Texas A&M's Jim Schlossnagle explains the impact of senior Austin Bost, freshman Jack LaViolette

Texas A&M has had a 1-1 open to their time in the SEC Tournament. They started with a 3-0 shutout over Tennessee before dropping a 6-5 loss to Arkansas in 11 innings. Now, they enter Thursday morning with their time in the conference tournament on the line against South Carolina.

Still, before the matchup with the Gamecocks, Jim Schlossnagle had nothing but positivity to share about his team and some specific contributors. He started on the SEC Network broadcast by praising all that senior INF Austin Bost has provided to the Aggie’s program.

“We gave (Bost) No. 12 for a reason. No. 12 at Texas A&M is a very honored tradition. We started that process last year and he earned that. (He’s) such a great Aggie. He’s represents everything that the core values universities are about,” Schlossnagle said. “He actually played a really good second base. It’s one of the reasons he came back to college was to develop better as a defensive player. And he still drives in runs for us and has big at bats.”

Then, from there, he credited the offense of freshman OF Jace LaViolette. He said he has a very positive energy within their lineup which is only aided by the fact that he produces in both aspects of the game.

“It’s a joy. (LaViolette) is a great player but he’s an even better young man. He’s really positive, got a great energy about him,” said Schlossnagle. “He’s a good defender, he leads us in stolen bases. I can’t remember if I’ve had a 20-20 player on a college team or not but he’s certainly going to be one of the guys during his time at A&M.”

Neither Texas A&M nor South Carolina have currently scored at the bottom of the first inning. For the Aggies to survive to Friday, though, Schlossnagle knows that pair is going to have to make an impact for them this morning.

Schlossnagle comments on Texas A&M’s bullpen, team’s need for a short memory in the SEC Tournament

A big aspect of today’s matchup with the Gamecocks for Schlossnagle is managing their bullpen. Still, considering what the team was able to do over the first two days, they feel more than comfortable to entrust freshman LHP Justin Lamkin today.

“Troy Wansing helped us a lot with that the first day by going eight innings. We haven’t had a start like that pretty much all year. Lamkin is a pretty simple choice,” said Schlossnagle. “He threw it really well in Starkville on Friday so he’s just one day short of rest. So we’ll be fine. We’ve got plenty of guys that can go down there and give us something. But it’ll be, for the most part, all hands on decks for the exception of the guys that threw yesterday.”

He also added that his team needs to quickly let go of Wednesday’s loss to the Razorbacks. It was brutal considering what they gave up in the bottom of the seventh but, in the SEC, he says that’s just the way of things. Now it’s on them to respond in order to make it to Friday.

“That’s life in this league. We’ve been through that on both ends. We’ve walked off some teams and we had one of the top-five toughest losses of my career last Thursday in Starkville. It’s just part of it,” Schlossnagle said. “If you play baseball long enough, you’ve got to have a short memory whether you win or lose. So we’re back out here today, it’s an honor to be in this tournament, and we have a lot to play for.”