Tag: Vanderbilt Commodores Baseball

The SEC historically dominates the NCAA Baseball Tournament field

The SEC has once again dominated the NCAA Tournament field with record numbers

On Monday, 64 college baseball teams heard their names called. The NCAA Tournament field is now set, and 16 regional hosts are granted home-field advantage for the first round of play. A record 11 SEC programs earned a bid to compete for the title.

For those who are die-hard college baseball fans, the fact that the SEC will hose five of the 16 regional sites isn’t too surprising after the season the conference produced led Tennessee, Kentucky, and Texas A&M, who earned the first three overall seeds in that order. This is the first time in the tournament that the first three seeds are from the same conference!

Following their conference counterparts, Arkansas and Georgia earned the five and seven seeds. Bulldogs power hitter Charlie Condon led the country in batting average (.443) and home runs with 35 on the year. In contrast, Razorbacks star pitcher Hagen Smith led the nation in ERA with a highly impressive 1.48 mark.

Outside of the five conference hosts, LSU will compete in the Chapel Hill Regional after almost winning the SEC Tournament in a close loss to the Volunteers. The Tigers are still riding the momentum train after almost missing the tournament just a year after winning the whole thing in 2023.

Here are where the remaining SEC programs will face off this week:

  • Vanderbilt vs. Coastal Carolina (Clemson Regional)
  • Alabama vs. UCF (Tallahassee Regional)
  • South Carolina vs. James Madison (Raleigh Regional)
  • Florida vs. Nebraska (Stillwater Regional)
  • Mississippi State vs. St. Johns (Charlottesville Regional)

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‘No words to describe them’: Texas A&M freshman Gavin Grahovac left speechless by 12th Man

“Unbelievable, there are literally no words to describe them. They bring the energy every single game no matter how many people are here.”

The Texas A&M baseball team has become the No. 1 team in the nation due to countless contributions from upperclassmen but there have been several underclassmen who have also stood out.

At the top of that list is freshman third baseman Gavin Grahovac, who bats at the top of the order.

“I think it was from one to nine. Every guy did it, every guy was hitting the ball great, we all saw it great. I don’t know, we just came out and wanted to compete. That’s what we continue wanting to do and what we continue planning to do,” Grahovac said postgame on Sunday. “Vandy is a historically great team. Coach Corbin is a great coach and all of those players are great. In the SEC, you can’t expect nothing less than greatness from every team so we have to come out here and compete.

“Coach always tells us to keep playing because the game isn’t over until it’s over.”

Grahovac was left speechless by the 12th Man’s attendance this weekend during a three-game SEC sweep of No. 12 Vanderbilt.

“Unbelievable, I don’t know if you guys saw my tweet but there are literally no words to describe them,” Grahovac told the media. “They bring the energy every single game no matter how many people are here. Obviously, we had some big crowds this weekend so that was awesome. There are no words to describe them, they are absolutely amazing.”

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‘We play to a standard, not a scoreboard’: Texas A&M RHP Chris Cortez recaps sweep of Vanderbilt

“It’s a luxury that we have guys that go out there and eat up innings. We have a lot more guys in the bullpen who can help the team win.”

Texas A&M junior right-handed pitcher Chris Cortez has been lights out as of late, and his success can be attributed to a new mindset of having fun on a game to game basis.

“The Tuesday game has nothing to do with today. I was happy about Tuesday but I’ve moved on from it. I know the best version of myself is having fun and it all starts in the bullpen. When I’m having fun, that’s when I’m at my best,” Cortez explained to the media on Sunday. “I don’t look at the scoreboard. Like Schloss says, ‘We play to a standard, not a scoreboard.’ We go one pitch at a time and that’s all I was saying. I didn’t know what the score was, what inning we’re in, I was barely paying attention to our hitters. I’m just focused on doing my job.

“I think it’s a luxury that we have guys that can go out there and eat up innings. But if they aren’t having their day, we have a lot more guys in the bullpen who can go out there and help the team win.”

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No. 1 Texas A&M baseball team swept ‘of one of the best programs in our sport,’ per coach Jim Schlossnagle

“We needed five pitchers in a three game sweep of one of the best programs in our sport. I thought I was super proud of our guys,” he said.

Following a dominant three-game sweep of SEC rival Vanderbilt this weekend at Blue Bell Park, the Texas A&M baseball team is now ranked as the No. 1 team in the nation.

After Sunday’s series finale, head coach Jim Schlossnagle spoke to the media about how good the Aggies pitching staff was against the Commodores.

“We needed five pitchers in a three game sweep of one of the best programs in our sport,” Schlossnagle said. “It speaks to how well we pitched and how well we obviously swung the bat. We had one game that was shorter than nine innings and had firm command of the second game. I thought I was super proud of our guys.

“With the arms we faced today, the starter, throwing 100 hundred miles an hour, he pitched well and McElvain is really good. You saw that we really battled. Obviously, when they gave us an extra out in that one inning and Camarillo, that was the swing of the day.

“You look the way that the ballpark is playing and you just never know with any lead.”

