Weekend Preview

The initial blow to the vaunted Texas A&M pitching staff came during the first week of practice in late January when sophomore left-hander Tyler Stubblefield, a projected weekend starter, was lost for the season with an ACL injury.

The second ka-boom was felt in early March when junior left-handed starter A.J. Minter, a stalwart out of the bullpen the previous two seasons, suffered an injury that required season-ending Tommy John surgery. And just that quickly, Aggies 10th-year head coach Rob Childress was looking at a couple of gaping holes in his starting rotation.

This was a staff that returned eight pitchers who played important roles in 2014, and Stubblefield and Minter were certainly right there at the top. But there was another weekend starter still in place – a guy Childress would now have to lean on more than ever – and junior Grayson Long has proven to be more than ready to assume role of top gun.

Long, a 6-foot-5, 215-pound right-hander from Mont Belvieu, Texas, about 30 miles east of Houston, is 8-0 with a 2.73 ERA after 10 starts for No. 2-ranked Texas A&M (36-5 overall, 12-5 SEC); he has teamed with junior left-hander Matt Kent (6-1, 3.96 ERA) and freshman right-hander Turner Larkins (5-1, 3.31 ERA) to stabilize the weekend rotation. The Aggies’ bullpen is among the best in the country, their .316 team batting average is fifth nationally and their 47 home runs rank fourth.

“When A.J. and T-Stub both got hurt the other pitchers had to step-up because of the loss of those two guys,” Long told PG during a telephone interview conducted while he was riding the team bus from College Station, Texas, to Baton Rouge, La., for a big three-game SEC series with No. 1 Louisiana State (35-6, 12-5 SEC), which begins Thursday night.

“The hitters, they kind of all have our backs, and Coach (Will) Bolt came in and really changed our hitters’ approach; let them do their own thing,” he said. “This team, we really play for each other and we play as a team more than anything else – worry more about the guy next to you more than yourself.”

Despite the loss of Stubblefield and Minter, this has been a resurgent season for the Aggies, who along with LSU’s Bayou Bengals enjoy a 3½-game lead in the SEC Western Division heading into the weekend. This is A&M’s third season as a member of the powerhouse SEC, a league that also includes No. 5 Florida, No. 13 Vanderbilt and No. 23 Missouri over in the Eastern Division. This weekend’s A&M-LSU series – No. 2 vs. No. 1 – is the highlight of the regular-season schedule so far.

“I think they’re certainly looking forward to the challenge of another weekend playing in the SEC. For us, it’s our first opportunity to play at the new Alex Box (Stadium) and I know our guys are looking forward to that,” Childress told PG, also speaking from the team bus. “The familiarity we have with one another is good, and obviously the respect that we have for one another having played them each of the last two years … it ought to be a lot of fun this weekend.”

The importance of the series isn’t lost on Long, who Childress will hand the ball to for Thursday’s start: “It’s going to go a long way toward determining the standings in the SEC and stuff like that,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to get us back on the right track and get us back to winning (in the SEC). When you get recruited by Coach Childress he kind of promises you a ring – not only your Aggie ring but a championship ring – and I’ve been looking forward to this weekend throughout the season.”

THE AGGIES WON TWO BIG 12 REGULAR SEASON TITLES and three Big 12 Tournament championships between 2007 and 2011 under Childress, with everything coming together during the 2011 season. They won conference regular-season and tournament championships that year, rolled to NCAA Regional and Super Regional titles and advanced to the College World Series in Omaha for the first time since 1999.

A&M’s transition into the SEC hasn’t come without some bruises. The Aggies went 13-16 (34-29 overall) in league play in 2013 and 14-16 (36-26) in 2014, which meant sixth and fifth-place finishes, respectively, in the SEC West. They did advance to NCAA regional play both years, however.

Long’s first two years in College Station coincided with the Aggies’ first two years in the SEC and his adaptation actually went more smoothly than the team’s as a whole.

