Tag: Jace LaViolette

Texas A&M senior second baseman Ted Burton reflects on victory vs. No. 17 Georgia to start SEC series

“I actually got up a little concerned that I tore something,” Burton recalled. “I was glad that I was able to stretch out for my teammates.”

On Friday evening at Blue Bell Park, the No. 1 Texas A&M baseball team was able to earn a 5-2 SEC win versus No. 17 Georgia thanks to winning plays, like a defensive web gem from senior second baseman Ted Burton.

“I actually got up a little concerned that I tore something. It was a good spot to do it and I was glad that I was able to stretch out for my teammates,” Burton explained. “I’ve gotta give credit to our training staff. I’m with them everyday and they just put so much energy into us. All credit to them making for us feel our best.

“That’s what make this team great is a lot of the time it’s Jace, Braden and Gavin, even Jackson Appel, they’re just unbelievable. Just one through nine,  you never know who is going to play the best and who is going to be player of the game, so that makes it special.”

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No. 1 Texas A&M baseball team announces starting rotation for SEC series vs. No. 17 Georgia

Texas A&M head baseball Coach Jim Schlossnagle has names the starting rotation for the series against Georgia.

After another midweek win and still holding a unanimous No. 1 ranking, Texas A&M (36-5, 13-5) will face No. 17 Georgia (30-10, 9-9) in another tough Top 25 SEC series. The Aggies are off to their best start in two decades and look to keep the momentum going as they host the Bulldogs this weekend.

For the first time this season, we have Mr. “TBA” entering the rotation after being a mainstay before the hiring of Max Wiener. This doesn’t mean Justin Lampkin won’t start game three, but Coach Jim Schlossnagle is keeping his options open depending on how the series goes through the first two games.

Here is that lineup:

Texas A&M will begin a three-game home series on Friday at 6 p.m. at Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park versus No. 17 Georgia.

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Texas A&M baseball remains the top dog in the new USA TODAY Coaches Poll

Texas A&M was two runs shy of the sweep over Alabama last weekend, but they keep the top spot after a 3-1 week.

Texas A&M (35-5, 13-5 SEC) is an offensive juggernaut and did something that’s hard to do in SEC play, and that’s going on the road and win a series against a top-25 conference opponent. The Aggie baseball team started the week run-ruling Air Force 15-5 in a tune-up before they headed to Tuscaloosa to face Alabama which just knocked off the No. 1 team the weekend before.

Alabama showed why they are a dangerous team to face putting some pressure on the Aggies in the first two games, but the firepower of the Maroon and White was just too much to overcome. They outscored the Tide 28-14 through those two games to claim their fifth straight conference series win.

There was no doubt after Saturday afternoon that A&M would stay the No.1 team in the country. Even though Alabama did take game three in a 10-9 win the Aggies racked up 52 runs through four games with one run-rule victory during that span. Things are still looking good for A&M, but there is a lot of base left to be played and this sport can be very unforgiving at times.

Here are the complete Week 10 rankings.

Rank Team Record PTS 1st Prev Chg Hi/Lo
1
Texas A&M
 35-5 772 29 1 – 1/10
2
Arkansas
 34-6 735 1 2 – 1/5
3
Tennessee
 33-7 716 1 3 – 3/8
4
Clemson
 32-7 674 0 6
+2
 2/11
5
Kentucky
 32-7 637 0 5 – 5/NR
6
Duke
 29-11 593 0 8
+2
 6/14
7
East Carolina
 31-8 581 0 10
+3
 7/16
8
Vanderbilt
 29-11 513 0 12
+4
 3/14
9
Florida State
 31-8 503 0 7
-2
 7/NR
10
Oregon State
 30-9 497 0 4
-6
 2/10
11
Wake Forest
 26-13 449 0 13
+2
 1/22
12
Virginia
 30-11 426 0 8
-4
 8/15
13
UC Irvine
 28-8 372 0 16
+3
 13/NR
14
North Carolina
 30-10 371 0 11
-3
 7/17
15
Coastal Carolina
 27-12 330 0 20
+5
 15/21
16
Louisiana
 31-11 222 0 15
-1
 15/NR
17
Georgia
 29-10 189 0 23
+6
 17/NR
18
Oklahoma
 24-14 160 0 NR
+10
 18/NR
18
Alabama
 25-15 160 0 14
-4
 10/18
20
Arizona
 24-14 158 0 NR
+6
 20/NR
21
South Carolina
 27-13 146 0 21 – 14/NR
22
Oklahoma State
 26-14 133 0 17
-5
 17/NR
23
North Carolina State
 22-15 127 0 NR
+8
 14/NR
24
Oregon
 27-12 122 0 18
-6
 18/NR
25
Indiana State
 29-8 121 0 25 – 25/NR

