Should Texas A&M baseball fans start worrying after Aggies lose two series in a row?
For a good part of the season, this Texas A&M baseball team was, with very little question, the best team in America. The Aggies were mowing through an extremely tough SEC schedule, at one point winning six series in a row.
To be clear, the Aggies still have a great record, shot at a national seed, and could easily find themselves in the College World Series. They still, after all this, only have two losses all season at Blue Bell. All of that is true.
But in the past two weekends, things have looked different for the Aggies. Yes, both of these series have come on the road against teams with a lot of recent success, but Ole Miss and LSU have been disappointments this year and many of the Maroon and White faithful feel that A&M should have come out better in the win column.
That's not even to mention that the time at which this slump is coming has caused some Aggie fans to squirm a bit. What if the malaise does not recede before the SEC Tournament? Before regionals get underway? This Aggie team should have enough talent to get them through the first round (depending on matchups), but what then?
Of course, this is all getting way ahead of things. The Aggies, as things stand, are at 42-10 headed into their final matchup of the year: a home series versus Arkansas. The Hogs are the other team to headline the rankings for most of the year in college baseball, and as such, this has been one of the most anxiously awaited series of the year.
As I mentioned, the Aggies have been absolutely stellar at Olsen this year, with a mark of 30-2. The Hogs will no doubt be the stiffest test yet for Texas A&M baseball, but a series win against Arkansas would cure much of what currently ails the Ags.
Saying it is one thing—doing it is quite another. The bats will have to wake up big time. The pitching will need to return to their form from earlier in the season (though Arkansas is not exactly an offensive juggernaut).
Maybe a return home is just what the Aggies need for all this to come to pass. Maybe the problems run deeper. The fact of the matter is that they need to find some answers—good answers—quickly. Arkansas is no joke. Neither will any team the Aggies may face in the tourney be.
Can they do it? Certainly. Will they? I believe they will. I trust Schloss—he more often than not has been able to push all the right buttons this season. I think we'll see a motivated and ready team come Thursday at Blue Bell. And if not... well, we'll just have to see.