OMAHA, Neb. — To say Texas A&M’s Jace LaViolette scaled the green, padded barrier of Omaha’s Charles Schwab Field is giving too much credit to the wall in right field. In reality, it was every inch of LaViolette’s 6-foot-6 frame that ensured the Aggies’ a second-round matchup in the winners' bracket of the College World Series.
“I don’t think [5-foot-7 center fielder Travis] Chestnut probably would have been able to get it,” A&M head coach Jim Schlossnagle joked. For a College World Series that had been defined by offensive miracles in the final inning of the first three games, it was LaViolette’s defensive effort that sealed the Aggies’ 3-2 victory over Florida in the early hours of Sunday morning. With one out in the top of the ninth, A&M's Evan Aschenbeck issued a 1-1 change-up that caught the entirety of the middle of the plate.
Florida's Cade Kurland turned on the middle-middle pitch and drove it high into the black Omaha sky, seemingly destined for the bleachers in right field. With a runner on first, the blast would have given the Gators (34-29) their first lead of the game. LaViolette, who was already playing deep in a no-doubles defense, started on the wrong foot — quite literally.
LaViolette broke toward center field in his initial tracking of the deep fly, though the ball was hooking away from the right-handed batting of Kurland. “I got the total wrong read of the bat, I’m not going to lie,” LaViolette said. “And then I look up and I�.