Schools Dropped Out

No. 19 Dallas Baptist; No. 22 Virginia Tech; No. 24 West Virginia;

Others Receiving Votes

Dallas Baptist 94; Virginia Tech 64; Mississippi State 45; Texas Tech 40; UC Santa Barbara 25; West Virginia 20; Nebraska 18; UNCW 16; Utah 11; UCF 9; Georgia Tech 8; Lamar 5; Louisiana Tech 4; UTSA 3; Creighton 2; Western Kentucky 1; Troy 1; San Diego 1; Illinois 1;

 

Texas A&M will face Houston on Tuesday, April 23, at 6:00 p.m. CST, where the game will air on SEC Network+.

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No. 1-ranked Texas A&M baseball drops Game 3 vs. No. 14 Alabama

No. 1-ranked Texas A&M failed to outscore No, 14 Alabama, falling 10-9 in Game 3 of the series

No. 1-ranked Texas A&M flexed its muscle on Friday during the double-header vs. No. 14 Alabama in Tuscaloosa, earning a 10-5 comeback win in Game 1 and an 18-9 home run fest in Game 2, but failed to complete the sweep on Saturday afternoon.

Falling 10-9, starting pitcher Justin Lamkin has struggled on the mound, allowing five runs in just 1.2 innings pitched while earning a no-decision in the loss. Creating another hole to start the game, an Alabama grand slam in the second led to a 5-0 deficit before freshman phenom Gavin Grahovic got things going at the plate with an RBI single.

Later in the fourth, Grahovic continued to make an impact, hitting a base-clearing double to bring the score within one at 6-5. Adding another run off a solo shot, the Crimson Tide changed pitchers, resulting in a Travis Chesnut triple, driving Ali Camarillo home to tie the game at 7, followed by Jace LaViolette’s 20th home run of the year to take an 8-7 lead in the bottom of the fifth.

After tying the game at 8 in the sixth, Alabama kept the Aggies at bay until Caden Sorrell’s sac fly in the seventh to take their final lead of the game, until the Crimson Tide scored two more runs at the bottom of the frame to earn a much-needed victory in SEC play.

Texas A&M will return to Blue Bell Park on Tuesday, April 23, to face Houston at 6:00 p.m. CT. The game will air on SEC+.

Note: Jace LaViolette became the first Texas A&M baseball player to hit 20 home runs in consecutive seasons.

Final stats: Gavin Grahovic had two hits and four RBI, and Jace LaViolette had one hit and three RBI.

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Texas A&M sophomore superstar Jace LaViolette recaps doubleheader vs. No. 14 Alabama

“We knew it was going to be a really long day and we kind of prepared for that. We got some good sleep and hydration last night,” he stated.

The No. 1 Texas A&M baseball team took both games of a doubleheader at No. 14 Alabama on Friday, 10-5 and 18-9.

Leading the charge, as he has been all season, was sophomore Jace LaViolette. The superstar outfielder and the Aggies (35-4, 13-4 SEC) remained unphased when the Crimson Tide (24-15, 6-11) took a 5-0 lead in Game 1, going on to outscore their conference rivals 28-9 over the next 14 innings to clinch a series victory.

“We didn’t really have much talk in the dugout, we just kept doing what we were doing. We came out flat at the beginning but we knew once our bats got hot that we could do what we wanted as long as we stayed to our approach, which is what we did,” LaViolette explained Friday. “We knew it was going to be a really long day and we kind of prepared for that. We got some good sleep and hydration last night. It was just a mindset thing, coming to the park and knowing we were going to play two, a full 18 and try to do our best to trust our process and see what the results came to be.

