OMAHA, Nebraska — Gavin Grahovac homered to start the game, Texas A&M opened the scoring with a five-run third inning and the Aggies beat Tennessee 9-5 in Game 1 of the Men's College World Series finals on Saturday night.
Evan Aschenbeck pitched 2 2/3 innings of shutout relief to turn back a Tennessee offense that was beginning to accelerate in the seventh inning. The Aggies (53-13) are one win away from their first national title. Game 1 winners have won 13 of the 20 titles since the championship became a best-of-3 series in 2003.
Tennessee (58-13), trying to become the first No. 1 national seed since 1999 to win the championship, will enter Sunday's Game 2 having lost consecutive games just once this season and not since the 16th and 17th. March in Alabama.
The No. 3 Aggies capitalized on a pair of errors that led to two runs (Tennessee has committed eight in four MCWS games) and the inability of pitchers Chris Stamos (3-1) and AJ Causey to consistently hit their points.
Grahovac drove Stamos' 0-2 fastball into right field for the first leadoff home run in an MCWS final since Sam Fuld did it for Stanford against Rice in Game 2 in 2003.
Causey walked Jace LaViolette leading off the third, Jackson Appel's comeback deflected off Causey's foot for a hit and Hayden Schott followed with an RBI single to start the Aggies' five-run explosion.
Kaeden Kent, son of former major leaguer Jeff Kent, made it a seven-run game in the seventh with his home run into the right field bullpen. Kent, who entered the starting lineup two weeks ago after star Braden Montgomery broke his ankle in the super regionals, finished with three hits and four RBIs.
The Vols, the country's most prolific home run team in three decades, used the long ball to create some anxiety for the Aggies in the bottom of the seventh.
Dylan Dreiling's two-run homer to right field ended the night for reliever Josh Stewart (2-2), and Hunter Ensley's fly ball over the left field fence off Brad Rudis made the score 9-5. The Vols have 180 home runs this season, eight behind LSU's NCAA record set in 1997.
Ensley was the only batter Rudis faced. Aggies coach Jim Schlossnagle brought in Aschenbeck, and the left-hander retired six in a row before consecutive singles put runners on the corners with one out in the ninth. The National Stopper of the Year struck out Ensley and Kavares Tears to end the game. Aschenbeck has allowed just one earned run in his last nine appearances, in 25⅔ innings.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
