Chris Cortez, the dynamic pitcher with a fastball consistently touching 100 mph. However, with control becoming an issue at times, Schlossnagle knows Texas A&M can’t give up anything for free.

“Same thing. If he could just find his fastball,” Schlossnagle said. “Just throw his fastball in the middle of the plate just enough to keep them off the breaking ball and not give up free base runners, he’ll be fine, but we can’t give up free base runners and win baseball games.”

This season, Cortez has been excellent. He has a 2.98 ERA in 24 appearances, three of which were starts with 60.1 innings total innings pitched. He’s struck out 95 on the year, and in his most recent appearance came in Texas A&M’s win over Florida.

Thanks to the format of the College World Series and the injuries that the Aggies have suffered, Texas A&M’s pitching depth is being heavily tested. Still, through the first few innings, they’ve held up strong.

On the opposing side, Tennessee has had ace pitcher Drew Beam on the mound and he was on his A-game to start out, striking out seven batters in the first three innings while only allowing a run. So, it looks like Texas A&M is going to need its pitchers to be at their best.