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‘This place would be a boombox’: Texas A&M OF Hayden Schott explains Blue Bell Park’s new anthem

“(Jace and I) were like ‘Dude, if we got a whole crowd in on that and played it every run or something, this place would be a boombox!'”

On its way to becoming the No. 1 team in the nation this weekend with a sweep of SEC rival Vanderbilt, the Texas A&M baseball team recently found a new tune to groove to every time an Aggie scores a run.

After the series finale against the Commodores, graduate student outfielder Hayden Schott was asked about the origin of the team’s fondness for the song “Rattlin’ Bog” by the Irish Descendants.

“Me and Jace LaViolette, they were playing it at South Carolina on the speakers and we were like ‘Dude, if we got a whole crowd in on that, and played it every run or something, this place would be a boombox!’ So then Friday night, obviously we had a great baseball game, it just added so much to the crowd I felt like,” Schott recalled. “Everyone was so loud.

“I think now that we won, they can’t take it away, so I’m going to have a word with coach about that. I’ll just make sure that he doesn’t end this streak. I’ll probably have a word with him tomorrow during our media meeting with me and him.”

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Twitter reacts to Texas A&M’s 10-4 loss to Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament Championship

Texas A&M’s incredible SEC Tournament run ended without a championship, and Twitter was chock-full of commentary following the Aggies loss to Vanderbilt.

No. 10 Texas A&M put together a miraculous run to punch their ticket to the SEC Championship game as a double-digit seed. Still, after playing six games over six days, the magic had to run out eventually.

The Aggies fell to No. 4 Vanderbilt 10-4 on Championship Sunday, keeping a conference title out of reach once more since the Maroon and White were last crowned champs back in 2016. Despite keeping the score tightly contested midway through the game, a late surge by the Commodores propelled them to a title at the expense of A&M.

The score was tied 4-4 before the Commodores scored on a squeeze bunt by Enrique Bradfield in the sixth inning, and shortly afterward, Vanderbilt added five insurance runs in the eighth to effectively put the game out of reach, 10-4.

Despite a career-high three RBI from Max Kaufer, A&M’s assortment of pitchers on the mound, unfortunately, had a collective day to forget. Nathan Dettmer surrendered four runs on seven hits while striking out one in 2.2 IP. Ty Sexton and Troy Wansing highlighted the seven pitchers out of the bullpen. Sexton worked 1.1 blank frames while Wansing chipped in with a 1.0 shutout inning.

Texas A&M now focuses on awaiting an at-large bid to an NCAA Regional, with the NCAA Tournament Selection Show airing Monday at 11 a.m. CT on ESPN2. But for others, this is an opportune time to take to social media.

Here are a few of the notable social media reactions following the Aggies’ loss in the SEC Championship, and surprise, surprise, don’t be shocked to find a Texas Longhorns fan here and there in the mentions.

Game Recap – Baseball: No. 10 Texas A&M vs No. 4 Vanderbilt (SEC Tournament Championship)

Texas A&M’s incredible SEC Tournament run fell one game short of a title as the Aggies fell to Vanderbilt 10-4 in Sunday’s Championship Game.

An incredible run in the SEC Tournament falls one game shy of a title as No. 10 Texas A&M fell to No. 4 Vanderbilt 10-4 in the championship game. After playing six games over six days and upsetting Tennessee and LSU, the Maroon and White’s magic finally ran out Sunday afternoon.

After the Aggies struck first courtesy of a Max Kaufer RBI to allow Ryan Targac to score at the top of the second to put A&M up 1-0, a rough outing by Nathan Dettmer proved to be an unfortunate omen for the rest of the afternoon.

Troy LaNeve homered to right field for a three-run RBI off Detmer to put the Commodores up 3-1. In the fourth, RJ Austin singled to center field to score Parker Noland and increase Vanderbilt’s lead to 4-1.

Detmer finished with a 6.62 ERA for the afternoon, allowing seven hits and four runs while striking out just one batter in 2.2 IP.

The Aggies’ offense did their best in cutting the deficit, with Jordan Thompson scoring off a wild pitch in the fourth, followed by Kaufer singling to left field to score Austin Bost and Brett Minnich to tie the game 4-4.

Troy Wansing came in to limit the damage as best he could, giving up just one run off an Enrique Bradfield sac fly in the bottom of the sixth to put the Commoders up 5-4, with an SEC title still very much within reach.

But a nightmare eighth inning opened the floodgates and all but secured the Aggies’ fate on Championship Sunday.

Vanderbilt put five runs on the board in that inning, including a Calvin Hewett bases-clearing double with two outs to extend the Commodores’ lead 10-4, with A&M unable to tack on another run for the remainder of the game.

 

With the SEC Tournament now in the rearview mirror, all eyes will be on the NCAA Selection Show on Monday, May 29, at 11 a.m. CT, which will broadcast on ESPN2.

Final Score: Aggies 4, Commodores 10 – W: Reilly, Patrick (5-3) L: Cortez, Chris (3-1)

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