Earley discusses A&M's recent surge following series win at Arkansas

Coming off a series victory over No. 2 Arkansas, Michael Earley's Fightin' Texas Aggies are one of the hottest teams in the country. Ahead of Tuesday's midweek clash with Sam Houston, the skipper joined TexAgs Live to speak on the trip to Baum–Walker Stadium and much more.

Key notes from Michael Earley interview

• The Maroon & White game was fun. When you're around Ryan Brauninger, you get a crowd of people following you.
   
• I think when we went into Tennessee, I completely oversold their atmosphere. No disrespect to them, I just wanted to be prepared. Then, going to Arkansas, I said, "Raise your hand if you think I oversold Tennessee." They all raised their hands. I said, "That won't be the case here." I'm not shying away from it, I'm telling them how it's going to be.
   
• The whole goal is to keep the place silent. When you're winning and you're in the lead, there's nothing better than hearing 14,000 people actually not saying anything. The stuff in-game was interesting, right? I guess I need to sharpen up on the rules in all facets, including replay, just to better understand because I clearly don't, but I'll just leave it at that.
   
• I knew Luke Jackson was going to be, at some point, one of the guys. We went to Brad Rudis in Game 1, and in Rudis' last three outings, he's been great. Jackson's last outing before this one was so-so, and the one before was good, so we knew it was going to be one of those two. Managing a doubleheader is interesting just because you're always playing to win, but you have to keep in mind, "Hey, you're down six or seven on the road with three to go, and you have another one." It's just tough. We rode Rudis out a little bit and then got Aiden Sims in there, and then had Jackson fresh for a game too. What a great job by him. That was one of the better performances I've ever seen. That stuff was absolutely electric, and we need to keep him on that track because that is a definite weapon.
   
• I think this outing was closer to what we've seen in the past from Ryan Prager. I think what hurt him was that play in left field that hit the wall, like that ball has to be caught. I think that was the third, and then the next batter was a homer. I think that changes everything and the outlook on it.
   
• That's one of the best offenses I've ever seen. Our guys, pitching as a whole, did a great job this weekend. Those first two hitters, that lead-off hitter is something else, and then the two-hole hitter, that's a top-five pick. That was by far the best lineup we've seen this year. No question, one of the best I've ever seen. I thought Prager pitched well and is trending in the right direction.
   
• Sometimes, after we lose, I think they're wondering what direction I'm going to go, and the direction was like, "Hey, flush it. Move on. If I told you coming into this series we had a chance to win the series, it's 1-1. We have a chance to win the series in Game 3, and you get two days off. Would you take that all day?" They're all like, "Heck yeah, we would." So I said, "Let's get out of here. It's not going to be about playing baseball in a doubleheader like this. It's about what kind of energy you can come out with. Can you come out with energy and not come out flat, and then get into the swing of the game?
   
• I thought a huge part of the game, probably overlooked because it was so early, but Jace LaViolette hitting that homer in the first. We just got beat. They beat us pretty decent, and then LaViolette comes out and gives us a 1-0 lead, left-on-left. I thought that was one of the bigger plays in the game, and it happened early on, but, like a pitcher settles in, it kind of helped the offense settle in.
   
• Those guys were the real deal. There were a lot of major leaguers on that field this weekend, and a few of them were on their pitching staff. I thought we did a really good job on both sides of the ball, and then especially on the offensive side, of just fighting and battling against good arms. They're going to get their outs, but let's make them all tough and make them all productive. I think most of them were.
   
• They did a really good job. I was really proud of them. It was really about just doing a better job, and when the ball is in the strike zone, we're doing damage on it. If I showed you the analytics from earlier in the year to now, you'd be like, "Wow." They're relatively the same. It's just that we're striking the ball better and doing it in better moments. It's really about playing complementary baseball and not having lulls in multiple areas. When one area takes a shot in the gut, the other one picks it up and just playing relatively good and clean baseball for nine innings.
   
