The Texas A&M Aggies avoided a winless week with a walk-off win on Sunday over Portland, taking the series finale from the Pilots thanks to late-inning heroics from freshman slugger Jace LaViolette. Texas A&M will now try to build upon that surge of adrenaline on Tuesday when it hosts Houston Christian at Blue Bell Park.
GAME COVERAGE
TV: The game vs the Huskies will be streamed and available on SEC Network+ with the call from Will Johnson and Boomer White… 12thMan.com and the 12th Man Mobile app offer live play-by-play and statistics for all home games… fans with cable providers offering access to SEC Network+ can watch all non-televised home games via the WatchESPN App using their cable provider access code.
Interested fans can also get a behind-the-scenes look at how the broadcast is done when, for the first time ever, 12thMan Productions pulls back the curtain of a live television production in real time. Viewers will go inside the state-of-the-art control room located in the south end of Kyle Field and witness what it takes to put on a successful nationally-streamed ESPN/SEC Network broadcast. The behind-the-scenes look will also air on SECNetwork+ and the WatchESPN app.
RADIO: The game can be heard locally on SportsRadio 1150/93.7 The Zone… Tyler Pigg and Rody Barker will have the play-by-play call… the pregame show begins 15 minutes prior to first pitch.
SOCIAL: Fans can get in-game updates on social media by following @AggieBaseball on Twitter.
PROMOTIONS AT THE BALLPARK
It’s staff appreciation night at Blue Bell Park with two (2) free tickets available for Texas A&M faculty and staff in advance and on game day. Additionally, teachers and other school administrators can purchase general admission tickets at the group rate ($5).
12thMan Rewards
12th Man Rewards is the free program that appreciates fans for standing with the 12th Man and attending Texas A&M Athletics events in support of creating a home-court advantage for our student-athletes and coaches.
The more events you attend, the more your points will increase. Those points can be redeemed via the online giveaway store for a variety of items.
AGAINST THE HUSKIES
The game marks the 12th consecutive season the Aggies and Huskies have squared off and 15th overall, doing so once annually since 2012. All games have been in Bryan-College Station with the Aggies holding the Huskies to 2 or fewer runs in 12 of the 14 meetings.
Last season the Aggies pulled out a 3-2 win over the Huskies at Blue Bell Park, staking itself to a 3-0 lead on RBI hits from Brett Minnich and Jack Moss before Chris Cortez and Brad Rudis threw 2.0 innings of relief apiece to get Texas A&M to the finish line.
A+ GRADE FOR HAAS
Despite the overall early struggles for the Aggie offense, shortstop Hunter Haas has been off to a stellar start. The former Arizona State infielder is in his first year at Texas A&M and in addition to playing flawless defense through seven games, has been everything you could ask for out of a leadoff hitter, leading the Aggies in hitting (.391) and on-base percentage (.576). He is the only Aggie to currently rank in the top 10 of the SEC in a slash-line category, ranking eighth in OBP, after reaching base in an eye-popping 13 of 15 plate appearances in the series vs Portland. Haas enters Tuesday with only two strikeouts and an SEC-best 10 walks drawn.
LAVIOLETTE CLOSES PORTLAND SERIES STRONG
For 22 innings vs Portland, things were rough at the plate for Jace LaViolette. The freshman was 0-for-8 in the series with 6 strikeouts entering Sunday’s finale and opened Game 3 going down on strikes in each of his first two trips to the plate.
However, a double in the fifth inning changed not only his fortune, but that of the Aggies. LaViolette hit safely in each of his final three at-bats of the weekend, including a walk-off, two-run double into the right field corner in the bottom of the ninth to give Texas A&M its first taste of Olsen Magic in 2023.
MIDWEEK METTLE
College baseball sees most of its focus on weekend series, but success in midweek battles can pay big dividends in the later months of the season. The Aggies dropped their first midweek of 2023 last Tuesday to Lamar, but have typically taken advantage of their midweek opportunities. Texas A&M was 9-1 in midweek games in 2022 with the lone loss coming at Houston on March 15. The Aggies are 25-4 in midweek games since the start of the COVID-shortened 2020 season.
ASCHENBECK GETS RELIEF WIN VS PORTLAND
The Aggies had used 10 different relief pitchers through six games entering Sunday, but Jim Schlossnagle hit the right button with his 11th reliever of the year in the win over Portland when he turned to junior college transfer Evan Aschenbeck. The left-handed reliever from Brenham had not gotten in a game as an Aggie, but took the bull by the horns in his first trip to the mound at Blue Bell Park, entering in the sixth inning and holding the Pilots right where they were with 4.0 dazzling innings of relief which included 4 strikeouts and no walks allowed.
AGGIE ATTENDANCE CHECK
It isn’t uncommon for Aggies to show up supporting Aggies, but early indications are for big attendance numbers in 2023. So far, through seven games, Texas A&M ranks seventh in the NCAA with an average of 5,770 fans per game.
But look a little deeper and you’ll find that each of the first two weekends of the year are among some of the best non-conference weekends in recent memory. Total attendance for the three-game series’ vs Seattle U (17,844) and Portland (17,654) rank only behind Yale’s visit to Blue Bell Park in 2016 in total attendance for a non-conference, three-game set since the facility was renovated in 2012.
12 TAKEAWAYS FOR THE AGGIES IN 2023
1 – The Aggies have drawn 47 bases on balls in 2023, ranking 24th in the nation. They are led by Hunter Haas’ 10 free passes, which is 10th nationally.
2 – Texas A&M ranked 179th in the country in fielding percentage in 2022, but has been nearly perfect so far, committing just two errors thru seven games. It is the second straight year the Aggies have opened with only two errors in their first seven games.
3 – The Aggies were held without a HR in the three-game series vs Portland. They were only held without a HR in three straight games once in 2022. The last time they were held without a HR in three straight games was the 2022 series loss to Penn on the second weekend of the slate.
4 – 4 freshmen position players – Jace LaViolette, Max Kaufer, Kasen Wells and Kaeden Kent – have a combined 17 combined starts and 72 plate appearances.
5 – Aggie left-handed relievers are averaging 12.4 Ks per 9 IP.
6 – Nathan Dettmer became the first Aggie pitcher to get consecutive Opening Day starts on the mound since Khalid Balouli in 2001 and 2002.
7 – Hunter Haas reached base in 13 of 15 plate appearances vs Portland.
8 – The Aggies did not have an attempted stolen base in the series vs Portland after swiping 11 bags in the opening series vs Seattle U.
9 – Troy Wansing punched out a career-best nine hitters in his second start as an Aggie, bettering his previous career high of seven in 2022 when he was at Purdue.
10 – The attendance of 6,719 on Opening Night was highest since 2017 the third highest Opening Night crowd at Blue Bell Park since it was renovated in 2012.
11 – Jim Schlossnagle hasn’t been swept in a weekend series since his TCU squad was swept by Baylor in late April of 2019.
12 – Jace LaViolette’s walk-off was the first of 2023 and first since Troy Claunch’s walk-off RBI single vs Louisville in Game 1 of the 2022 Super Regional.
Credit to 12thman.com