OMAHA, Neb. – Omaha will now be painted Orange.
Dylan Dreiling homered and knocked in three as top-seeded Tennessee edged No. 3 Texas A&M 6-5 on Monday evening in Game 3 of the Championship Series of the 2024 College World Series to capture its first National Championship.
The Volunteers (60-13) won twice after dropping Game 1 of the Championship Series. The Aggies finished their season at 53-15.
“I hope the fans that have turned this into an insane party,” UT head coach Tony Vitello said, “insane event, got the series that they wanted and that they deserved.”
A&M starting pitcher Justin Lamkin got ahead 1-2 on Christian Moore to lead off the bottom of the first before Moore lined a homer to left, his 34th of the season, to give UT an early 1-0 lead.
The Aggies tallied the equalizer in the third. Travis Chestnut laid down a perfect bunt on the left side on a 1-2 pitch and went to second on the errant throw to first. Chestnut stole third and came home on a base hit by Gavin Grahovac to level the score at 1-1.
The Vols reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the third. Blake Burke had a leadoff double, moved to third on a groundout and scored on a sacrifice fly by Dreiling to make it 2-1. Hunter Ensley and Kavares Tears followed with consecutive singles to chase Lamkin. Dean Curley greeted reliever Josh Stewart with a single to left that knocked in Ensley as UT took a 3-1 edge.
UT added to its lead in the seventh. Dreiling belted a two-run homer with two away and Tears hit an RBI double as the Vols took a 6-1 advantage.
“The first pitch I overswung on a heater way up,” Dreiling said. “He threw me a change-up over the middle and I tried to be late on it to stay back and put a good swing on it.”
A&M would not go quietly. Jackson Appel had a leadoff single in the top of the eighth and scored on a base hit by Hayden Schott, and Schott came home on a double by Caden Sorrell as the Aggies narrowed the gap to 6-3.
Gavin Grahovac had a leadoff double in the top of the ninth for A&M and scored on a one-out base hit by Appel to make it 6-4. Appel would touch home after a wild pitch as the score narrowed to 6-5. Aaron Combs struck out Ted Burton to end the game and start the celebration for the Vols.
Dreiling went 2 for 2 with a double, a homer and three RBI. He hit a home run in the seventh inning of each of the three Championship Series games. Dreiling was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2024 CWS.
Appel and Schott both finished with three hits for the Aggies, who had 13 hits, 14 strikeouts and nine left on base.
“Great series,” A&M head coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “Same number of hits. Same number of errors. Probably the difference in the ball game was timely hits and some of their hits were homers and ours weren’t.
“It’s tough to swallow. Even when you make it this far. Everybody wants to win their last game.”
Zander Sechrist (6-1) was the starter and victor for UT, going 5.1 innings with six hits, one run, one walk and seven strikeouts.
Combs fanned three in the ninth to notch his sixth save.
Notes
Tennessee became the first No. 1 seed to win the national championship since Miami in 1999, the first year of seeding.
The Vols set a program and SEC record for victories in a season with 60.
The attendance for the title game was 24,685. The total attendance for the 2024 CWS was 371,818.
The 2024 CWS All-Tournament Team
Jaxson West, C, Florida State
Jac Caglianone, 1B, Florida
Christian Moore, 2B, Tennessee
Alec Makarewicz, 3B, NC State
Dean Curley, SS, Tennessee
Dylan Dreiling, OF, Tennessee (Most Outstanding Player)
Jaime Ferrer, OF, Florida State
Vance Honeycutt, OF, North Carolina
Kaeden Kent, DH, Texas A&M
Evan Aschenbeck, P, Texas A&M
Zander Sechrist, P, Tennessee