“It’s a lot of fun to be a part of this team, to be a part of this culture, it’s an unbelievable team to be around… I think we just do what we’ve been doing all season, trust in the process and what we’ve been doing. Opening Day mentality and just doing that same thing every day. It’s been working, so why not keep it going?”

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No. 1 Texas A&M baseball team announces starting rotation for SEC series vs. No. 12 Alabama

Texas A&M head baseball Coach Jim Schlossnagle has names the starting rotation for the series against Alabama.

Fresh off run ruling Air Force and sporting a unanimous No. 1 ranking, Texas A&M (33-4, 11-4) will face No. 16 Alabama (24-13, 6-9) as college baseball’s top dog in their first SEC series. However, this is SEC baseball and Alabama will be hosting the Aggies after knocking off the former No. 1 in Arkansas last weekend.

On Wednesday, head coach Jim Schlossnagle announced the usual suspects for Texas A&M’s three starting pitchers for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The three-head monster will enter the series with a 3.18 ERA and a 12-2 record. They have a monster 157 strikeout led by Aggie comeback player of the year Ryan Prager. 

Here is that lineup:

Texas A&M will begin a three-game home series on Thursday at 6 p.m. at Sewell-Thomas Stadium in Tuscaloosa versus No. 12 Alabama.

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‘This place would be a boombox’: Texas A&M OF Hayden Schott explains Blue Bell Park’s new anthem

“(Jace and I) were like ‘Dude, if we got a whole crowd in on that and played it every run or something, this place would be a boombox!'”

On its way to becoming the No. 1 team in the nation this weekend with a sweep of SEC rival Vanderbilt, the Texas A&M baseball team recently found a new tune to groove to every time an Aggie scores a run.

After the series finale against the Commodores, graduate student outfielder Hayden Schott was asked about the origin of the team’s fondness for the song “Rattlin’ Bog” by the Irish Descendants.

“Me and Jace LaViolette, they were playing it at South Carolina on the speakers and we were like ‘Dude, if we got a whole crowd in on that, and played it every run or something, this place would be a boombox!’ So then Friday night, obviously we had a great baseball game, it just added so much to the crowd I felt like,” Schott recalled. “Everyone was so loud.

“I think now that we won, they can’t take it away, so I’m going to have a word with coach about that. I’ll just make sure that he doesn’t end this streak. I’ll probably have a word with him tomorrow during our media meeting with me and him.”

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Texas A&M baseball climb to the top spot in the new USA TODAY Coaches Poll

Texas A&M jumps two spots to No. 1 in the country after a dominating week going 4-0 and sweeping No. 6 Vanderbilt

There’s a new sheriff in town for Week 9 and they reside in the great state of Texas. The Texas A&M Aggie baseball team (32-4, 11-4 SEC) has captured the number one spot in the USA TODAY Coaches poll after going 4-0 during the week and sweeping the No. 6 ranked Vanderbilt Commodores impressively. They hit a total of nine home runs over the weekend outscoring Vanderbilt 36-6 for their sweep of a ranked opponent since 2016.

If their weekly resume wasn’t already ready enough the previous two top teams both lost their series over the weekend. Arkansas dropped two out of three to Alabama and Clemson did the same to NC State.

After those developments it was all but written in stone that A&M would be the new No. 1 team in the country when the polls dropped. There is still a lot of baseball left to be played, but this solidified what a lot of experts have been saying about Jim Schlossnalge’s Aggies.

Here are the complete Week 9 rankings.

