Tag Archives: Jace LaViolette

Jace LaViolette discusses his game-saving play at the Men’s College World Series

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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

Stanford knocks off Texas A&M, advances to the Super Regionals against Texas

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By Jerry Briggs
For The JB Replay

Working on only two days rest, Quinn Matthews pitched four scoreless innings of relief, and the Stanford Cardinal clinched the title in the NCAA Stanford Regional Monday night, downing the Texas A&M Aggies 7-1.

Braden Montgomery and Malcolm Moore homered to lead the offensive attack.

Additionally, Moore and Saborn Campbell each enjoyed three-hit nights and scored twice for the Cardinal, who had been on the brink of elimination after a loss to A&M two days ago.

Since A&M’s 8-5 victory over Stanford Saturday, the Cardinal won three games in 48 hours.

First, they played an elimination game Sunday afternoon and downed Cal State Fullerton, 6-5. With the victory, they moved into the finals against A&M needing two wins to claim the regional title.

They took the first step in that process Sunday night, beating the Aggies, 13-5, to set up a winner-take-all game on their home field Monday night. The Cardinal won that one, too, using four pitchers to hold A&M to one run on seven hits.

Matthews (9-4) was the winner, allowing five hits but, nevertheless, working out of jams consistently while striking out five. The lefty threw 66 pitches on two days rest after throwing 114 pitches in a start last Friday against San Jose State.

San Antonio’s Nathan Dettmer (1-4) took the loss despite a strong effort in which he struck out eight in six innings. The righthander, a Johnson High School graduate, started and yielded four runs on six hits.

A&M scored its only run in top of the second on a solo home run from freshman Jace LaViollette. It was the 21st homer of the season from the 6-foot-6 outfielder from Katy Tompkins.

Stanford (42-17 on the season) went 4-1 in winning the regional title. The Cardinal is expected to host the best-of-three Super Regional this weekend against the Texas Longhorns (41-20).

The Longhorns advanced after going 3-0 to win the Coral Gables Regional in Florida.

NCAA regionals
How the Texas teams fared

Texas: (41-20) Beat host Miami for the title on Sunday in Coral Gables, Fla.
Texas Tech: (41-23) Lost to host Florida in the title game Monday in Gainesville, Fla.
TCU: (40-22) Defeated host Arkansas Monday to win the title in Fayetteville, Ark.
Texas A&M: (38-27) Lost to host Stanford in the regional title game at Stanford, Calif.
Dallas Baptist (47-16) Lost to Oral Roberts in the finals Sunday at Stillwater, Okla.
Sam Houston State: (39-25) Eliminated after three games at Baton Rouge, La.

Stanford wins 13-5 to deny Texas A&M an NCAA regional title

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By Jerry Briggs
For The JB Replay

One win away from an NCAA Stanford Regional title, the Texas A&M Aggies started fast, hitting two homers and scoring four runs in the bottom of the first inning.

The Stanford Cardinal out-played them after that, storming to a 13-5 victory on Sunday night and forcing a deciding game on Monday for the regional title.

The winner will play the Texas Longhorns next week in the Super Regional round of the tournament.

Carter Graham kept Stanford in the game early by hitting two doubles that produced five RBIs. Later, Malcolm Moore hit a two-run homer and Tommy Troy hit a grand slam in a seven-run seventh inning for the Cardinal.

Meanwhile, the Stanford bullpen was solid, with relievers Brant Pancer, Braden Montgomery and Nick Dugan holding the Aggies to only one run in the final eight innings.

Dugan was particularly effective in pitching 3 and 2/3 scoreless while striking out six.

The Aggies were led early by Jace LaViolette and Ryan Targac. LaViolette slammed a three-run homer and Targac hit a solo shot to give A&M a 4-2 lead after the first inning.

Brett Minnich also hit a solo homer in the sixth that pulled A&M to within 6-5.