• When the weather delay happened, I told them, "Hey, we have a 30-minute halftime here. So, chill out and stay ready to play." With Jackson, we were thankful there wasn't another lightning strike because if you sit him down for an hour, I think that changes it a little bit. If there are multiple, it definitely changes it. What we were able to do with him was that he basically just treated it like two long innings. He had just come off the field, a long inning. He stayed hot. He went down to the bullpen and then came back. So he did a really good job, and those guys did a good job keeping him ready. Clearly, it didn't faze him at all. Our guys were in a really good headspace. I don't know how to explain it. They were pretty calm, they were just like, "Alright. We'll wait, and then we'll go out and play."
   
• For Ben Royo, it's like getting your swing off in the zone. He's taking too many pitches early in the count that put him in situations he didn't want to be. I'm like, "Hey man, that first strike you get, hammer it. Look for one pitch, one spot." All credit to him, he did it, and it's really tough to do when you're having a tough weekend in a close game. Royo had a couple of those moments where, even against South Carolina, he had a pretty tough game, but in that last inning, he drew a big walk. A pretty tough weekend for him at Arkansas, but seventh inning, when we needed something to get us going, he did it. Credit to him for staying locked in even through some adversity at the plate.
   
• I love scoring in the first inning. I love it. It just makes you feel like you're settled in, especially on the road, at a place like that, because you know that team is going to come at you in some form or fashion. Then, being able to add when you can. Adding late in the games, that's been a challenge, not as of late, but that's what we've done. On the road, you need that, especially against an offense like that and in an environment like that.
   
• Those last three outs in the ninth inning, there are no harder outs to get in baseball than those, especially in college baseball. Again, it's like playing nine innings. You never know when that winning run is going to be. It might be in the first, sixth, seventh or ninth, but you just have to keep playing, and they did an outstanding job of that all weekend in front of a pretty wild crowd.
   
• With LaViolette, before this weekend, it's like, "Is LaViolette good?" I'm like, "LaViolette is hitting .290 with double-digit homers, .450 on-base percentage and playing great defense. Let it play out." If there are any questions about LaViolette handling anything, from a professional standpoint or from anyone, I think you saw it this weekend. In that environment and the pitches he hit home runs on, and the pitchers he hit them off of, that was major league stuff.
   
• LaViolette showed what he's capable of and how he can not only take over a game but really take over a weekend. It's hard because when you're him in the lineup, they're coming at you with their best stuff all of the time. He's done a really great job this year of taking his walks. He's had some struggles, but everyone is going to have struggles. You look at a guy like him and Wehiwa Aloy on their team, and those are two of the best players in college baseball, and two guys that are going to be top 10 picks. You can see that some stuff that they do is just different from everyone else.
   
• With Caden Sorrell, he'd been taking fly balls in the outfield for about a week and a half now. Kind of part of our progression. After a game, I wanted to see how he was feeling on Friday. Before I made the lineup, I wanted to watch him move around out there, and sure enough, first ball, actually hit by Bear Harrison, stays on one the other way. Sorrell runs backwards and leaps and jumps, and I'm like, "Alright, that's all I needed to see." Having him out there was good. Having those lefties in the lineup, we're going to need him to eventually play outfield full-time, but we want to continue to manage it. That doubleheader actually made it work out perfect from a matchup standpoint with a righty and then a lefty, and with it being the first game instead of the second game. Sorrell is a special player, and that's lengthened our lineup.
   
• Harrison has been phenomenal. He didn't slug as much as he has been, but he still got on base and stayed on baseballs. He did what he was supposed to do. Again, for the second time in three weeks, he caught 18 innings and showed no signs of fatigue or anything at all. We get later in the game, and I'm like, "You good? You good? You need anything?" And he's like, "Coach, I could catch three games today." So it's like alright. He's been great. He's been everything we could have asked for, and everything we could have hoped for. Credit to him, too, for his slow start, but he never stopped grinding, never stopped working, and he looks like a real hitter up there. He's not just up there slugging. He's getting on base and doing little things, even when the swing is not feeling the best.