No crew scored extra runs in Division I faculty baseball than Tennessee did in 2024. However the Volunteers could not break by way of till the seventh inning towards Texas A&M in Recreation 2 of the Faculty World Sequence Finals on Sunday.
Left fielder Dylan Dreiling hit a two-run dwelling run off Kaiden Wilson for a 2–1 lead. Catcher Cal Stark added his personal two-run shot within the eighth to extend Tennessee’s result in 4–1 that held up as the ultimate rating.
“That was an SEC struggle, or only a postseason struggle,” Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello stated after the sport.
With the win, the Vols pressure a decisive Recreation 3 at Omaha’s Charles Schwab Area on Monday evening at 7 p.m. ET. Tennessee will try to turn out to be the primary No. 1 nationwide seed since Miami in 1999 (when the NCAA baseball match’s present format was first launched) to win the Faculty World Sequence.
Dealing with elimination within the best-of-three sequence after A&M gained Saturday’s recreation 9-5, the Vols broke out their black jerseys wherein that they had a 9–1 document this season. Make that 10–1 now.
Dreiling, a sophomore, was Tennessee’s third-leading dwelling run hitter coming into Omaha with 19, alongside a .330 batting common and 1.153 OPS. Stark slugged 9 homers in his senior season, batting .234 with a .921 OPS. His dwelling run on Sunday was his first hit of the Faculty World Sequence.
The Aggies threatened to tie the sport within the backside of the ninth with two consecutive singles. However Vols reliever Nate Snead obtained Ali Camarillo to floor right into a fielder’s selection at second base, then retired the subsequent two batters on flyouts to shut out the win.
Key stats
Texas A&M’s Chris Cortez took over within the second inning after opener Zane Badmaev. Regardless of 5 walks, the junior right-hander allowed no runs and two hits whereas hanging out seven towards one of the best offense in Division I faculty baseball.
Vols starter Drew Beam struck out seven batters in his 4 innings, permitting just one run, three hits and two walks. Surprisingly, the offense could not rating for him whereas he was on the mound. The junior right-hander went 8–2 with a 4.16 ERA in 16 begins, notching 80 strikeouts in 88 2/3 innings.
But Aaron Combs stored the Aggies in verify till the Tennessee lineup broke by way of. The junior reliever pitched 4 scoreless innings, permitting three hits with 5 strikeouts.
“Combs, to me, is the story of the sport. Two large swings and Combs shut us down,” Texas A&M coach Jim Schlossnagle instructed reporters. “He did an important job. Give him lots of credit score.”
Texas A&M lived on the sting
The Aggies are pursuing the primary NCAA baseball championship at school historical past and opened the scoring with a house run from outfielder Jace LaViolette. The sophomore led A&M with 28 dwelling runs and 75 RBI coming into Sunday, batting .315 with a 1.220 OPS.
Down 1–0, Tennessee twice had bases-loaded alternatives with two outs however could not rating a run on both of them.
Within the second, a throwing error by Camarillo at shortstop put the bases full however pitcher Chris Cortez ended the menace by getting Vols slugger Christian Moore to floor out to second base. Then, within the fourth, two walks by Cortez loaded the bases once more and escaped with one other grounder to second base by Blake Burke.
The Vols had one other likelihood to tie the rating or take the lead within the sixth when Cortez allowed a single and stroll with one out. Lefty Kaiden Wilson got here in and obtained catcher Cal Stark to floor into an inning-ending double play.
Texas A&M and Tennessee play a decisive Recreation 3 of the 2024 Division I NCAA baseball championship on Monday at 7 p.m. ET. The printed shall be televised on ESPN.