Inclement weather caused Texas A&M‘s Men’s College World Series opener against Florida to be played deep into the Omaha night. The Aggies would prevail 3-2 as they fended off a late run by the Gators.
Justin Lamkin earned the start on the mound for Texas A&M during the matchup. However, head coach Jim Sclossnagle decided to take him out of the game after three innings of work, which the Aggies headman explained had nothing to do with the weather during his postgame comments.
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“We just felt like if we let him go any longer, even if we won the game and won the next game, we’re going to be creating stuff in the third game,” Schlossnagle said. “And I know you’ve got to win the first one. Everybody says that. But we’re trying to win — we’re trying to win the whole thing or at least give ourselves a chance without Sdao.
“So we felt if we kept him under a certain number of pitches and we had a day off, and if we could somehow win the second game I think we get another day. Then maybe Lamkin can come back and help us out some.”
Through his three innings of work, Lamkin punched out six Florida batters while allowing just one hit on 42 total pitches.
Schlossnagle liked what he saw from Lamkin vs. the Gators. He worked with all four of his pitches (cutter, slider, change, fastball), but Lamkin’s head coach was most impressed with his fastball. Lamkin averaged 94-95 miles per hour on his fastball, which Schlossnagle attributed to the extended rest from the end of super regionals and Saturday’s game.
“He can build off that, but he will have to do it on a little bit shorter rest,” Schlossnagle continued. “But that was the key is him just really getting the first inning, just getting us through the first inning and getting everybody settled in in the College World Series. And he’s got to face [Florida’s Cade] Kurland to start the game and he did an awesome job with that.”
Now, the Aggies advance to take on Kentucky, who is coming off a walk-off win against NC State on Saturday. Despite playing in the same conference, neither team met during the regular season or SEC Tournament. The first pitch between the SEC opponents is set for Monday at 7 p.m. ET live on ESPN.
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