A new college baseball champion has been crowned and it is the Tennessee Volunteers for the first time in school history. They prevailed Monday over the Texas A&M Aggies in Game 3 of the championship round of the College World Series, 6-5.
Tennessee struck first in dramatic fashion, as Christian Moore hit a home run to lead off the bottom of the first.
Moore is projected as a first-round pick in the upcoming MLB Draft. R.J. Anderson here at CBS Sports has Moore ranked as the 21st-best draft prospect.
A&M struck back to even the score in the third, thanks to Travis Chestnut using his wheels. He bunted for a hit and advanced to second on an error, then stole third before coming home on Gavin Grahovic’s single. Tennessee would grab the lead right back in the bottom half, as Blake Burke doubled and then ended up scoring on a sac fly from Dylan Dreiling. That was the second out and the bases were empty, but the Vols rallied to grab another. Hunter Ensley and Kavares Tears singled before Dean Curley drove home a run to give them breathing room with a 3-1 lead.
Tennessee then grabbed some insurance to make things a bit more comfortable in the bottom of the seventh on a two-run bomb from Dreiling, who became the first player to homer in all three games of a Men’s College World Series Finals. Later in the inning, Tears doubled home Ensley and let’s give Ensley extra credit for an acrobatic slide to avoid the tag at home plate.
The Aggies plated two runs in the eighth to shrink the score to 6-3 before Tennessee reliever Kirby Connell struck out two batters who each represented the tying run. They drove in two more in the ninth, but couldn’t pull off the final comeback.
It should also be noted that Volunteers starter Zander Sechrist threw really well, allowing just the one run in 5 1/3 innings of work with seven strikeouts against one walk.
This marks the first-ever national baseball title for the Volunteers, who previously hadn’t been to the finals since 1951. Tennessee was the No. 1 overall seed heading into the tournament. This was the first time a top overall seed won it all since 1999, when Miami (Fla.) pulled it off.
The road here started at home, as Tennessee hosted a regional and didn’t have much trouble advancing. They beat Northern Kentucky, Indiana and Southern Mississippi by a combined score of 33-15. They faced elimination in the Super Regional, heading to a do-or-die Game 3, but toppled Evansville — the Cinderella in this tournament — 12-1. In College World Series action, the Volunteers squeaked by Florida State, 12-11, before beating North Carolina 6-1 and Florida State 7-2.
Here in the finals, they lost Game 1 and then were down 1-0 in Game 2 before getting two runs each in the seventh and eighth innings in a 4-1 win. They finish things off here having gone 3-0 in elimination games.
The aforementioned Moore — projected as a first-round pick in next month’s MLB Draft — has been a big part of Tennessee’s offense all year. He hit for the second cycle in College World Series history in the Vols’ CWS-opening win over Florida State. The Aggies, meanwhile, reached the Finals with their top hitter sidelined. Braden Montgomery, a potential top-10 draft pick, did not play in the CWS after injuring his leg earlier in the NCAA Tournament.
The College World Series started last week with eight teams, but Virginia, NC State, North Carolina, Kentucky, Florida State and Florida were knocked out before Tennessee and Texas A&M advanced to the finals.
