Omaha, Neb. – In Game Two of the NCAA National Championship Series at Charles Schwab Field, the No. 1 program in the nation, (58-13) University of Tennessee Volunteers, needed to win to stave off elimination and beat the No. 3 (53-13) Texas A&M University Aggies 4-1 to force a Game Three win or take all.
Tennessee will play Texas A&M in Game Three of the NCS at Charles Schwab Field on Monday, June 24, at 7 p.m. EDT on ESPN.
“It was an SEC war or just a postseason war. It was a do-or-die deal where you couldn’t shy away. You had to make a decision about what you were going to do,” Volunteers head coach Tony Vitello said at the post-game press conference.
Both programs have not won a National Championship title.
“I thought it was a great ball game. I guess the difference in the game is two two-out homers. They got the big swings at the right time,” Aggies head coach Jim Schlossnagle said during the post-game press conference.
The Aggies suffered their first loss of the NCAA tournament on Sunday.
Texas A&M got on the board first on Sunday afternoon in the bottom of the first inning; right fielder Jace LaViolette drove a 415-foot solo home run over the right field bullpen, his 29th for the season, for the first run of the game.
AGS STRIKE FIRST 💣#GigEm x @JaceLaViolette2 x #MCWS pic.twitter.com/eaDkHztQJP
— Texas A&M Baseball (@AggieBaseball) June 23, 2024
Schlossnagle went to the bullpen early in the top of the second inning and took out starting pitcher Zane Badmaev after he gave up a leadoff single to center field to center fielder Hunter Ensley and called on relief pitcher Chris Cortez.
Badmave threw one inning, allowing two hits and two strikeouts while facing five batters and chucking 20 pitches.
Cortez got out of a two-out bases-loaded jam in the top of the fourth inning. He got first baseman Blake Burke to ground out to Aggies second baseman Kaeden Kent, with Kent’s glove flipping to first baseman Ted Burton for the final out of the inning to keep the lead at 1-0.
Vitello went to his bullpen in the bottom of the fifth inning and called on relief pitcher Aaron Combs and took out starting pitcher Drew Beam after he gave up a leadoff infield single to shortstop from left fielder Caden Sorrell and walked shortstop Ali Camarillo.
Beam threw four innings, allowing three hits, two walks, and seven strikeouts while facing 16 batters. He dialed 77 pitches with 48 strikes on Sunday afternoon.
During the bottom of the fifth inning, in the middle of third baseman Gavin Grahovac’s at-bat, Tennessee catcher Cal Stark threw over Burke to try and pick off Camarillo at first base. First base umpire Shawn Rakos called Camarillo safe, which forced Vitello to challenge the call on the field.
A few moments later, the call was reversed to out for the final out of the bottom of the fifth inning, keeping the score at 1-0.
Schlossnagle went to his bullpen in the top of the sixth inning after Cortez walked Volunteers designated hitter Cannon Peebles with one out and called on relief pitcher Kaiden Wilson.
Cortez threw 4.1 innings, allowing two hits, five walks, and seven strikeouts.
In the top of the seventh inning, the Tennessee offense finally cracked the scoreboard with left fielder Dylan Dreiling pounding a two-run 390-foot home run over the right field wall, his 22nd of the year, scoring second baseman Christian Morre to take the lead at 2-1.
They don't make 'em any more CLUTCH than DYLAN DREILING!
LET'S GOOOO!
📺 https://t.co/dOromFvTCS (ABC)#GBO // #OTH // #MCWS // #BeatTAMU pic.twitter.com/sWK0xhyhWX
— Tennessee Baseball (@Vol_Baseball) June 23, 2024
The Volunteers left six men on base with runners in scoring position before Dreiling’s two-run shot.
Tennessee’s offense added two more runs to the board in the top of the eighth inning with Stark unleashing a 409-foot two-run home run over the left field bullpen, his 11th of the season, scoring shortstop Dean Curley to make it 4-1.
STARK INDUSTRIES 🚀
BANG!
📺 https://t.co/dOromFvTCS (ABC)#GBO // #OTH // #MCWS // #BeatTAMU pic.twitter.com/KhmpL1ZBY3
— Tennessee Baseball (@Vol_Baseball) June 23, 2024
“Felt pretty good, finally getting that first hit out of the way. Every kid dreams about playing at this stage. And being able to do that late in the game like that, it was pretty cool and something I’ll never forget,” Stark said during the postgame press conference.
Vitello went to his bullpen again in the bottom of the ninth inning after Combs gave up a leadoff single to Burton; he called on southpaw relief pitcher Kirby Connell to record the final three outs.
Combs threw four innings, allowing three hits, no earned runs, two walks, and struck out five.
Connell faced right fielder Caden Sorrell as his lone batter on Sunday and gave up a single to left field, which advanced Burton to second base.
Vitello again called the bullpen and assigned relief pitcher Nate Sneed to get the game’s final three outs.
Sneed a few moments after, with the tying run at the plate got pinch hitter Ryan Targac to fly out to right fielder Kavares Tears, as he caught the ball right on the warning track for the final out of the game to force a Game Three, with Tennessee knocking on the door and beat their SEC Rivals Texas A&M 4-1.
The Texas A&M pitching staff threw nine innings, allowing seven hits, four earned runs, six walks, and struck out 12 batters during their loss on Sunday.
According to Jack Delperdang of College Baseball Central, Badmave became the first starting pitcher to make his season debut at the CWS since Russell Reynolds for Louisiana State University in Game One of 2017 against Florida.
The last pitcher to make their first start of the season in the Championship Series was Russell Reynolds for LSU in Game 1 of 2017 against Florida.
Texas A&M righty Zane Badmaev will be the latest as he takes the mound for the Aggies. pic.twitter.com/EwkkQeq7uP
— Jack Delperdang (@jack_delperdang) June 23, 2024
Badmaev entered Sunday with his record at 3-0 in 16 appearances out of the bullpen with a 2.70 ERA, throwing 23.1 innings, allowing 16 hits, seven earned runs, five walks, and 27 strikeouts.
This is the second straight year that SEC programs will play in a deciding Game Three for the National Championship title.
This is the eighth time in the College World Series that both teams from the same conference faced off in the National Championship Series.
Texas A&M was 9-0 in the NCAA tournament in Game Two of the NCS. UCLA was the last team to bring an undefeated postseason record to the CWS Championship Series in 2013.
This was the first time that there were no, if necessary, games before the start of the NCS at the CWS, which would have taken place on June 20, 2019, when Vanderbilt University beat the University of Michigan in three games to win the National Championship.
Tennessee was the first No. 1 seed to play in the CWS finals since the University of Texas in 2009.
The last time the No. 1 team in the country won a National Championship title was the University of Miami in 1999.
Photo Credit: Dylan Dreiling #8 of the Tennessee Volunteers reacts after hitting a two-run home run in the seventh inning against the Texas A&M Aggies during the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship on June 23, 2024 at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images)
