By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
Around 1 a.m. on Sunday morning at Charles Schwab Stadium in Omaha, Neb., Texas A&M pitcher Evan Aschenbeck threw the pitch. Florida leadoff man Cade Kurland hit it, and the ball sailed high and deep to right field.
Six-foot-six A&M rightfielder Jace LaViolette, already playing deep to prevent anything from sailing over his head, ran slightly off line to where he needed to be on the most important play of the game at the Men’s College World Series.
Admitting to making “the total wrong read” on the ball, LaViolette said later that he also thought his position might not matter because the ball might be a home run, anyway.
“My heart kind of dropped for a second,” he told reporters on site after the game.
Then something amazing happened. The ball that looked like it might land well beyond his reach for a go-ahead, two-run homer started to come back into LaViolette’s range.
He jumped up and snatched it out of the air, robbing Kurland of a homer and propelling A&M to a 3-2 victory over the Gators on Day Two of the MCWS.
“I think the wind knocked it down a little bit,” LaViolette said. “It was a really cool play.”
A&M coach Jim Schlossnagle, in his postgame remarks, deadpanned that he is glad that LaViolette is tall.
Schlossnagle said he thought when Kurland struck the ball that it would be a home run.
“You know, I know there’s been homers hit (here), but you never know until you see it go over the fence, because of how this place plays,” said Schlossnagle. “Really, there wasn’t that much wind going, but he just hit it to the wrong spot.
“Cade’s a great hitter. Stayed on a good pitch. We were playing no doubles (positioning),” Schlossnagle said. “So, Jace was already pretty far back there. But I thought it was a homer.”
It wasn’t a homer, and it gave LaViolette a thrill of his young life.
He told a television reporter from ESPN that he might be awake for a few more hours because of the adrenaline he was feeling.
Texas A&M will play against the Kentucky Wildcats on Monday at 6 p.m. in the winners bracket. Both teams are 1-0 in their half of the eight-team MCWS tournament.
The winner there will earn a ticket to the four-team bracket finals against either North Carolina State or Florida, who will play on Monday at 1 p.m. in an elimination game.
Records
Florida 34-29
Texas A&M 50-13