Tag: Texas A&M University

‘Play in the parking lot of Mandalay Bay’: Texas A&M men’s basketball team reportedly competing in lucrative NIL tourney

“There’s not a decision we make that’s not NIL-driven. I’ll play in the parking lot of Mandalay Bay, just clear the f***ing check.”

On a week that we will be giving thanks later this year, the Texas A&M men’s basketball team will reportedly be competing in a lucrative regular season tournament held in Las Vegas.

According to a report from CBS Sports, the Aggies are 1-of-8 teams that have agreed to play in the “Players Era Festival” that will offer $1 million in NIL payouts.

“If there are events where there’s an extraordinary amount of money involved, and there’s no donor fatigue involved in this, how do you not play in this?” one coach told CBS Sports. “There’s not a decision we make that’s not NIL-driven. I’ll play in the parking lot of Mandalay Bay, just clear the f***ing check.”

The eighth team is still to be determined. Per CBS Sports, the other teams are: Alabama, Houston, Notre Dame, Oregon, Rutgers and San Diego State.

No. 2 Texas A&M ‘didn’t play the greatest schedule’ this regular season according to Schlossnagle

“We didn’t play the greatest schedule but we won the games,” he explained. “We’ve played below-average teams and lost to them in the past.”

Following a 16-3 win against Rice on Tuesday night at home, Texas A&M coach Jim Schlossnagle looked ahead to the final road series of the regular season at Ole Miss this weekend, while reflecting on the year thus far.

“You’ve still gotta go on the road in the SEC that’s full of awesome SEC players and they have really good pitching in terms of the stuff that I’ve seen on television. The transfer from Duke, (Andrew) Fischer, he’s as much of an impact hitter as there is in our league, including the guys that we have on our team who have 20 homers,” Schlossnagle explained. “We’ve proven that we can win anywhere and lose anywhere. LSU wasn’t playing that great and they got it going, so we have to go play good baseball and try to find a way to win the series.

“We didn’t play the greatest schedule but we won the games. We’ve played below-average teams and lost to them in the past. It’s hard to win all these games, the game is not built for that. Especially the teams that we get to play in the state.”

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‘The SEC is hard’: Texas A&M freshman phenom Gavin Grahovac previews final road series at Ole Miss

“I know they’re a good team. A lot of guys on their team can hit. We’ve gotta come out, play our game, hit, throw strikes and play defense.”

The No. 2 Texas A&M baseball team completed an undefeated non-conference schedule on Tuesday evening with a victory versus Rice at Blue Bell Park.

After the win, freshman third baseman Gavin Grahovac spoke to the media and looked ahead to the final road series of the regular season at SEC rival Ole Miss.

“I know they’re a good team. A lot of guys on their team can hit so we’ve gotta come out, play our game, hit, throw strikes and play defense. Every weekend is the same, you’ve gotta go out there and compete,” Grahovac said. “I knew that we had won a lot of games in non-conference but (being unbeaten) is huge for us. The more games we win means the better record that we have and the farther we can go on. As long as we can continue to do that, obviously we want to win every game in the SEC but like we’ve talked about, the SEC is hard, every team is good.

“As long as we can continue to win is a huge confidence boost for us, so we have to keep it going the next few weekends.”

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New Texas A&M University plans include $80 million dollar renovation of Blue Bell Park

Plans to renovate Blue Bell Park is welcomed news as Coach Jim Schlossnagle looks to turn A&M into a baseball powerhouse

There is a quote from “Field of Dreams“, one of the greatest baseball movies of all time, “If you build it, he will come”. A line that is often misquoted, but has a lot of meaning in the early tenure of Jim Schlossnagle’s coaching career at Texas A&M.

With around six games left in the 2024 regular season, Coach Schlossnagle has amassed an impressive 123 -55 record, a third-place College World Series finish, and currently has a top-two team in the nation. This has brought record numbers of fans to the Blue Bell stadium to the top of them being over 100% capacity at times. So naturally fans started reaching out to new Texas A&M AD Trev Alberts on “X” asking when the park would see an expansion.

Social prevailed as the Athletics department sent out a link asking for input on enhancing the facility in the lead-up to the post-season. Then just a few short days later, WTAW 1620 AM/94.5 FM confirmed that the Texas A&M system board of regents approved plans that included renovations to Blue Bell Park.

Below you can check out a brief excerpt from the article.

The Texas A&M system board of regents on Tuesday (May 7) approved a new five year capital projects plan that includes an $80 million dollar renovation of the home of Texas A&M baseball.

System documents say the first renovations of Blue Bell Park since its opening in 2012, is scheduled to start during the 2025-26 fiscal year. The documents also say the cost will be paid by stadium revenue funds.

