By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
Two-run homers by Dylan Dreiling in the seventh inning and Cal Stark in the eighth propelled the top-seeded Tennessee Volunteers past the No. 3 Texas A&M Aggies 4-1 on Sunday at the Men’s College World Series.
With the win, Tennessee evened the best-of-three MCWS title round at one win apiece, with the third and deciding game scheduled for Monday.
Coming into Sunday afternoon at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Neb., the Aggies were 9-0 in the NCAA tournament and 4-0 in the MCWS and needed to win only once to clinch their first national championship in baseball.
They got off to a good start with Jace LaViolette hitting a solo home run in the first inning for a 1-0 lead. But that was it for the Aggies, who were limited to seven hits on the day.
In the wake of the game, the Volunteers were talking about how it feels to come within one game of the school’s first championship.
“It feels pretty dang good,” Stark told ESPN reporter Kris Budden. “You know, we got a lot of work left to do. We got to play nine innings tomorrow against a really good team. I mean, Game 3, final game of the year. What else could you want?”
With Tennessee’s season on the line, Dreiling continued to swing a hot bat in clutch situations. On Saturday, in Game 1 of the series, he hit a two-run homer in a three-run seventh. The Vols ultimately fell short, losing 9-5. On Sunday, he connected again, this time in a difficult lefty-on-lefty situation.
He clubbed a pitch from freshman Kaiden Wilson over the right field wall, giving the Vols a 2-1 lead.
In the eighth, the Vols struck again, this time with Stark doing the honors. He came to the plate with one on base and in an 0 for 16 skid in the MCWS, but he re-directed a Wilson pitch over the wall for his 11th homer of the season and his first since June 9. With one swing, Tennessee opened a 4-1 advantage.
“I was glad I could come through for my teammates,” Stark said. “I obviously haven’t had the best series. So, just trying to keep grinding, keep grinding at the plate.”
Tennessee pitching had a good day, striking out 12. The Vols got four innings out of starter Drew Beam and four more from Aaron Combs, who was roughed up in the Vols’ MCWS opener against Florida State. In the ninth, Combs, Kirby Connell and Nate Snead all pitched for the Vols, who had to hold on at the end to win.
Ted Burton led off against Combs and poked a single into left field. Connell entered at that point and yielded a single to Caden Sorrell. With the potential tying run at the plate, the Vols brought in Snead, who would face Ali Camarillo. On a slow ground ball to the right side, second baseman Ariel Antigua, whose only play was to slap a tag on Sorrell.
Not only was Sorrell the first out, he also went back to the dugout with a bloodied eyebrow. The next batter, red-hot Kaeden Kent, flied to the outfield for the second out. At that juncture, with runners at first and third, A&M sent in pinch hitter Ryan Targac. During his at bat, Camarillo took second base, and then Targac flied to right to end the game.
Despite the loss for Texas A&M, LaViolette emerged from a batting slump with a two-for-two day. Additionally, reliever Chris Cortez relaced opener Zane Badmaev in the second inning and pitched 4 and 1/3 shutout innings. He allowed two hits and walked five but had good life on his pitches, striking out seven.
“I guess the difference in the game were the two, two-out homers,” Texas A&M coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “They got the big swings at the right time, but we battled back. Combs obviously settled down the game really well for them. I thought Chris (Cortez) battled. I was proud of Kaiden Wilson. Just, two pitches got him. Dreiling was on the fast ball, and (Wilson) hung a breaking ball to the catcher.
“Close ball game, just exactly what you’d expect with these two teams. To think you’re going to roll right through it in two games is … that would have been nice. We get to play. We don’t have to play, we get to play the last college baseball game of the season, and that’s awesome.”
Records
Texas A&M
Overall 53-14
In the NCAA tournament 9-1
In the MCWS 4-1
Tennessee
Overall 59-13
In the NCAA tournament 9-2
In the MCWS 4-1
Notable
Tennessee gave itself a chance to become the first No. 1 national seed in the NCAA baseball tournament to win a championship since the Miami Hurricanes did it in 1999.
Coming up
Texas A&M vs. Tennessee, Game 3 of the MCWS championship round, 6 p.m.