He made 12 appearances (10 starts) as a freshman and finished 4-2 with a 3.52 ERA; he was 4-0 with a 2.28 ERA in six midweek starts. As a sophomore, Long finished 6-2 with a 3.12 ERA, and struck out 55 in 89 1/3 innings of work. It was a season-long performance that earned the tall right-hander the role of Friday night starter this season.

He pitched 56 innings in his first 10 starts this season, and allowed 17 earned runs on 43 hits with 66 strikeouts and 24 walks. His eight wins gives him a career record of 18-4 and a sense of confidence that comes with having success at the highest level of college baseball.

“I came in as a freshman just thinking that I could throw it by everybody, just like everybody else that comes into college because that’s probably what they did in high school,” Long said. “I learned pretty quickly my freshman year that you can’t do that here and you’ve got to have secondary stuff. Coach Childress has really helped me realize that, and I feel like it’s really starting to pay off.”

Childress compares Long to the Aggies’ 2010 All-American right-hander Barret Loux, in that he’s got a “very good” fastball with good command to both sides of the plate. Childress, who built his resume as a highly respected pitching coach during 14 years at Nebraska, noted that Long’s secondary stuff – his slider, curveball and change – has continued to improve. But it’s that Barret Loux-type fastball that sets him apart – that and his competitive nature.

“First and foremost, Grayson is an extreme competitor,” Childress said. “He’s gotten a little better each and every year and he’s really grown and matured and developed into a Friday night guy or game-one guy, for that matter.

“I couldn’t be more proud of him and where he’s come the last three years. He’s evolved and developed into the guy we expected him to be and the guy he expected to become, and he’s certainly been reaching every challenge that he’s been presented with this year.”

Perfect Game ranked Long the No. 224 overall national prospect when he graduated from Barbers Hill High School in the spring of 2012; he was selected by the Seattle Mariners in the 39^th round of the MLB June Amateur Draft.

Long was at three PG WWBA tournaments in 2010 and 2011 as part of a Houston Heat pitching staff that included right-handers Mitchell Traver (a 2011 PG All-American), Riley Farrell and Brian Trieglaff, all now at Texas Christian; right-hander Teddy Stankewicz, who is in the Boston Red Sox organization, and left-hander Austin Fairchild, a Kansas City Royals farmhand.

“With that team, our pitching staff was pretty unbelievable even then,” Long said. “There were a lot of guys that are either playing pro ball right now or they’re doing big things at big universities. Those experiences helped me out a lot, just being around some of the top guys in the country.”

Long also attended the 2009 PG South Underclass Showcase in McKinney, Texas (he was named to the Top Prospect List), the 2010 PG Junior National Showcase at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla., and the 2011 PG National Showcase at City of Palms Park in Fort Myers, Fla.

“It was just really a lot of fun getting around a lot of the best players in the country; just seeing all the country that comes in from around the country that you don’t get to see every day,” he said of the showcase experiences. “Watching the home run derby and watching the guys taking infield, and then seeing guys out on the mound that are throwing in the upper-90s in high school, you just don’t see that all the time.”

THIS YEAR’S A&M TEAM BOLTED TO A NEARLY UNPRECEDENTED 24-0 START, including five straight SEC wins. It won its first five SEC series against Auburn, Alabama, Missouri, Kentucky and Mississippi State before dropping 2-of-3 to Arkansas last weekend. Only LSU, Florida, Vanderbilt and Missouri were playing at a comparable level in league play.

Six everyday players in the Aggies’ lineup are hitting .311 or better, starting with sophomore outfielder Nick Banks at .407 (61-for-150). Banks, a 2012 PG All-American, has seven doubles, two triples, five home runs, 32 RBI and 61 runs scored; he also boasts a .471 on-base percentage, .580 slugging percentage and has stolen a team-high seven bases.

Junior shortstop/outfielder Logan Taylor is hitting .376 with 10 home runs, seven doubles and team-high 38 RBI and sophomore infielder Ronnie Gideon is at .324 with seven home runs, eight doubles and 35 RBI. Senior catcher Mitchell Nau (.363, 3 HRs, 9 2Bs, 32 RBI), junior corner-infielder Hunter Melton (.349, 4 HRs, 6 2Bs, 24 RBI) and senior infielder Blake Allemand (.311, 4 HRs, 7 2Bs, 27 RBI) have also been big contributors.

