Jim Schlossnagle excited by end of school year, baseball-focused players

Spring semesters around the country are wrapping up or have already wrapped up, and the end of the school year means college baseball players will soon have a bit more free time on their hands.

Many coaches, like Texas A&M coach Jim Schlossnagle, are excited by what that means for their program.

“Yeah, it’s exciting. It’s exciting for the players for sure,” Schlossnagle said. “It’s exciting for us, we can have a little more flexibility with practice, have a little more flexibility for rest.”

In a sport where teams play more than 50 games a year, that extra rest can be a welcome relief.

More importantly, it gives teams a chance to rest and recharge a little bit down the stretch as the postseason fast approaches. For Texas A&M, that is vitally important — the Aggies are sitting on a 29-20 record and need to close strong to assure themselves of an NCAA Tournament berth.

Texas A&M is done with non-conference play after beating UT Rio Grande by an 11-1 score on Tuesday night.

There are only two SEC series remaining for the Aggies, against Alabama at home this weekend and then on the road at Mississippi State from May 18-20. The SEC Tournament in Hoover will follow that.

For now, Schlossnagle is happy with the extra schedule flexibility that the end of the school year provides, though Texas A&M might have to dodge some inclement weather as it hosts Alabama from Friday through Sunday.

“Hope the weather will stay out this week,” Schlossnagle said. “I know it’s supposed to rain a fair amount, probably going to have to shuffle some game times or something like that. But it’s always a great time. It’s the closest thing you get to being a pro player as a college player, is this time of year. So it’s a lot of fun.”

Aftter a shaky stretch that saw Texas A&M lose five straight games, including a series sweep at the hands of Arkansas, the Aggies bounced back nicely last weekend.

They dropped a tight 6-5 opener in a series against Florida, one of the league’s best teams, then bounced back to smoke the Gators 15-2 in the second game of the series. A narrow 3-2 win in the finale gave Texas A&M the series win, and the Aggies have now won four of their last five games.

A recent projection of the NCAA Tournament Field of 64 by NOLA.com had Texas A&M making the field as a three-seed, sent to the Clemson Regional along with Clemson, Campbell and Army.

But with the end of the school year freeing up players a bit more, Schlossnagle and his squad will have a chance to improve potential seeding by closing out the year strong.