College World Series Finals schedule
Saturday, June 22
- Finals, Game 1: Texas A&M 9, Tennessee 5
Sunday, June 23
- Finals, Game 2: Tennessee 4, Texas A&M 1
Monday, June 24
- Finals, Game 3: Tennessee 6, Texas A&M 5
College World Series scores
(All games in Eastern Standard Time)
Friday, June 14
- North Carolina 3, Virginia 2
- Tennessee 12, Florida State 11
Saturday, June 15
- Kentucky 5, NC State 4 (Final/10)
- Texas A&M 3, Florida 2
Sunday, June 16
- Florida State 7, Virginia 3 — Virginia eliminated
- Tennessee 6, North Carolina 1
Monday, June 17
- Florida 5, NC State 4 — NC State eliminated
- Texas A&M 5, Kentucky 1
Tuesday, June 18
- Florida State 9, North Carolina 5 — North Carolina eliminated
Wednesday, June 19
- Florida 15, Kentucky 4 — Kentucky eliminated
- Tennessee 7, Florida State 2 — Florida State eliminated
- Texas A&M 6, Florida 0 — Florida eliminated
Super Regional scores
June 7
- Florida State 24, UConn 4
- Tennessee 11, Evansville 6
- North Carolina 8, West Virginia 6
- Virginia 7, Kansas State 4
June 8
- Evansville 10, Tennessee 8
- Florida State 10, UConn 8 — Florida State wins series 2-0
- NC State 18, Georgia 1
- Florida 10, Clemson 7
- Texas A&M 10, Oregon 6
- Virginia 10, Kansas State 4 — Virginia wins series 2-0
- Kentucky 10, Oregon State 0
- North Carolina 2, West Virginia 1 — North Carolina wins series 2-0
June 9
- Georgia 11, NC State 2
- Florida 11, Clemson 10 (13 innings) — Florida wins series 2-0
- Tennessee 12, Evansville 1 — Tennessee wins series 2-1
- Texas A&M 15, Oregon 9 — Texas A&M wins series 2-0
- Kentucky 3, Oregon State 2 — Kentucky wins series 2-0
June 10
- NC State 8, Georgia 5 — NC State wins series 2-1
Regional Round schedule
Athens Regional scores
(Hosted by No. 7 national seed Georgia)
- No. 1 Georgia 8, No. 4 Army, 7
- No. 2 UNC-Wilmington 9, No. 3 Georgia Tech 0
- Georgia Tech 4, Army 2
- Georgia 11, UNC-Wilmington 2
- No. 1 Georgia 8, No. 4 Army 7
- Georgia Tech 3, UNC-Wilmington 1
- Georgia 8, Georgia Tech 6 (10) (Georgia advances)
College Station Regional scores
(Hosted by No. 3 national seed Texas A&M)
- No. 1 Texas A&M 8, No. 4 Grambling 0
- No. 3 Texas 12, No. 2 Louisiana 5
- Louisiana 12, Grambling 5
- Texas A&M 4, Texas, 2
- Louisiana 10, Texas 2
- Texas A&M 9, Louisiana 4 (Texas A&M advances)
Chapel Hill Regional scores
(Hosted by No. 4 national seed North Carolina)
- No. 2 LSU 4, No. 3 Wofford 3
- No. 1 North Carolina 11, No. 4 Long Island 8
- Wofford 5, Long Island 2
- North Carolina 6, LSU 2
- Wofford 5, Long Island 2
- LSU 13, Wofford 6
- LSU 8, North Carolina 4
- North Carolina 4, LSU 3 (North Carolina advances)
Charlottesville Regional scores
(Hosted by No. 12 national seed Virginia)
- No. 1 Virginia 4, No. 4 Penn 2
- No. 2 Mississippi State 5, No. 3 St. John’s 2
- St. John’s 10, Penn 9
- Virginia 5, Mississippi State 4
- Mississippi State 13, St. John’s 5
- Virginia 9, Mississippi State 2 (Virginia advances)
Clemson Regional scores
(Hosted by No. 6 national seed Clemson)
- No. 3 Coastal Carolina 13, No. 2 Vanderbilt 3
- No. 1 Clemson 4, No. 4 High Point 3
- High Point 10, Vanderbilt 9
- Clemson 4, Coastal Carolina 3
- Coastal Carolina 6, High Point 5
- Clemson 12, Coastal Carolina 5 (Clemson advances)
Corvallis Regional scores
(Hosted by No. 15 national seed Oregon State)
- No. 2 UC-Irvine 13, No. 3 Nicholls 12
- No. 1 Oregon State 10, No. 4 Tulane 4
