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OMAHA, NEB. -- Even though Texas A&M ended up being the No. overall seed in the NCAA Baseball Tournament, there was a time that a march to the College World Series seemed anything but assured.
The Aggies (49-13) lost two of their final three series and both games in the SEC Tournament, which made a lot of fans nervous. Coach Jim Schlossnagle, on the other hand, found a positive in a quick bouncing from Hoover.
"I think if you followed our season, it wasn't just the SEC tournament. It was really our last three weeks of the season wasn't great, but there's blessings in everything," he said. "I think when you had a chance to reset, had a chance to get home and get rested, get out of the heat a little bit ... We were out of gas."
Five games later, A&M has knocked Grambling, Louisiana, Texas and Oregon out of the field and marched into Omaha with its offense in full gear again. As a result, the nation gets a look at a ballclub that brings its own unique style, including the "Rattlin' Bog."
"'Rattlin' Bog' was (Jace) LaViolette and (Hayden) Schott," Schlossnagle said. "I think baseball lends itself to (quirky traditions). You have so much free time. You play every day. It's even more so in professional baseball. So you come up with something to break the -- I guess you would call it monotony, but just something to keep everybody positive.
There's a lot of failure in baseball. You need something to bring the guys back to neutral and keep them positive and keep them uplifted. I think baseball players tend to do that more often than other sports."
In bouncing back from not only a slow start but serious injuries to their best player (Braden Montgomery) and a budding star (pitcher Shane Sdao), the Aggies showed they have become a tight-knit group. Considering how many transfers have made an impact on the 2024 team -- Montgomery, Schott, first baseman Ted Burton, shortstop Ali Camarillo and catcher Jackson Appel, among others -- A&M's strong run has drawn considerable praise for Schlossnagle. He, in turn, credited the team's culture and Aggieland itself.
" I think any coach would tell you you have a strong culture. And Texas A&M, as a university, leads itself to have -- Texas A&M stands for something, and it stands for a lot," he said. "There's a culture there that is not just in the baseball program or the athletic department. It's on the campus. It attracts a certain person that if you don't live up to that standard, you're not around.
I think the transfers we've gotten, they're all high-character kids from high-character families, and they've also come from great places. For example, Braden Montgomery, David Esquer deserves a lot of credit for his development. The coaches at Penn, the coaches at Columbia, the coaches at Michigan.
Those guys are all -- they're coming from great programs where they've been held to a high standard anyway, and knock on wood, we get to reap the benefits of that in today's college baseball. It has way more to do with where they came from versus necessarily anything we've done other than just welcome them with open arms and hold them to a standard."
In his three seasons at A&M, Schlossnagle has come to believe a tight bond exists between his players and their fanbase. The bubbles, "Ball Five" and non-stop heckling from Section 203 have endeared themselves to the team's coach as well.
"I think what is unique about A&M is the connection between the team and the fans," he said. "So if we get it going and if it's 'Good' or if it's Pringles or if it's whatever, then the connection between the team and any sport at A&M and the 12th Man, the true connection of that, you don't have at every school, that's what breeds itself to make it become so popular because the fans are part of the team, and the team are part of the fans."
Even though 2024 has been one of the best seasons in Aggie baseball history, Schlossnagle said the team has one objective left.
"(We're) excited to be in Omaha. Excited to represent the 12th Man Texas A&M University here in the College World Series," he said. "We had a great practice, and (we're) looking forward to staying here as long as we can to win a national title."