Texas A&M stars reveal how they will rebound from CWS loss

Texas A&M stumbled out of the gate to start the 2022 College World Series. In Friday’s opener vs. future SEC rival Oklahoma, the Aggies defense didn’t hold up and their bats couldn’t match the high-powered attack of the Sooners as they fell 13-8.

Though they scored eight runs while defense and pitching was at issue, Aggies batters Trevor Werner and Jordan Thompson were still upset with the performance at the plate and expect better going forward.

“We always know that the bats are going to show up,” Werner, a sophomore infielder who’s also a capable pitcher, said before somewhat backtracking with: “not every game.”

“But you can just passively put together good at-bats and win pitches against good pitchers,” he added. “And credit to their pitchers for filling up the strike zone all day.”

Thompson agreed.

“We really have to keep putting together good at bats,” Thompson said. “Keep battling pitch after pitch,” noting that even when players aren’t getting on base, each batter can challenge the pitcher and raise the pitch count on the starter.

“Eventually you’ll get to wear them out,” Thompson claimed. “If not, you’re going to help the guy behind you,” he said of stringing together good plate appearances. “And we keep helping each other and that’s the process and mindset we take into every game.”

Thompson sees the team needing to challenge the Arkansas pitching staff more. Take balls, foul everything off with two strikes, work the counts. Even when batters do get out, make it on deep fly balls or tough grounders to third. Challenge the Sooners. Give them an opportunity to screw up.

Texas A&M CWS Recap

Texas A&M arrived in Omaha as the no. 5 overall national seed, and the second-highest ranked team left in the entire field, behind no. 2 Stanford. But as is typically the case in college postseason tournaments, chaos ensued. The two top-seeded teams left, Stanford and Texas A&M, both lost their opening games to un-seeded teams, giving up a combined 30 runs in the process.

Sunday afternoon, the Aggies will look to rebound. They’ll have to in order to keep their season alive. That’s right, it’s lose and head home for these guys the rest of the way. Unless they make the championship series obviously.

Who better to face in an elimination game than in-state rival Texas. The no. 9 nationally seeded Longhorns went the way of Tennessee vs. Notre Dame in their opener, and now find themselves fighting for their lives against A&M. First pitch is at 1 p.m. on Father’s Day on ESPN. ‘Horns vs. Aggies in a fight to the death.