LaViolette-led Texas A&M powers its way to series win over Arkansas on Friday

BY DUDLEY E. DAWSON

FAYETTEVILLE – Texas A&M super star outfielder Jace LaViolette and his teammates really enjoyed their short time in Arkansas this weekend.


LaViolette hit four home runs, including two in Friday night’s 9-2 win over the Razorbacks, as the Aggies (23-16, 8-10) won two of three games at Baum-Walker Stadium over the last two days.

No. 2 Arkansas (34-7, 13-5) did end Texas A&M’s eight-game winning streak with a 11-5 win Friday afternoon, but couldn’t carry that momentum into the nightcap.

It was Texas A&M’s first series win at Arkansas since 2016 and the Aggies became the team to win a home series from the Razorbacks since the 2023 season.

“Overall this series, just give credit to A&M,” Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn said. “They played bette than us and got some big hits when they needed them last night (an Aggies’ 7-4 win) and in the second game tonight.

“And they pitched better than us. That’s why they won two out of three.”

The loss combined with Texas’ 8-3 win over visiting Auburn pushed the Razorbacks two games back of the Longhorns in the SEC standings.

The Aggies, the preseason consensus No. 1 team in college baseball, stumbled out of the gate in 2025, but have now won 9 of their last 10 games.

Texas A&M head coach Michael Earley, a former Aggies assistant, is not surprised about his team’s revival.

“We are playing nine innings, playing good baseball, adding (runs) when we need to add, making plays when we need to make plays,” Earley said Thursday night. “The line up is definitely better than it was earlier in the season.

“…I don’t know what goes on outside of our building, just what goes on inside of our walls. Our guys have been resilient all year, they really, really want to win and they is a high level of care.

“It would have been real easy for us to go the other direction, but it never crossed my mind or any of their minds.

“We still have a lot of baseball to play, but it is good to be playing better and comepeting.”

LaViolette’s first-inning solo homer off Landon Beidelschies in the nightcap put his team up 1-0, but Arkansas tied it in the bottom half of the frame on Kuhio Aloy’s sacrifice fly.

It stayed that way until the fifth when LaViolette launched a two-run blast off Razorback reliever Aiden Jimenez (4-1), the first homer of the season Jimenez had allowed in 24 2/3 innings this season.

LaViolette, an expected Top 10 pick in the 2025 Major League Baseball Draft, now has 16 home runs this season and 65 in his college career.

“He’s a good hitter,” Van Horn said. “Were those pitches located here they needed to be, I can’t tell from the side. I just know when he got a pitch to hit, he hammered it.”

Logan Maxwell’s sacrifice fly drove him Charles Davalan to cut it to 4-2 in the bottom of the fifth.

After a lightning delay, Texas A&M out the game away with three runs in the seventh and a trio in the ninth in a contest where Arkansas used seven pitchers.

“When you are home and down a run going into the seventh, the lightning delay hits and we kind of just didn’t respond. Hopefully we will learn from it.”

• • •

In the opener, Texas A&M jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first on the strength of LaViolette’s two-run homer and Kaden Kent’s RBI single off Arkansas starter Gage Wood.

Wood was returning the mound of the first time since suffering a shoulder impingement against Michigan on Feb. 23.

He would last only 20 pitches, 10 of which were strikes, while giving up three runs on three hits, walking three, fanning one and throwing a wld pitch.

Van Horn elected to bring in reliever Ben Bybee, who gave up a run on three hits in three innings before turning it over to Gabe Gaeckle.

“Gage Wood was only going to throw one inning anyway, but it didn’t go real good,” Van Horn said. “Bybee came in and did a good job for us and I just really liked the way we responded.”

Gaeckle (3-1) was a Freshman All-American closer last season, but his struggles as a starter lately pushed him back into the bullpen for this series.

He responded by pitching the final 5 2/3 innings (97 pitches, 61 strikes) while allowing one run on four hits, walking two and fanning 8.

“I just think it was a change for him from this year because that is what he did last year and all his accolades came from were about – him coming out of the pen,” Van Horn said. “He’s really good at it.

“So we have some options. We can start somebody else and have them throw a few and then just have him pick it up or we can bring him in during the eighth to close a game out, the ninth or the sixth.

“We just need to get Gage built back up and get him out there. It should help us down the stretch.”

Arkansas cut its first-game deficit to 3-2 in a bottom of the first when Charles Davalan, Wehiwa Aloy and Kuhio Aloy all singled and Carson Boles and Brent Iredale both delivered a sacrifice fly.

Wyatt Henseler’s solo homer gave the Aggies a 4-2 edge in the second.

Wehiwa Aloy’s solo homer cut Arkansas’ deficit to 4-3 in the third and Justin Thomas’ roundtripper in the fourth tied it up 4-4.

The Razorbacks then used a six-run sixth inning to blow the game open.

Kuhio Aloy singled home a run to give Arkansas the lead and Iredale’s two-run double, Cam Kozeal’s run-scoring groundout and Thomas’ two-run homer capped the sixth-inning uprising.

The Aloy brothers had six of their team’s 12 hits in the first game while Thomas had a pair of home runs.

Arkansas will return to action on Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. when it hosts Little Rock and the two teams will also meet Wednesday at 5 p.m.

Photo courtesy of Razorbacks Communications