Men’s College World Series Finals: Tennessee holds on to beat Texas A&M and claim first national title

Though it nearly slipped away in the final innings, Tennessee baseball has finally won its national championship.

The Volunteers held on late on Monday night in Omaha to officially close out the Men’s College World Series and win their first ever national title. The Vols beat Texas A&M 6-5 in Game 3 of the series at Charles Schwab Field, which marked their second straight win and completed their title run.

They are now the first top-seed to win the tournament since Miami did so in 1999, which was when the current format was first introduced.

Tennessee hangs on after A&M rally

After forcing the deciding game with a late rally of their own on Sunday night, the Volunteers surged ahead early in Game 3.

Christian Moore kicked things off with a solo shot over the left field wall in the first inning in what was his sixth leadoff home run of the season.

Texas A&M rallied back in the third after Gavin Grahovac responded with a perfect RBI single into left field. Tennessee, however, punched back with a Dylan Dreiling sacrifice fly and a Dean Curley RBI single in the bottom of the inning to jump ahead again right away.

The Aggies had a great opportunity to take the lead in the sixth and the seventh innings, but they left two stranded in each of them after Tennessee pulled in relief pitcher Nate Snead. He successfully got them out of both innings unscathed. That then set up Dreiling’s two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh, which pushed the Vols to a four-run lead.

Dreiling has now hit a home run in every single game he’s played in at the Men’s College World Series. Tennessee added another before the end of the inning, too, after Kavares Tears hit a deep shot off the right field wall that just barely allowed Hunter Ensley to score after a ridiculous move at home. Ensley just narrowly made it around the tag at the plate, and the run stood after a Texas A&M challenge.

Though the Aggies added two runs in the eighth — and two more in the ninth after Jackson Appel hit an RBI single and then later scored on a wild pitch with two outs — but their run just came too late. Kerby Connell got the Vols out of the eighth inning and then Aaron Combs finished out the game in the ninth to seal their one-run win and complete the national championship.

The Aggies looked like they were on their way to pulling off the series sweep on Sunday. After Texas A&M rolled to a 9-5 win in Game 1 of the series on Saturday, the Aggies carried a 1-0 lead into the seventh inning of Sunday’s Game 2. That’s when Tennessee’s bats finally came alive.

The Vols erupted behind a pair of two-run homers from Dylan Dreiling and Cal Stark late to push them to the 4-1 win and force Monday’s Game 3. Dreiling’s home run actually marked the first time that Texas A&M, which was undefeated in the tournament up until that point, had trailed in a game in Omaha.

That was enough to spark Monday’s dominant win and send the Vols back to Knoxville with a trophy.

This post will be updated with more information shortly.