- Tulane 3, Nicholls 0
- Oregon State 5, UC-Irvine, 3
- UC-Irvine 17, Tulane 7
- Oregon State 11, UC-Irvine 6 (Oregon State advances)
Fayetteville Regional scores
(Hosted by No. 5 national seed Arkansas)
- No. 1 Arkansas 17, No. 4 Southeast Missouri State 9
- No. 3 Kansas State 19, No. 2 Louisiana Tech 4
- Southeast Missouri State 9, Louisiana Tech 3
- Kansas State 7, Arkansas 6
- Southeast Missouri State 6, Arkansas 3
- Kansas State 7, Southeast Missouri State 2 (Kansas State advances)
Greenville Regional scores
(Hosted by No. 16 national seed East Carolina)
- No. 4 Evansville 4, No. 1 East Carolina 1
- No. 3 VCU 1, No. 2 Wake Forest 0
- East Carolina 7, Wake Forest 6
- Evansville 17, VCU 11
- East Carolina 10, VCU 7
- East Carolina 19, Evansville 6
- Evansville 6, East Carolina 5 (Evansville advances)
Knoxville Regional scores
(Hosted by No. 1 national seed Tennessee)
- No. 3 Indiana 10, No. 2 Southern Mississippi 4
- No. 1 Tennessee 9, No. 4 Northern Kentucky 3
- Southern Mississippi 6, Northern Kentucky 0
- Tennessee 12, Indiana 6
- Southern Mississippi 15, Indiana 3
- Southern Mississippi 6, Northern Kentucky 0
- Tennessee 12, Southern Mississippi 3 (Tennessee advances)
Lexington Regional scores
(Hosted by No. 2 national seed Kentucky)
- No. 1 Kentucky 10, No. 4 Western Michigan 8
- No. 3 Illinois 4, No. 2 Indiana State 1
- Indiana State 6, Western Michigan 4
- Kentucky 6, Illinois 1
- Indiana State 13, Illinois 2
- Kentucky 5, Indiana State 0 (Kentucky advances)
Norman Regional scores
(Hosted by No. 9 national seed Oklahoma)
- No. 3 UConn 4, No. 2 Duke 1
- No. 1 Oklahoma 14, No. 4 Oral Roberts 0
- Duke 6, Oral Roberts 2
- UConn 4, Oklahoma 1
- Oklahoma 4, Duke 3
- Oklahoma 6, UConn 4
- UConn 7, Oklahoma 1 (UConn advances)
Raleigh Regional scores
(Hosted by No. 10 national seed NC State)
- No. 2 South Carolina 8, No. 3 James Madison 7
- No. 1 NC State 9, No. 4 Bryant 2
- James Madison 8, Bryant 1
- NC State 6, South Carolina 4
- James Madison 2, South Carolina 0
- NC State 5, James Madison 3 (NC State advances)
Santa Barbara Regional
(Hosted by No. 14 national seed UC-Santa Barbara)
- No. 3 Oregon 5, No. 2 San Diego 4 (11)
- No. 1 UC-Santa Barbara 9, No. 4 Fresno State 6
- San Diego 7, Fresno State 5
- Oregon 2, UC-Santa Barbara 0
- UC-Santa Barbara 4, San Diego 2
- Oregon 3, UC-Santa Barbara 0 (Oregon advances)
Stillwater Regional scores
(Hosted by No. 11 national seed Oklahoma State)
- No. 3 Florida 5, No. 2 Nebraska 2
- No. 1 Oklahoma State 19, No. 4 Niagara 7
- Nebraska 7, Niagara 5
- Oklahoma State 7, Florida 1
- Florida 17, Nebraska 11
- Florida 5, Oklahoma State 2
- Florida 4, Oklahoma State 2 (Florida advances)
Tallahassee Regional scores
(Hosted by No. 8 national seed Florida State)
- No. 1 Florida State 7, No. 4 Stetson 2
- No. 3 Central Florida 8, No. 2 Alabama 7
- Stetson 4, Alabama 0
- Florida State 5, Central Florida 2
- Central Florida 5, Stetson 2
- Florida State 12, Central Florida 4 (Florida State advances)
Tucson Regional scores
(Hosted by No. 13 national seed Arizona)
- No. 3 West Virginia 4, No. 2 Dallas Baptist 1
- No. 4 Grand Canyon 9, No. 1 Arizona 4
- Dallas Baptist 7, Arizona 0
- West Virginia 5, Grand Canyon 2
- Grand Canyon 12, Dallas Baptist 10
- West Virginia 10, Grand Canyon 6 (West Virginia advances)
Here’s a link to NCAA.com’s full bracket.
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