This is music to Aggie baseball fans as more space is needed and help A&M grow their home field advantage making the famous “Ball Five” chant even louder.

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No. 2 Texas A&M stays perfect in midweek games after run-ruling Rice 16-3

The Aggies pull off a feat they haven’t since 2015 after run-ruling Rice 16-3 at home

Perfection in anything is rare and a tough feat to accomplish, especially in a game like baseball. There are so many games that going without a loss, or back-to-back losses is really unheard of. On Tuesday night No. 2 Texas A&M (41-8, 16-8 SEC) rule-ruled Rice at home to finish the season perfect in midweek games for the first time since 2015.

Rice never stood a chance in this game as the Aggies started off extremely hot and the Rice pitchers did nothing to help themselves. Gavin Grahovac and Braden Montgomery came out blasting each hitting solo home runs in the opening frame to take a 2-0 lead. Then in the very next inning, Travis Chestnut, Caden Sorrell, and Kaeden Kent all scored due to wild pitches allowing the Aggies to take a 5-0 lead into the 3rd inning.

After cutting the lead down to four with their own solo home run the Owls once again found themselves on the wrong side of the long ball with Sorrell’s solo shot and Jace LaViolette’s two-run home run.

Later in the inning, Hayden Schott brought home Montgomery with a single through the left side for a 9-1 lead. They added two more in the fifth to go up 11-2 before the wheels really fell off. Rice walked five straight Aggie batters for five unearned scores.

There was one more home run by Rice but that was the end of the scoring threat with A&M winning 16-3 and 25-0 in their midweek games on the year.

Texas A&M will face Ole Miss in a three-game series starting on Friday, May 10, at 7:30 p.m. CST, where the game will air on SEC Network.

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‘Going to go back to playing Aggies softball’: Texas A&M coach Trisha Ford previews SEC Tournament

“Everybody is (different), but we can absolutely take confidence in it. I think we do much better with opponents that we’re familiar with.”

The No. 8 Texas A&M softball team has earned the No. 3 seed in the SEC Tournament and will play the winner of South Carolina versus Mississippi State in the first round.

Aggies head coach Trisha Ford spoke to the media Monday to preview the upcoming conference tourney.

“I think everybody is (different) to be honest with you. But we can absolutely take confidence in it. I think we do much better with opponents that we’re familiar with. We’ve played the both of them and they were both tough games,” Ford explained. “Mississippi State has done a good job of continuing to get better and so has South Carolina. It’s going to go back to playing Aggies softball. We’ve gotta pitch well, we’ve been playing very clean defense. The other piece is having those timely hits. I think the first and last one, we could tighty up a little bit.

“(Emiley Kennedy) has been in a lot of bad luck. We’ve put her in four games at the end or extras and she’s actually gotten a loss but only pitched like an inning or so. That makes it a little bit tougher, but one of the perks or responsibilities for being that pitcher in a staff.

“For me, it’s about going back and playing our game, executing the short game. Continuing those pieces, that’s what’s going to really help us win, especially as we continue this conference tournament and postseason, is being able to execute those little things.”

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‘My question to the fans’: Texas A&M baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle has a query for the 12th Man

“First time we have lost back-to-back games,” he said. “If we do that a month from now, our season is over. Yeah, I reminded them of that.”

As the regular season begins to wind down, the No. 2 Texas A&M baseball team has a home game against Rice and a three-game SEC series at Ole Miss this week.

Aggies coach Jim Schlossnagle began looking ahead Monday during a discussion with TexAgs.

“My question to the fans is: What constitutes a good season? Can you have a brutal regular season, be the 64th team in and win the national championship… Is that the best team in program history? It’s tournament sports. I am not saying I am right and you are wrong or vice versa,” Schlossnagle said. “At the end of the day, we want to get in a regional and do well there. I would love to host. Awesome. Right now, I will take the No. 4 seed in Anchorage with our team healthy. I will take our chances. There will be ups and downs. We could have more downs ahead of us. Who knows?

“First time we have lost back-to-back games. If we do that a month from now, our season is over. Yeah, I reminded them of that… Guess who had a winning record against the teams who played for a national championship last year? Texas A&M. We had the most brutal pitching staff in school history. We had awesome kids. Austin Bost has the most unlucky year that I have ever seen. We were 4-3 against Florida and LSU.

“This upper echelon of college baseball, I am telling you, you just have to survive it and be healthy. We have to get to the point where we get to our regional, and our team is healthy.”

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Texas A&M hires Virginia associate head coach Blaire Anderson as director of swimming & diving

“I am honored to be the director of swimming & diving, a new era for Texas A&M as the men’s and women’s programs combine as one team.”

