SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE BASEBALL TOURNAMENT

May 26, 2022

Jim Schlossnagle

Micah Dallas

Trevor Werner

Hoover Metropolitan Stadium

Texas A&M Aggies

Postgame Press Conference

Texas A&M 10, Florida 0

JIM SCHLOSSNAGLE: Yeah, obviously we had a lot of things go our way today. Micah was outstanding. That's a huge, huge sign for our program, our team going forward. Trevor has just battled a whole bunch of injuries, and you're starting to see him get healthy and get stronger and get at-bats under his belt and become the kind of player that we know he is.

Today was a real big personal achievement for me because I've never been a part of a team that's scored a run against Florida. I've only been a part of a team that has been shut out twice in the World Series by the same guy. Thank goodness Alex Faedo didn't show up today.

Q. Micah, speak to your start, man. How big was it for you to get out, and honestly how much did Jordan's catch on the first pitch of the game settle your nerves?

MICAH DALLAS: Yeah, I already talked to him for a while about that, thanking him. It totally switched around the outing and the momentum of the game. If that drops, then who knows what happens.

But just talking about my start, I just felt comfortable out there and just was being me. Coach Schlossnagle and Coach Yeskie have done a great job of sticking with have believed in me this whole time, and my teammates have had my back this whole time. I couldn't be more thankful for the position I'm in and just to be able to play for these guys.

Just having all that confidence going in, knowing that everyone has my back, just helps me out for sure.

Q. Trevor, most teams in the tournament so far haven't really been able to score too many runs. I think before the today the highest run total was five. What did your team do to get the offense going today?

TREVOR WERNER: Yeah, it's been the same thing we've done all season. It's about winning pitches and having the same approach 1 through 9, sticking to our plan. It sounds simple, but take the balls and hit the strikes. We took advantage of the pitcher's mistakes, and that's how we did it.

Q. Trevor, playing defense behind Micah when he's got that tempo, you guys were pretty sharp on the dirt. Speak to that relationship between you guys behind him and then his tempo on the mound.

TREVOR WERNER: Yeah, tempo is a huge thing, especially on the pitching side, getting right back on hitters, getting ahead. So I tell him, get the ball; say hey, we've got your back, go get this guy right here. So getting ahead and just keeping the pressure on them all the time sets us up for success, and that's what he did today.

Q. Micah, the feel for the slider seemed like it was as good as it's been and the command at the bottom of the zone. Did you know coming out of the pen that you had that ready?

MICAH DALLAS: I mean, I feel like I always have it ready. I think today was a good emphasis on my changeup and just being able to throw that really in any part of the count, I got some good swing and misses on that, kept them off my fast ball. I had all three pitches working at the bottom of the zone, and that's where I need to stay.

Q. Did they tell you what time you might play next? Or it's just totally up in the air as far as preparation for the next game?

JIM SCHLOSSNAGLE: I think Herb called us this morning and gave us a ballpark idea, said he would try to give us two hours' advance notice since we're the home team and our pitcher had to be ready first. All I asked was two hours advance notice, and he did that. We were up and ready at 6:45 a.m. eating breakfast and then sent the guys back to bed.

Q. I mean the next game.

JIM SCHLOSSNAGLE: Oh, the next game? I have no idea. Who do we even play? Do we play Arkansas? Alabama won, yeah. But yeah, I don't know.

I'm pretty sure -- depending how long that one goes, obviously us getting that done in seven innings probably helps getting three games in today, so I know that's the goal.

Q. (Indiscernible)

JIM SCHLOSSNAGLE: Tennessee has obviously been the class of college baseball the whole season, but at the same time, go check the SEC conference only stats. The Aggies' offense has been pretty darned good, too. That doesn't mean that we're going to be great. It doesn't mean that -- we're certainly not better than Tennessee. They've proven to be far and away the best team in the country up to this point, but the question about our offense, it's been pretty good. It's been really good in conference play.

Q. The decision to go get Micah after five, how much were you and Nate Yeskie talking in the dugout just after every time he'd come in, and obviously he gave you exactly what you needed and what you wanted, but how close were you to letting him go back in in the sixth?