 “I don’t think anybody can say we expected to win 36 of our first 41 to start the year, but we felt like from an offensive standpoint that was going to be one of our strengths with as much experience as we had back,” Childress said. “Coach (Will) Bolt and Coach (Justin) Seely have done a great job with the hitters and we’ve been very consistent offensively.”

Childress has used five pitchers out of the bullpen that have pitched 19 1/3 innings more, including junior Andrew Vinson. A workhorse left-hander, Vinson has pitched 30 innings in 21 relief appearances and is 3-0 with a 0.60 ERA, and 29 strikeouts against just three walks.

Junior right-hander Kyle Simonds (2-1, 0.96 ERA) has worked 37 1/3 innings in 12 appearances (two starts), junior lefty Ty Schlottman (3-1, 1.69 ERA) is at 21 1/3 innings in 24 appearances and sophomore righty Ryan Hendrix (3-0, 1.40) has logged 25 2/3 innings in 15 appearances (one start). Sophomore righty Mark Ecker (0-1, 0.93 ERA) is the saves leader with eight (four relievers have at least one save).

“It’s pretty easy as a starter to hand the ball off in the sixth or seventh inning,” Long said. “If you have a one- or two-run lead, you can feel pretty comfortable that you’re going to get the win. Our bullpen is pretty ridiculous because we have our guys in long relief and then we have our closers who pretty much shut the door on everybody that they face, so it’s been a lot of fun.”

Childress likes the way his deep staff is able to feed off each other’s energy and do the job their assigned to do; no one tries to more than they’re asked to do on any given day: “That’s been the most fun thing about the pitching staff is the guys we’ve used in different spots in starting and out of the bullpen have always done what we’ve asked them to do and passed it to the next guy,” he said.

BEFORE GOING DOWN WITH AN ELBOW INJURY IN HIS FOURTH start this season, Minter was looking like the kind of overpowering starter everyone was hoping he would be. He finished the season 2-0 with a 0.43 ERA, allowing one earned run on 17 hits while striking out 29 and walking eight; opposing batters were hitting just .213 against him. With two pitchers done for the season, Childress had to redirect his thinking.

“As you go through the fall, if you feel like you’re really offensive you’re probably a little bit concerned about your pitching, and I’ll have to say I was a little bit concerned about our pitching,” he said. “Certainly losing Tyler Stubblefield in the first week of practice and A.J. Minter a month into the season was a hit.

“But I’m really proud of our guys of taking the approach of ‘next man up’ and we’ve had several guys that have done really well for us on the mound and allowed us not to miss a beat.”

The bus carrying the No. 2-ranked Texas A&M Aggies should have pulled into Baton Rouge sometime late Wednesday afternoon, and it’s likely they were greeted by a hungry bunch of LSU Fighting Tigers. There is no debate that football was the driving force behind A&M leaving the Big 12 for the SEC, but if baseball can benefit by having the eyes of the nation riveted on an important league series in late April, then everybody wins.

This is what players like Long signed up for, and why a veteran coach like Childress can barely contain his excitement. He feels like his program has finally established itself among the league’s elite in its third season, and for the first time there’s a sense of comfort among his players and staff.

“It’s certainly the ultimate challenge in our sport, making it through a 30-game grind in the schedule, and the teams that make it through the SEC and get to the postseason, there’s nothing that they’re not prepared for; that’s a special thing,” Childress said.

Special, indeed. If the Aggies can somehow pick up a win or two at Alex Box Stadium over the next three days – the Bayou Bengals are 22-5 there this season – they would be in position to make a solid run towards their first SEC Western Division Championship. After that, who knows? Thoughts of a second College World Series appearance in five years would certainly have to be entertained.

“Right now we’re just focusing on this weekend but, of course, Omaha is always in the back of mind,” Long said. “The rankings right now really don’t matter; we’re just looking forward to being number-one at the end of the season.”