Texas A&M's 'next-man-up' mentality is fueling an historic MCWS run (2024)

OMAHA, Neb. — The latest casualty for the Texas A&M Ailing Aggies was already on the team bus, set to leave Charles Schwab Field Monday night. But OK, Jace LaViolette would come back off for a quick word or two.

He didn’t seem to be limping too badly. Certainly not like when he scored in the sixth inning after doing something that made his hamstring angry. The last 20 feet or so before crossing the plate, he looked like a man finishing a marathon. Here was the outfielder who saved the Florida game the other night with a leaping catch at the wall, but the only way he’d get that high late Monday night would be with a ladder.

“It wasn’t bad,” LaViolette said of that painful finish at home. “I did what I needed to do to get us a run. I’ve got to get some medicine, and it'll be all good.”

He was finished for the night in the sixth and all he could do then was root as the Aggies beat Kentucky 5-1 to move within one win of the finals at the Men’s College World Series. Spectating had to be a little frustrating, two days after making the play that landed on every highlight show. “Definitely, but at the same time I put full trust in the team and I have to be the best spotter and the best teammate possible while I’m in the dugout cheering them on,” he said. “And that’s what I did.”

We're on the board courtesy of @SchottHayden 👍#GigEm x #MCWS pic.twitter.com/BAMx7PcYYi

— Texas A&M Baseball (@AggieBaseball) June 18, 2024

Any guess on his chances of being ready for Texas A&M's next game Wednesday night?

“One hundred percent.”

The Aggies can only hope.

By the time it was over Monday night, their lineup looked like a house of cards that had met a Nebraska windstorm.

The third baseman was in leftfield, the second baseman was at third, replaced at second by a reserve who had only 15 at-bats all season. The left fielder was in right and the centerfielder was a junior who spent nearly the entire regular season at second base. Star outfielder Braden Montgomery was in the dugout with his busted ankle on one of those walking scooters. LaViolette was there, too. And key pitcher Shane Sdao. All injured.

“Honestly, it’s plug-and-play, especially tonight. It just shows the depth of our lineup,” designated hitter Hayden Schott said afterward on the field. “Everyone’s always ready to play. That’s what makes us so good.”

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Still, there’s a limit to all depth. The only position players left on the Texas A&M bench were two backup catchers and the ceremonial 12th Man Aggies sub, who rarely get in the game. How can a team possibly hope to win the MCWS in such a situation? Texas A&M could work on that starting Tuesday morning. Monday night, the Aggies were savoring being the only team in town still unbeaten in the NCAA tournament.

Turns out a rising casualty count can’t stop them. Not yet, anyway.

Not when the starting pitcher takes a no-hitter into the seventh inning. Kentucky did not get a hit until its 24th batter of the game. That was because of the mastery of Texas A&M's Ryan Prager, who was only nine days removed from being mashed for six runs in 1.2 innings by Oregon in the super regional, and only a year removed from Tommy John surgery, and only 24 months removed from his last start in Charles Schwab Field when he lost to Oklahoma and the Aggies were eliminated from the 2022 College World Series.

“Super grateful to be back,” he said after working 6.2 two-hit innings. No wonder.

Nor will injuries stop Texas A&M if the lineup keeps doing things like putting up five runs in the sixth inning on the hottest pitching staff in Omaha. The Aggies turned a scoreless and taunt pitcher's duel into a breeze to the finish line. That makes them 7-0 in the NCAA tournament and 2-0 for the first time ever in Omaha. Even the hurt guys were celebrating afterward.

There’s Montgomery, who was in Omaha the past two years with Stanford, going two-and-out both times. He transferred and produced massive numbers this season for his new team and had just been named MVP of the regional when he went down. His Aggie teammates were lining up Monday night to hug him as he moved onto the field after the game on his scooter. “That means a whole lot,” he said. “The last two years I’d be going home tomorrow so being with this group, it means the world.

"It can be hard sometimes (not playing) because I know I want to help impact the game and it can be hard to see the game go slowly for us sometimes. But by the same token, I enjoy every single moment of it because there are guys who get to have playing time that haven’t. I see them at the batting cages every day throughout the year and it’s good to see them get the chance. That’s why this team’s so special. When one guy goes down we just plug in another guy.”

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He’s manning a seat in the dugout every game and Schott mentioned how “he’s the loudest one in there. And he just had surgery.” Could Montgomery name his favorite spot in the dugout? “Anything far away from a hot mic.”

And there’s LaViolette. While his teammates ran onto the field after the final out to celebrate, he walked. Best to be careful. “It’s great to see, it’s truly fun to be a part of,” he said of how the Aggies keep playing the next-man-up card. Even when the next man up is replacing him.

Heaven knows what the lineup card will look like when the Aggies play the Kentucky-Florida winner on Wednesday. Maybe LaViolette is back, maybe not. Someone will be out there. “Last two weeks we have been losing players left and right. Gives other guys an opportunity, so hopefully it will make a good story,” coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “We feel good about the versatility, but we only brought 13 position players. It's getting a little thin.”

What’s not getting thin is the Aggies' chance to make history. Before this June, Texas A&M had four MCWS wins to its name ever, and the program has never been in the final two. One more victory will do it.

“I've been in this situation before, “Schlossnagle said, referring to his days at TCU in 2016. “We had to win one game and Coastal Carolina had to win three, and they did. We've won a couple of ball games, but we're not where we want to be yet.”

True. But you must say this about the Texas A&M Aggies: The more they hurt, the farther they go