Aggies come up aces with Long anchoring injury-riddled staff
COLLEGE STATION — First, Texas A&M lost projected ace Tyler Stubblefield to a knee injury just prior to the season. His ace replacement, A.J. Minter, turned in four strong starts before he was sidelined for the year with an arm injury.
So Aggies coach Rob Childress turned to junior Grayson Long, an “accidental ace” who’s filled the role to the tune of a 9-0 record and 2.62 ERA.
“Coach Childress told me, ‘You’re going to have to carry us as far as we can go,’ ” Long recalled on Thursday.
No pressure, right? The results have been all aces for the No. 8 Aggies, who play host to Southwestern Athletic Conference champion Texas Southern at 6 p.m. Friday in the opening round of the NCAA baseball tournament.
The top-seeded Aggies have welcomed secondseeded Coastal Carolina, third-seeded California and the fourth-seeded Tigers to the College Station Regional at Blue Bell Park. The regional winner will face the winner of the Fort Worth Regional hosted by TCU, with a berth in the eight-team College World Series on the line.
Deep pitching staff
Few expected the Aggies to earn one of the nation’s top 16 seeds after losing Stubblefield and Minter, but Long, Matt Kent, Kyle Simonds and Turner Larkins have filled in admirably as starters.
The Aggies’ 3.14 team ERA is third in the Southeastern Conference, behind fellow top seeds LSU and Vanderbilt. At the head of A&M’s class is Long, a 6-5, 215-pound righthander from Barbers Hill High.
“When Minter went down, Grayson just said, ‘Get on my back. I’m going to lead you into every week,’ ” Childress said. “I’m very proud of the man he’s become.”
Childress said part of his ace’s growth has come in Long’s attention to conditioning. He’s stayed strong throughout a long season.
Long will start Saturday against either Coastal Carolina or Cal, while Kent earns the nod Friday against TSU.
“Last year at this time, Grayson had wobbled down the stretch his last two or three starts,” Childress said. “He got tired. He hasn’t done that this season, and that comes down to his preparation on a weekly basis and taking care of his body in the right way.”
Long, born in Houston and raised in Mont Belvieu, is the son of a schoolteacher (Sherri) and an electrician (Kenneth). Long’s steadfast approach on the mound is a reflection of the work ethic his parents instilled in him from the time he began playing youth ball at McLeod Park, he said.
“With my mom being a schoolteacher when I was going through school, if I messed up, she knew it immediately,” Long said, smiling. “And one day I hope to be the worker that my dad is. He sacrificed so much for our family to be able to provide for us, and I’m really thankful for that.”
College the right choice
The Seattle Mariners selected Long in the 39th round of the amateur draft three years ago following his standout Barbers Hill career, but he had his mind set on attending college and earning a degree in business management.
“I don’t think I was mature enough to be on my own with all that money and stuff like that at 18,” said Long, who turned 21 on Wednesday.
“When I was being recruited to A&M, the Aggies were moving to the SEC, they were building the new stadium (Blue Bell Park), and coach Childress is the best pitching coach in the country. It all just kept adding up, and I fell in love with the place.”
Now, in large part because of Long’s efforts, the Aggies are aiming to make the CWS in Omaha, Neb., for the first time since 2011 and are playing host to a regional for the first time since 2012.
“The fans deserve any success as much as we do,” Long said. “They’ve been behind us, win or lose. And getting 8,000 Aggies behind you is pretty special.”