Aggies Jace LaViolette & Braden Montgomery Earn D1 Baseball Preseason All-America Honors
Texas A&M is preparing for a breakout third season under Jim Schlossnalge at Blue Bell Park. Despite a roster filled with newcomers via the portal and through recruiting, the No. 11 Aggies are poised for another run to Omaha.
Meanwhile, a pair of Aggies have already garnered preseason accolades.
Outfielders Jace LaViolette and Braden Montgomery have been named Preseason All-Americans by D1Baseball, the publication announced Tuesday.
The Preseason All-America nod marked the second of the spring for the Aggie duo, who also garnered recognition from Perfect Game in early January.
LaViolette, a first-team representative, was one of the nation's premier freshmen a season ago. A native of Katy, the 6-6 left fielder slashed .287/.414/.632 and belted a Texas A&M single-season freshman record 21 home runs. In addition to leading the team in homers, LaViolette also topped the 2023 squad in RBI (63) and stolen bases (18).
The sophomore, who was tabbed as a Freshman All-American by four different publications and named to the USA Collegiate National Team, ranked inside the top 10 among the SEC in homers, RBI and walks (48). During conference play, LaViolette led all SEC players with an .835 slugging percentage.
Montgomery, who earned second-team honors, joined the Aggies this offseason after helping Stanford to back-to-back College World Series appearances. A native of Madison, Miss, Montgomery hit .364 with 17 home runs and 61 RBI in 64 games. On the mound, the right-hander made 10 appearances and struck out 19 hitters in 14 innings of work.
Among the Pac-12, the junior ranked inside the top 10 in runs scored (70), hits (82), RBI, home runs, total bases (149) and walks (51). Montgomery, who garnered ABCA All-America honors in 2023 and was a member of the USA Collegiate National Team, also registered 27 multi-hit games, and 16 multi-RBI contests. Montgomery closed the season with a 28-game on-base streak.
The Aggies are scheduled to open their 2024 campaign at Blue Bell Park with a three-game series against McNeese starting Friday, Feb. 16 at 6 p.m.