Jace Laviolette discusses growth as freshman in SEC

Jace Laviolette is playing well for Texas A&M down the stretch, but his freshman season hasn’t gone smoothly from start to finish.

The Katy, Texas native saw his average dip to .209 in mid March, but over the past two months of the season, Laviolette has slowly pulled it up.

Thanks to a recent hot stretch, the outfielder now has his average at .309 for the year, which is the highest it has been since the first week of the season.

Laviolette recently spoke about his growth as a freshman after the Aggies beat Tennessee in their opening game of the SEC Tournament.

“I would say this was by far the hardest transition in baseball I’ve ever had to go through,” LaViolette said. “And honestly, it boiled down to me talking to Jack Moss, and he kind of gave me insight on, ‘Dude, you’re meant to be here. You belong here. Just remember why you play this game.'”

Moss is a junior who is batting .349 for Texas A&M on the year. In addition to swinging a hot bat all season, he has also stepped up as a leader and helped younger Aggies players such as LaViolette.

“[He] had to put into perspective like I’m not dying, none of my family is dying, I’m playing baseball, and it’s meant to be fun,” LaViolette explained. “It’s meant to be — like it’s a game. We played it because we love it.”

Over his past three games, LaViolette is 6-for-10 with seven RBIs. He also has four homers during his recent hot stretch.

His newfound perspective has been a big boost as of late and throughout the second half of the season for Texas A&M.

“I had to realize that it’s a game of failure. You’re not always going to succeed,” LaViolette said. “When you do succeed, you just have to stay — you can’t ride the highs and lows. That’s what we always talk about. And you have to stay level, and that’s what I did, and it helped me out a lot.”

Jim Schlossnagle impressed by start from Texas A&M pitcher Troy Wansing

The SEC Tournament is a stage for big moments, and Texas A&M pitcher Troy Wansing certainly seized his in the single-elimination round for the Aggies on Tuesday afternoon.

Wansing helped guide Texas A&M to a 3-0 defeat of Tennessee in a game that was delayed by two hours and six minutes in the ninth inning.

“I have a lot of respect for Tennessee. They’re an aggressive swinging team,” Texas A&M coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “I think the general game plan, they can really hit against anybody, but their numbers are a lot better, especially their extra base hit numbers are a lot better against right-handed pitching than they are against left-handed pitching, even the right-handed hitters.”

Yet against the Aggies, the Volunteers managed to scratch out just one hit on the afternoon.

Wansing had a perfect game going through five innings before right-fielder Christian Scott hit a one-out single to right center field in the sixth inning. It was the only blemish for Wansing on an otherwise incredible SEC Tournament afternoon.

With the win, Texas A&M advanced to face Arkansas on Thursday.