No. 4 Florida outlasts Texas A&M in nail-biting series opener, 6-5

Game #46: No. 4 Florida 6, Texas A&M 5
Records: Texas A&M (26-20, 9-13), Florida (37-10, 15-7)
WP: Ryan Slater (7-0)
LP: Brandyn Garcia (1-2)
Save: Brandon Neely (9)
Box Score

Heartbreaker.

In a Friday night dogfight, Texas A&M painfully suffered its fifth straight loss in Southeastern Conference play, falling to No. 4 Florida at Blue Bell Park, 6-5.

Clinging to their final lifeline only down by one in the ninth, the Aggies put plenty of pressure on Gator closer Brandon Neely, the SEC’s leader in saves.

With one away, Hunter Haas drew a five-pitch walk before Jack Moss flew out to deep left center.

Neely issued another walk to Trevor Werner to bring up freshman Jace LaViolette — who broke the scoring seal for A&M in the fourth with a solo homer — with the outcome hanging in the balance.

Tension now at a climax, it was the ideal scenario for the Aggies.

But LaViolette lined out to end the game.

“Obviously, we'd all take a better result, but you're fighting neck-and-neck with a top-five team in the country,” A&M head coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “And you get to the bottom of the ninth in your ballpark, and you got a guy on base down a run. You got Jack Moss, Trevor Warner and Jace LaViolette up. Come on, man. You take that every day.

“The only way this game hurts us is if we carry it into tomorrow, so we need to carry the fact that we played really well into tomorrow, and we'll be fine.”

It may have previously been difficult to imagine the nail-biting finish that played out.

After a 1-2-3 first for Nathan Dettmer, the Gators hounded the Aggie right-handed pitcher with a two-run homer by BT Riopelle in the second inning.

With an RBI groundout and sacrifice fly, Florida staked a 4-0 lead by the fourth.

Despite dealing with the attack from the Gators, Dettmer looked his sharpest in recent memory. In his longest outing since early April, the San Antonio native tossed five innings and surrendered four runs on five hits with three strikeouts.

Dettmer also only yielded two walks, his lowest mark since March. As a team, the Aggies only gave up three free bases.

“A lot better than the season's been going for me,” Dettmer said. “It's been frustrating, but a lot better today. The fastball command was there. I think that was really the difference maker and the sinker was working, and they were just beating in the ground, so I felt really good about that.”

Brandyn Garcia followed Dettmer and was handed his second loss of the season (1-2).

The first batter Garcia faced in the sixth inning, Riopelle hit his second homer of the night. Garcia also allowed another bomb to Cade Kurland in the seventh that gave Florida the lead for good.

Evan Aschenbeck retired all six Gators he faced to close the game.

Jamie Maury, TexAgs

LaViolette’s fourth-inning blast traveled an estimated 447 feet to left-center field and left the bat at 106 mph.

“I thought we played really well,” Schlossnagle said. “That's as good a game as we played the entire season, to be honest with you, and that's what I told the team. One thing you can do in this game is you can play well and lose, and it's sure a heck of a lot better than playing poorly and losing.”

Momentum appeared to slowly start shifting in favor of the Aggies when LaViolette smashed his team-leading 12th home run of the season 447 feet to left.

Pandemonium ensued among the 5,884 in attendance when Werner shattered a three-run blast 103 mph off his bat over left.

“[Schlossnagle] mentioned to the team that that's what a regional, that's what a super regional looks like,” Werner said. “The crowd, back-and-forth game. That's only gonna make us stronger, prepare us for what's ahead.”

Travis Chestnut scored on an error in the sixth to tie the game at 5-5.

But Kurland answered right back by delivering a go-ahead homer in the seventh, Florida’s third of the night.

Then the Aggies were dealt a heartbreak they'll probably remember for the rest of the season.

NOTES:

• Schlossnagle said postgame that outfielder Brett Minnich is not on the roster for the remaining two games this series due to a separated shoulder. Minnich suffered the injury on Tuesday night vs. Tarleton.