Texas A&M athletic director Trev Alberts made his first significant hire Monday, naming Blaire Anderson as the next director of swimming & diving.

“Blaire is a bright, energetic young coach who has recruited extremely well for a championship program at Virginia,” Alberts proclaimed in a news release. “I believe she has a vision for that same championship program here in Aggieland. We welcome her and her family to the Aggie family.”

Anderson most recently served as associate head coach for the Cavaliers.

“First off I want to thank Trev Alberts, Brad Barnes, the entire Texas A&M administration and community for welcoming me with such Aggie hospitality,” Anderson stated. “I am honored to be the director of swimming & diving, a new era for Texas A&M as the men’s and women’s programs combine as one team, with one vision. The legacy established by both Steve Bultman and Jay Holmes will provide a foundation for this team’s future success, and for that I am truly grateful. The pride and spirit that Aggies have is second to none and I’m excited to be a part of it.

“Thanks and Gig ’em.”

The Virginia women’s swimming & diving program had won four consecutive national championships under Anderson’s guidance from 2021-24.

“Coach Anderson is an exceptional recruiter who has been a major factor in breaking a program into the championship club. She also has a proven ability to connect with, develop and retain student-athletes,” explained Brad Barnes, Texas A&M’s executive associate director of athletics and the sport administrator for swimming & diving. “She shares Texas A&M’s values, cares about student-athletes and is excited to build upon the tremendous success of the past while launching this program to new heights.”

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Coach Trisha Ford explains why No. 8 Texas A&M softball team was swept at No. 11 Florida

The No. 8 Texas A&M softball team ended the regular season on a sour note, being swept in a three-game SEC series at No. 11 Florida. Despite that, the Aggies earned the No. 3 seed and a double bye into the quarterfinals of the upcoming SEC …

The No. 8 Texas A&M softball team ended the regular season on a sour note, being swept in a three-game SEC series at No. 11 Florida.

Despite that, the Aggies earned the No. 3 seed and a double bye into the quarterfinals of the upcoming SEC Tournament, which begins Wednesday.

“Obviously, a tough weekend for us. I thought we competed well all three games, the last one just got out of hand quickly,” Ford recalled. “Here’s the thing, we just need to focus our energy, regroup and get ready for the SEC Tournament and the postseason. I think you can look back at our conference series overall, we did pretty good throughout the year. We had two of them that we were really close into getting at least one or two on the road and things didn’t go our way.

“It’s a good time for us to reset, regroup and I’m excited that we were still able to earn a top three seed in our conference, then get ready for the winner of Mississippi State and South Carolina. Two very familiar opponents since we played them both this year.”

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‘We played bad for 2 days’: Jim Schlossnagle reflects on how No. 2 Texas A&M avoided SEC sweep at LSU

“We played bad for two days. You deserved to get your rear end kicked when you don’t play well. Our guys care too much sometimes,” he said.

The No. 2 Texas A&M baseball team avoided an SEC sweep at reigning national champion LSU this past weekend with a 14-4 victory on Sunday afternoon.

Aggies coach Jim Schlossnagle chatted with TexAgs on Monday and reflected on the series loss.

“We played bad for two days. You deserved to get your rear end kicked when you don’t play well. Our guys care too much sometimes. If you have that level of care, it can snowball, especially in the sport of baseball,” Schlossnagle explained. “I think we have played poorly and pitched poorly before. We just swung the bat enough to cover it up. We had full control of the game with Ryan Prager pitching. He walked two guys. They bunt. They got a little flare that is just out of Ali Camarillo’s reach. Tommy White was up. This was the double play that we wanted, and a bad throw was made.

“You have to give credit to the team we faced. Gage Jump and Luke Holman are two of the best starters we will see all year. The numbers don’t accurately reflect those to guys. Griffin Herring is awesome. We knew going into the weekend their left-handed pitching would be an issue for us.

“I thought Chris Cortez gave us a shot of life. We had Caden Sorrell’s triple. That got everyone fired up and then the Gavin Grahovac homer. Baseball can eat you up. You can feel the greatest for a while. A couple of negative things happen, and you have to be careful not to let it steamroll… Thought it was great when we battled back. We needed it. Three to four innings in on Sunday, it was not a good feeling in the dugout.

“I don’t like postgame talks or speeches, but that was mine on Saturday night. ‘Just chill out.’ The game ended, and we had one of the best pitchers in the country hanging his body over the front rail of the dugout like the season was over.

“We will not be perfect. They are human beings. We have to find ways to overcome it. There will be days we do. Those two days, we didn’t.”

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Scott Clause/USA TODAY