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OAN’s James Meyers
3:55 PM – Tuesday, June 25, 2024
Rocky Top has finally won their first ever Men’s College World Series title.
The Tennessee Volunteers defeated the Texas A&M Aggies 6-5, in the winner-take-all game in Omaha, Nebraska, to give the school their first ever national championship in men’s baseball.
The number one ranked team in the country throughout the season, earned its 60th win on Monday night, becoming the first team to achieve the feat since Wichita State won the title 1989.
The Volunteers struck first in the bottom of the first inning with a leadoff home run by projected first round pick Christian Moore. Then in the third inning the Aggies were able to tie it at one with an RBI single by Gavin Grahovac.
Tennessee responded in the bottom half of the third with two more runs courtesy of a sacrifice flyout by Dylan Dreiling and an RBI knock by Dean Curley.
Dreiling was named the Most Outstanding Player of the College World Series after hitting a home run in each of the three games in the final series. He became the only player to ever accomplish the feat.
The Aggies had great opportunities to take the lead in both the sixth and seventh innings, but they left two runners on base in each inning after Tennessee brought in relief pitcher Nate Snead.
After solid pitching by both teams for multiple innings, Tennessee added some insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh.
Dreiling hit a two-run home run to put them up four and added one more run after Kavares Tears hit a double off the right field wall that allowed another run to come across.
However, the Aggies made it very tense for the Volunteers who were up by a comfortable five runs. Texas A&M was able to score two runs in the top of the eighth inning, thanks to a Hayden Schott single that scored one run and Caden Sorrell RBI double.
Then in the ninth inning the Aggies were able to score two more runs, after Jackosn Appel hit a run-scoring single and then was able to score on a wild pitch from third base with two outs.
However, pitcher Aaron Combs closed the game in the ninth inning with a strikeout and sealed the one-run victory for the school.
“Kids are tough these days. They will do what you ask them to do,” head coach Tony Vitello said. “I know our fans got us through that tough inning. That was a group effort on the mound. If you’re in the SEC, you’re going to be a superstar player, but you need to be a good teammate, and that’s what these guys were.”
The Volunteers had to win two straight games after getting blown out in Game 1 by the Aggies.
Tennessee became the first no. 1 national seed to win the NCAA championship since Miami did in 1999.
Just minutes after the final pitch, the 45-year-old Vitello shared an embrace with his father, Greg, a longtime successful high school baseball and soccer coach in St. Louis, Missouri.
“I felt like I was the dad and he was the kid because he wouldn’t stop crying,” Vitello said. “I had to rub some dirt on him.”
Aggies coach Jim Schlossnagle said this is one that will be tough for the team as a whole. “Tough one to swallow,” Schlossnagle said. “You make it this far, you want to win your last game.”
The Southeastern Conference (SEC) also asserted its dominance once again in the sport. This is the fifth straight title for the SEC, with five different schools winning the College World Series going back to 2019.
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