Last season, after a 13-13 record in Big 12 play, the Aggie baseball team shocked everyone but themselves when they tore through the Big 12 tournament in Oklahoma City and beat Baylor 11-8 in the final game to claim the Big 12 tournament championship. Less than two weeks later, the Aggies magical postseason run was halted by the No. 1 Rice Owls, who eliminated the Aggies in the Super Regional Finals one game away from the College World Series.
"No one had higher expectations for us last year than we did," said A&M head baseball coach Rob Childress. "We expected to be there in Omaha last year, and we just didn't get it done. People may think we did something special, but to us we know we haven't done anything yet."
Fall workouts concluded for the Aggies over the weekend with the Fall World Series at Olsen Field. The Plowboys defeated the Roughnecks to take the crown and their second Fall World Series win in a row.
"We look forward to the Fall World Series every year," Childress said. "The guys have really taken pride and ownership in our fall workouts, which have been very intense and competitive. It will be fun to see them go out between the lines to battle for the World Series title."
With the spring season opener more than three months away, Childress and the team know they have a lot more work to do.
"We are going to get after it," Childress said. "Everything is a competition out here - be it six-minute miles at 6 a.m., grades in the classroom or our Paint-a-thon, we are going to work hard."
With the loss of two 11 game-winning pitchers Kyle Nicholson and David Newmann, catcher Craig Stinson, a .322 hitter, and others last season, Coach Childress said he knows some guys will have to step up their play.
"I believe we still have a really good nucleus of leaders on this team," Childress said. "Guys like Blake [Stouffer], Dane [Carter], Ben [Feltner], Brian [Ruggiano], Darby [Brown] and Luke [Anders] have really stepped into leadership positions during fall workouts. We've also had some red-shirt freshmen show promise."
As for replacing Nicholson and Newmann, Childress said that he really needs the younger guys to step up. Younger players such as Barret Loux and Brooks Raley have looked great this fall and some of the older guys have been picking it up as well, Childress said.
In the end, Childress said the coaches are stressing three things: mental and physical toughness, coming together as a team and good solid baseball.
The Aggies begin the season on Feb. 22 against Northern Colorado at Olsen field. They kick off Big 12 play against Texas Tech on March 14.
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