Texas A&M's Jim Schlossnagle abruptly ends SEC Network interview after dropped foul ball

In the superstitious world of baseball, not much is unreasonable if it’s preventing bad luck. And that seems to be the view Texas A&M head coach Jim Schlossnagle adopted on in-game interviews during the Aggies second round SEC tournament game against Arkansas.

With the Aggies in the field, SEC Network play-by-play announcer Dave Neal asked the coach about the importance of pitching in the postseason. As Schlossnagle answered, the Arkansas batter popped a pitch high into right field foul territory.

“Um if they can continue to swing,” Schlossnagle said as the ball apexed and right fielder Jace LaViolette tracked under the ball. “let’s — I have bad luck with these interviews.”

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Schloss "I told you!" ends interview immediately after A&M RF misses fly ball 🤣🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/RPM6QlWiuX

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Neal playfully responded that such couldn’t be the case.

“No you don’t, you’ve got it, look,” Neal said. The ball thudded into foul ground a few feet behind LaViolette. Neal had an addendum: “Oh, see, it was.”

And be it commitment to the bit, genuine frustration or just some superstition, the Texas A&M head coach decided that was enough of the in game interview.

As Neal and color commentator Ben McDonald chuckled, Schlossnagle — in good enough humor — said goodbye and handed the headset to the SEC Network production assistant in the dugout. The announcers made out a few lip readings of Schlossnagle joking to his players and assistant coaches about the luck after he walked off.

“Schloss, we’ll see you later,” McDonald said.

“Goodbye,” Schlossnagle said. “Goodbye.”

“Unbelievable, we’re never going to talk to him again,” Neal said, laughing.

Fortunately for the Aggies and Schlossnagle, the Aggies were out to a 4-1 lead after a handful of innings, even with the bad luck.

Despite his defensive lapse, LaViolette has made big strides as a freshman for Texas A&M

LaViolette has been 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.

“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.’”