OMAHA, Nebraska — Tennessee's prodigious home run prowess came too late in Game 1 of the Men's College World Series finals.
He showed up just in time in Game 2.
Tennessee's Dylan Dreiling hit the go-ahead home run in the seventh inning, Cal Stark went deep in the eighth and after Nate Snead batted away a Texas A&M scoring threat in the bottom of the ninth, the Volunteers forced a third decisive game with a 4. -1 victory on Sunday.
One of the teams will win its first national baseball title and become the fifth consecutive Southeastern Conference champion when they meet Monday night.
“I felt like we were truer to who we were today before the game, in the dugout and during the game,” Volunteers coach Tony Vitello said. “It's easy to say that because we ended up doing well on the scoreboard. But I'd rather go into battle with that group like they did today, and I hope they do the same tomorrow.”
Tennessee (59-13) is trying to become the first No. 1 national seed to win the championship since Miami in 1999. The Volunteers were down seven runs when Dreiling and Hunter Ensley hit back-to-back home runs in the seventh inning of a 9-5 loss. Saturday.
They were trailing just 1-0 in the seventh on Sunday when Dreiling sent Kaiden Wilson's 1-1 pitch 390 feet into the right field seats to give the Volunteers a much-needed jolt after they left the bases loaded. twice and managed just four hits in six. entrance.
The Volunteers had gone 2 for 20 with runners in scoring position during the first two games of the finals when Dreiling connected. Tennessee was up three runs when Stark, the No. 9 hitter, homered in the eighth. He had gone 0 for 16 with nine strikeouts in the MCWS before launching a Wilson pitch over the left field bullpen.
“We always know we're one entry away,” Stark said. “We keep putting up quality at-bats and good things will end up happening. The guy to my right [Dreiling] “He put a good swing on the ball and gave us a lot of momentum late in the game.”
Snead, who earned his sixth save, was called up after the Aggies' first two batters singled in the bottom of the ninth. He got a groundout and a fly ball before Kavares Tears went to the warning track to catch pinch-hitter Ryan Targac's fly ball that stayed in the park with the help of the blowing wind.
This will be the fifth MCWS final since 2018, and the second in a row, in three games.
“To think you're going to get through it in two games would be… That would have been nice,” Aggies coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “We'll be able to play the last college baseball game of the season and that's great.”
The Volunteers, who lost the first game of the finals 9-5 on Saturday, have not lost consecutive games since March 16-17 at Alabama.
Jace LaViolette's team-leading 29th home run of the season, the 50th of his career and the first of the MCWS, put the Aggies up 1-0 in the first inning. It was also the first RBI in five games for LaViolette, who has been playing with a sore right hamstring.
“At that moment, I felt great,” LaViolette said. “Would it have felt a lot better if we had won that? It's baseball. There are ebbs and flows. You try not to take the ups and I feel like I've been taking the downs too much.”
The Aggies had just one runner reach second against Drew Beam before Aaron Combs (3-1) took over with no outs in the fifth. Combs worked out the problems in the sixth and left with one out in the ninth.
Schlossnagle, having won on Saturday, decided to make it a bullpen day to save Justin Lamkin for a possible Game 3. Lamkin has pitched eight scoreless innings in two MCWS starts.
Zane Badmaev, who hadn't been a starter since at then-Division II Tarleton State in 2020, did his part as a starter. He was lifted by Chris Cortez after he gave up a single to start the second inning. Cortez left in the sixth after a four-pitch walk. He blamed dehydration.
Wilson (0-2) came in and caused Stark's inning-ending double play, but couldn't hold off the nation's best home run team in the seventh and eighth.
Dreiling's home run was his 22nd of the season and second of the MCWS. Stark delved deeper for the eleventh time. Tennessee has 182 home runs on the year, six behind the 1997 LSU team's NCAA record of 188.
