OMAHA, Neb. — Jace LaViolette robbed Cade Kurland of a go-ahead home run in the ninth inning, Justin Lamkin and two relievers combined for 16 strikeouts, and No. 3 Texas A&M held off Florida 3-2 in a weather-delayed College World Series opener that ended early Sunday.
The victorious Aggies (50-13) will next play on Monday night against No. 2 Kentucky (46-14), which won 5-4 in 10 innings against No. 10 North Carolina State (38-22) in Saturday’s first game.
The Gators (34-29), the national runners-up to LSU last year, will meet N.C. State in an elimination game Monday afternoon.
Although the Aggies-Gators matchup ended the streak of walk-off-wins to start this year’s CWS at three, it followed the pattern of a close outcome as each of the first four games have been decided by one run.
Texas A&M scored its runs in the first three innings against Liam Peterson (3-5), the first freshman to start a CWS opener for Florida, and then relied on Lamkin, Chris Cortez (10-3) and Evan Aschenbeck to hold down the Gators’ high-powered offense.
Florida had come from behind in four of its six NCAA tournament wins this year and nearly did it again.
Down a run in the eighth, the Gators loaded the bases with two outs against Aschenbeck. The left-hander, honored this past week as college baseball’s top closer for the 2024 season, got out of the inning when second baseman Kaeden Kent gloved Dale Thomas’ slow roller and got his underhand flip to first baseman Ted Burton in time for the third out.
In the ninth, Michael Robertson reached with one out before Kurland sent a fly deep to right-center field. With his back against the fence, the 6-foot-6 LaViolette reached above it to make the catch. Aschenbeck walked All-America slugger Jac Caglianone before getting his 10th save of the year with a strikeout of Ashton Wilson.
“Super awesome game, and I told Jace I’m really happy he’s tall,” Aggies coach Jim Schlossnagle said.
The wind was blowing in at 14 mph at the start of the game, which was delayed 4 hours, 7 minutes because of rain and lightning. The wind gusted over 25 mph in the afternoon before calming down after storms moved through, and the first pitch didn’t come until after 10 p.m. at Charles Schwab Field Omaha, where the proceedings wrapped up after 1 a.m.
“I got a total wrong read off the bat, I’m not going to lie,” LaViolette said. “I looked up and thought this might be a homer, and my heart dropped for a second, and then I was at the wall. I give a little credit to the wind. This ballpark plays a lot bigger than what it is, and the wind knocked it down a little bit. It was a real cool play.”
Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said he thought the ball was out, mostly based on Kurland’s reaction.
“He thought he got it. I thought he got it. Right fielder made a heck of a play,” O’Sullivan said.
Schlossnagle took a calculated risk starting the left-handed Lamkin and saving another southpaw, Ryan Prager, for the Aggies’ game on Monday. Prager has been No. 1 in Texas A&M’s rotation all season, and the Aggies are short of starting arms after a season-ending injury to Shane Sdao in last week’s super regional against Oregon.
Lamkin had been in the weekend rotation until the final regular-season series, but he struggled in his previous two starts. In the past month, Lamkin’s only outing was a nine-pitch relief appearance against Louisiana in the NCAA tournament’s regional round.
Schlossnagle needed Lamkin to give him a few innings and then turn the game over to Cortez and his 100 mph fastball. Lamkin did his part, allowing one baserunner and striking out six batters in three innings.
The Aggies scored on Travis Chestnut’s bases-loaded infield single and a wild pitch in the second and on Caden Sorrell’s double in the third.
Cortez kept the Gators scoreless when they threatened in the fourth and sixth, but they broke through in the seventh on back-to-back doubles by Tyler Shelnut and Thomas. Aschenbeck came on to face Michael Robertson, whose RBI groundout cut the Aggies’ lead to 3-2.
The eighth and ninth innings turned out to be much more stressful for Aschenbeck and the rest of the Aggies.
“Evan had to make really good pitches to get out of it,” Schlossnagle said. “Really good (opponent), playing in the College World Series with your season on the line, we trust Evan. You’re going to ride or die with your best.”
Florida sophomore lefty Cade Fisher, a former Chattanooga-area prep standout at Northwest Whitfield, entered with one out and a runner on first base in the bottom of the eighth. He needed just three pitches to end the inning, throwing a strike and a ball before a grounder to short resulted in a double play.