Razorbacks feel full wrath of top MLB prospect in finale against Aggies

Jace LaViolette homers twice, Arkansas drops second straight SEC series

Arkansas Razorbacks pitcher Landon Beidelschies throws to the plate against the Texas A&M Aggies at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville, Ark. | Nilsen Roman-Hogs on SI Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — By the time Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn intentionally walked Jace LaViolette with a runner on third and one out in the bottom of the seventh, the Texas A&M slugger had already hit two homers in the Aggies' 9-2 win over the No. 2 Razorbacks in the series finale.

It was LaViolette's third and fourth homer of the series.

Slotted at No. 7 overall in Baseball America's latest mock draft, the junior center fielder showed his raw power with the bat. He homered off the scoreboard against starter Landon Beidelschies in the first.

Four straight games with a homer for Lord Tubbington 💥#GigEm | @JaceLaViolette2 pic.twitter.com/m4QhAkH4Es

— Texas A&M Baseball (@AggieBaseball) April 18, 2025

In the fifth with the two teams locked in a 1-1 pitcher's duel between Beidelschies and Texas A&M starter Myles Patton, LaViolette struck again with a go-ahead two-run homer to left field. The homer came off Aiden Jimenez, who gave up his first homer of the season after going the first 24 2/3 innings without allowing a long ball.

In six career games at Baum-Walker Stadium, LaViolette is 9-for-22 (.409) with five homers and nine runs batted in.

Outside of the homer, Beidelschies was sharp in four innings of work, striking out four on just 73 pitches.

"We didn’t do what we needed to do." Van Horn said. "Landon gave us a chance. He’s going on limited rest. Five days, at this level, usually you’re getting a week."

After scoring 11 runs in the first game of the doubleheader, the Razorback bats went cold as the sunset over Baum-Walker. The Hogs managed just two runs on two sac flies, one in the third and one in the fifth.

The Razorbacks were 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

Despite Arkansas' struggles offensively in the second game. Both Charles Davalan and Wehiwa Aloy had multi-hit games out of the top two spots of the lineup, drawing high praise from Texas A&M coach Michael Earley.

"They're two of the best I've ever seen," Earley said. "You've got to get the bottom guys out. That's what killed us in the first game of the doubleheader."

Mother nature was not on Arkansas' side. Jimenez, who hadn't pitched in the first two games of the series had his outing cut short at just 28 pitches due to a lightning delay. Before the top of the seventh, lightning within 8 miles of the stadium halted play for 31 minutes.

Arkansas Razorbacks shortstop Wehiwa Aloy at the plate against the Texas A&M Aggies at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville, Ark. | Nilsen Roman-Hogs on SI Images

When play resumed just past 9 p.m. it was Cole Gibler that took over on the mound. He faced just two hitters and failed to record an out. Ben Royo led off the inning with a solo homer before Jamal George laced a double off the wall. Carson Wiggins didn't fare much better as Texas A&M scored three in the seventh and three more in the ninth to extend the lead to 9-2.

The tying run never got to the plate after play resumed from the weather delay. Arkansas now finds themselves 2.5 games behind Texas for the SEC lead, who beat Auburn again Friday. Arkansas is also at getting jumped by Tennessee and LSU depending on the results to come the rest of the weekend.

Arkansas will look to regain its footing with a pair of in-state midweek games against Arkansas-Little Rock. The first game of the series is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday and will be streamed on SEC+.