JIM SCHLOSSNAGLE: Yeah, not very. He didn't tell you, he's actually a little under the weather, so he was kind of out of gas, which I think that was probably a good thing. Micah tends to get a little overexcited, pitch with a lot of energy, kind of overthrows his pitches sometimes. So today because of how he felt, he was a little bit more under control, which I think was a really good learning opportunity for him.

I told him when I took him out, your 80 percent is probably about where you need to pitch. And definitely wanted him to come off the mound feeling really good about it because we were going to need that next week.

Q. You talked about waking your players up at 6:45 and then having them go back to bed. What's that been like with all these rain delays trying to keep your team ready at any moment's notice to go out and play baseball?

JIM SCHLOSSNAGLE: Yeah, baseball players deal with that all time. If you don't like it, go play basketball. You sweep the gym floor and play. But in baseball you're always dealing with that thing your whole life growing up, and I think it's just about being able to be flexible and then also having focus. When it's time to get locked in, you're getting in that hourglass we call it, and when you're out, you're out. It's a good practice for a young player to learn.

Q. Off the top of my head, I think Micah got into four three-ball counts and retired the batters in all four instances. What does that say about his performance and the way he was locked in and able to get through everything today?

JIM SCHLOSSNAGLE: Yeah, he did a nice job of executing pitches when he had to and not giving up -- we gave up the two free bases in the inning where Fabian almost really got us with the error and the 0-2 hit-by pitch. And you have to give them credit for getting deeper in counts as the game went on. But then he eventually -- he made really good pitches, and that's the Micah Dallas that we saw in the first four to five weeks of the season. He's the same guy. Just you can have a slump on the mound the same way you have a slump at the plate.

I still believe as I said going into this week that his best pitching is ahead of him, and we're going to need that to be.

Q. With Micah's good start today and the run rule, you really were able to get through the game using a minimal number of pitchers. How does that set you up for the rest of the tournament and do you have any idea who's going to be starting and first?

JIM SCHLOSSNAGLE: Nathan Dettmer will pitch tomorrow. We'll check and see. He's been dealing with a blister on his foot, but it's significantly better. Assuming that we're in the NCAA tournament, I feel pretty good about that. Next week -- if I don't pitch him tomorrow, then he would be pitching on short rest if we wanted to pitch him next Friday.

The decision has to be made. If we're going to do it, it's going to have to be tomorrow. If not, we have to give him the weekend off. So I'll check with him tonight, check with him in the morning. Also see -- I guess we play Alabama for sure, right, so we'll go back and look at that matchup, but more than likely it'll be him.

Q. A lot of balls hit hard early, Florida makes plays on them, a little bit unlucky with the Targac double play. Kind of what you've seen out of this offense all year, no heads down in the dugout?

JIM SCHLOSSNAGLE: No, these guys just move on to the next pitch really as good as any team I've ever coached. I've had some great ones, obviously, that have played deep, deep into June, and there's a lot of similarities from an offensive standpoint. I think I saw somewhere, our goal as an offense is to be the team that swings the least, but when we do swing, do the most damage.

I think as of right now -- somebody told me we swing the least in the SEC, but when you do swing, you want that high slugging percentage.

You saw some examples today, and it's not always going to fall in. There were a lot of balls hit hard.

Q. You mentioned the Fabian at-bat. What's going on? It's 3-2, he fouls off a few and then there's a mound visit. What's going on there?

JIM SCHLOSSNAGLE: Trying to slow Jud down. Just give Micah a chance to catch his breath and just -- I felt like Fabian was in charge of the at-bat. He had a grip on everything that was being thrown up there. I don't know what Nate said to him, but that's what we talked about in the dugout is just to try to mix up the tempo a little bit. Because Fabian certainly was -- he was seeing that breaking ball really well, and I know he hasn't had the season that he's certainly capable of, but he's also one swing away from changing the game, especially in this ballpark with the wind blowing out the way it was today.

That was a good job by Coach Yeskie. If he would have hit a homer, it would have been a really bad job.