Rank Team Record PTS 1st Prev Chg Hi/Lo
1
Texas A&M
 32-4 764 22 3
+2
 1/10
2
Arkansas
 30-5 738 7 1
-1
 1/5
3
Tennessee
 30-6 703 1 4
+1
 3/8
4
Oregon State
 29-5 656 0 5
+1
 2/7
5
Kentucky
 30-5 628 1 8
+3
 5/NR
6
Clemson
 29-6 627 0 2
-4
 2/11
7
Florida State
 30-5 577 0 9
+2
 7/NR
8
Virginia
 28-8 528 0 10
+2
 8/15
8
Duke
 26-10 528 0 7
-1
 7/14
10
East Carolina
 27-8 505 0 11
+1
 10/16
11
North Carolina
 29-7 491 0 12
+1
 7/17
12
Vanderbilt
 26-10 432 0 6
-6
 3/14
13
Wake Forest
 24-11 369 0 15
+2
 1/22
14
Alabama
 24-12 307 0 17
+3
 10/18
15
Louisiana
 28-9 267 0 24
+9
 15/NR
16
UC Irvine
 25-7 264 0 14
-2
 14/NR
17
Oklahoma State
 25-11 258 0 25
+8
 17/NR
18
Oregon
 25-10 235 0 22
+4
 18/NR
19
Dallas Baptist
 26-8 184 0 13
-6
 8/NR
20
Coastal Carolina
 24-11 183 0 20 – 15/21
21
South Carolina
 25-11 172 0 NR
+5
 14/NR
22
Virginia Tech
 23-10 115 0 16
-6
 15/NR
23
Georgia
 27-9 93 0 NR
+6
 23/NR
24
West Virginia
 22-13 81 0 NR
+13
 24/NR
25
Indiana State
 27-7 77 0 NR
+2
 25/NR

Schools Dropped Out

No. 18 Florida; No. 19 UCF; No. 21 Nebraska; No. 23 Mississippi State;

Others Receiving Votes

Arizona 64; Nebraska 40; Oklahoma 27; Mississippi State 23; Florida 22; North Carolina State 21; Lamar 19; Texas Tech 14; Northeastern 13; UC Santa Barbara 11; UCF 10; Campbell 10; Utah 9; Creighton 7; Georgetown 2; Georgia Tech 1;

Texas A&M will face Air Force on Tuesday, April 16, at 4:00 p.m. CT, where the game will air on SEC Network+.

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‘Brutal baseball’: Texas A&M head coach Jim Schlossnagle recaps walk-off win vs. UTSA

“We played about as brutal baseball that you can possibly play that I ever remember an A&M team playing, which was out of character for us.”

The No. 3 Texas A&M baseball team barely avoided an upset loss against in-state rival, UT San Antonio, on Tuesday night at Blue Bell Park.

After the game, head coach Jim Schlossnagle provided his summary of the contest, including senior catcher Jackson Appel’s 3-home run performance.

“We got (Appel) in that spot because he puts the ball in play. We’re thinking that Grahovac, LaViolette and Montgomery are going to be on base a lot,” Schlossnagle explained. “It’s not necessarily about his power but he did a good job of staying on top of the baseball. There was a weird wind, I couldn’t tell if the flag was blowing across the field a little bit east. I thought Grahovac’s ball had a chance and the balls hit to center and right field.

“We played about as brutal baseball that you can possibly play, that I ever remember an A&M team playing, either one I’ve coached or seen play, which was out of character for us. But I’m really proud of our team for staying in the fight.

“Zane got us some decent outs. Peery got us four outs. Cortez was obviously electric. If we just knew 8-of-10 times that we would get that for the rest of the season, we’re an infinitely better team.”

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See what Texas A&M Aggies made the Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List

A trio of Aggies find themselves on the 2024 Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List for the best amateur baseball player in the country

Texas A&M is one of two teams that currently have three players on the 2024 Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List. The award is given out near the end of June to recognize the top amateur player in the country. This is the third time in program history that the Aggies had three players on the list during the 2012 & 2013 seasons. Below are the current A&M players that made the list

Outfielder Braden Montgomery

Outfielder Jace LaViolette

Pitcher Ryan Prager

The 2024 Golden Spikes Award timeline is as follows:

  •  May 20: Golden Spikes Award semifinalists announced, and fan voting begins
  •  June 3: Golden Spikes Award semifinalists fan voting ends
  •  June 5: Golden Spikes Award finalists announced, and fan voting begins
  •  June 21: Golden Spikes Award finalists’ fan voting ends
  •  June 22: Golden Spikes Award winner announced

Congratulations to all of the Aggies who have been named to the 2024 Golden Spikes Award Watchlist.

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