SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE BASEBALL TOURNAMENT

May 21, 2025

Michael Earley

Jace LaViolette

Ryan Prager

Hoover Metropolitan Stadium

Texas A&M Aggies

Postgame Press Conference

Texas A&M 9, Mississippi State 0

Q. Ryan, obviously, in the last 18 hours, you went from not starting to obviously getting the ball here. Can you talk about your mentality and the approach it took to get ready for today?

RYAN PRAGER: Yeah, I mean, I think the plan was always to throw today. So whether that be 8:00 p.m. or whenever you start a game in Hoover or 9:30, the only adjustment was getting up a little bit earlier in the morning.

Got up this morning a little bit earlier than normal for a start, but once we got moving around, it was just treating it like another game of baseball.

Q. Ryan, adjusting to having a night game last night, getting banged and then waking up early for a 9:30 start, how did you feel about your composure with Harrison, just what your game plan was and what you guys worked on in the fall to get to this point?

RYAN PRAGER: Yeah, I mean, thought composure and all that stuff was really good. I think last night when the game is banged, you're a little frustrated because everybody wants to play. You want to compete with this group of guys and win a baseball game.

But go back to the hotel, get something to eat and hit the hay and wake up this morning ready to play.

Q. Jace, it hasn't been a great week or so for you, but then you came out today -- what's it been like this week trying to work out of it?

JACE LAVIOLETTE: I said earlier, I don't really know what it was. I think I was 0 for 9 for 0 for 10 with no punches and didn't put a ball in play. Whenever I swung and saw that ball go forward, honestly, I was pretty happy with that, making baby steps. I just have to stick to my approach. I think that I've spent a lot of time with Coach Mike, and we work together all the time, and just being on the fastball and trusting myself, and I think I did a lot better job of that today and just got to keep doing that moving forward.

Q. Jace, you're projected No. 7 overall come Atlanta in the last few weeks. How do you feel about what your composure is with your offense and mechanics that you can play at the next level soon?

JACE LAVIOLETTE: Yeah, I think that no matter what happens, I think that as long as I stick to the approach that I just said of always being on the fastball and just trying to get my swing off no matter what, I think that I can play at any level, any time.

Q. Coach, obviously, I asked Ryan, and I'll ask you a similar question, the mindset to go with Ryan here and what does that do for your staff moving forward?

MICHAEL EARLEY: Yeah, I mean, like he said, it was always the plan for him to pitch today, and when you can still have Weston Moss in the bullpen, it was an easy decision. Also 9:30 in the morning is a tough time to play, and I have a ton of comfort with Ryan Prager. He's probably up at 5:00 a.m., and no sweat. College kids, sometimes you think about that a little bit. Having Ryan on the mound and making our bullpen better is always a good thing.

Q. Jace has been going through whatever you'd call a slump, and he said you guys worked together. Can you share some of that?

MICHAEL EARLEY: Yeah, there's always some mechanical adjustments you've got to make in certain situations. But for him, he was hitting backwards where it was taking strikes and swinging at the balls. He was in a funk, period. Sometimes that can roll downhill and snowball quick, and that's what it did to him.

It's just constantly trying to pump him up a little bit, giving him an approach, stick to an approach, trying to drive fastballs in the left center gap, and when you stay on something like that, you get an off-speed pitch like he did, you can stay on it.

I thought it was a great at-bat for him, just the circumstances of where he's been. And just in baseball, whenever you see a foul home run, you just feel like a strike -- it's kind of a baseball thing. So for him, the whole situation was good, and just putting bat on the ball, I thought he had really productive at-bats, not just the home run.

Q. Knowing you guys are playing to keep your season alive, does that make things any easier as far as playing more loose or with a nothing-to-lose mentality?

MICHAEL EARLEY: Yeah, it's tough. I've got a lot of care in that locker room and a lot of guys that love playing for Texas A&M and love this team. Baseball is tough, and in a tournament setting, you've got to find a vibe or a feeling where you get going, and I like what they did today. Now, it's easy like that when you've got a pretty decent lead to stay like that. So it's just going to keep our mindset playing one pitch at a time and playing pitch to pitch.

We all know there's a lot of stakes on the line for us, but we've had our back against the wall all year, and a lot of that's been, whether it be injuries or a lot of self-inflicted. So we're used to this, and we're going to continue pushing.

Q. We had talked about this year, at times they would be pressing in the lineup. Obviously, the production was there. What did you see from your guys that may have been different than what you had seen lately?

MICHAEL EARLEY: We controlled the strike zone and swung at the pitches we were supposed to swing at. That's not always going to be in your favor because hitting is hard, but for the most part, I thought we did a really good of swinging at strikes, taking balls and passing to the next guy.

We had some situational stuff that we executed well. We executed a bunt the way we were supposed to and got guys in when we needed to, and that's what you've got to do, especially playing at a park like this where it's not really conducive to home runs except for right field. You've just got to stay on baseballs and get on base, and they did a really good job of that.

Q. With how Lamkin pitched his last outing, is he ready to come back, and if so, what does that mean for you guys moving forward?

MICHAEL EARLEY: Yeah, I think we're going to take a look at it, but he's on six days, so I think there's a pretty solid shot you'll see him tomorrow. But we're just going to meet with him and, yeah, make that decision later on today.

Q. You talked about what the changes to the pitching staff was with the postponement. Are we talking Sorrell, game-time decision? What's it look like for him moving forward?

MICHAEL EARLEY: It'll be a game-time decision every single game.

Q. How would you say that your mentality has shifted going into this tournament this season as head coach compared to last season?

MICHAEL EARLEY: Not much. I mean, I've never -- I never wanted to win any less than I do right now. Or more, whatever. I always want to win. I hate losing, period, and I want to win every single game no matter what the stakes are. I've been in this tournament where we've been in the tournament. I've been in it one year where we needed to win a couple games, and I've felt the same way every single one. So we just want to go out, play good baseball, and win every single baseball game we can.