OMAHA, Neb. — Tennessee’s prodigious home run prowess arrived too late in Game 1 of the Men’s College World Series finals.
It showed up right on time in Game 2.
Tennessee’s Dylan Dreiling hit the go-ahead homer in the seventh inning, Cal Stark went deep in the eighth and after Nate Snead turned back a scoring threat by Texas A&M in the bottom of the ninth, the Volunteers forced a deciding third game with a 4-1 victory Sunday.
One of the teams will win its first national title in baseball and become the fifth straight champion from the Southeastern Conference when they meet Monday night.
“I felt we were more true to who we were today in pregame, in the dugout, during the game,” Volunteers coach Tony Vitello said. “It’s easy to say that because we end up doing OK on the scoreboard. But I’d rather go into battle with that group the way they showed up today, and 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 homers in the seventh inning of a 9-5 loss Saturday.
They trailed just 1-0 in the seventh 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 through six innings.
The Volunteers had been 2-for-20 with runners in scoring position over the first two games of the finals when Dreiling connected. Tennessee was up three runs when Stark, the No. 9 batter, homered in the eighth. He had been 0-for-16 with nine strikeouts in the MCWS before he launched a pitch from Wilson over the left-field bullpen.
“We always know we’re one inning away,” Stark said. “We keep stacking quality at-bats together and good things will end up happening. The kid to my right [Dreiling] put a good swing on the ball and gave us a lot of momentum going late into the game.”
Snead, who earned his sixth save, was called on after the Aggies’ first two batters singled in the bottom of the ninth. He got a groundout and flyout before Kavares Tears went to the warning track to catch pinch hitter Ryan Targac’s fly that stayed in the park with the help of the wind blowing in.
