The Men’s College World Series ended Monday, June 24th, with the Tennessee Volunteers coming out as national champions for the first time in team history. Though of course, other games led to that moment.
The MCWS started Friday, June 14th with two games. The first game was between the North Carolina Tar Heels and the Virginia Cavaliers. North Carolina won the game 3-2 and had an excellent pitching performance from Max Carlson. The second game was between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Florida State Seminoles. The ending score was 12-11 in the Volunteer's favor. Tennessee Blake Burke and Christian Moore both had home runs in the game.
The next day the Kentucky Wildcats faced off against the NC State Wolfpack and the Texas A&M Aggies against the Florida Gators. Kentucky managed to win 5-4 in ten innings with Johnny Hummel bringing them to the win in relief. Later that day the Aggies beat the Gators 3-2, with Chris Cortez securing the victory on the mound. June 16th had Florida State defeating Virginia 7-3, with two home runs from Jaime Ferrer. That same day Tennessee continued their dominance against North Carolina with a 6-1 win. That game had two home runs for Tennessee from Jared Dickey and Christian Moore.
The following day Florida won against NC State, barely squeaking by with a 5-4 final score. Texas A&M sent the Kentucky Wildcats home with a 5-1 win. The Aggies’ pitching staff led by Nathan Dettmer kept the Wildcat's offense at bay. On June 18th the matchup was between North Carolina vs Florida State. Though the Tar Heels fought hard, the game ended with Florida State eliminating North Carolina with a final score of 9-5. And just the next day Tenessee secured their spot in the finals after eliminating Florida State 7-2. Zander Sechrist pitched six outstanding innings.
The final matchup was now officially set. Texas A&M vs Tennessee. In the first game between the two, on June 22, the Aggies pulled ahead with a 9-5 victory. They had an early lead in the game thanks to a five-run third inning. Both Gavin Grahovac and Kaeden Kent were instrumental in this win, with Kent alone driving in four runs. Though Tennesee wasn’t going out without a fight, the next day the Vols defeated Texas A&M 4-1 with an excellent performance from pitcher Aaron Combs, who struck out five across four scoreless innings. This victory forced a third game for the championship.
The third game started with Tennessee getting an early lead and by the seventh inning, Tennessee was up 6-1, thanks to a two-run homer from Dylan Dreiling. Hunter Ensley also almost managed to get a near-home run double. Though Texas A&M seemed to be getting back into the groove later in the game, thanks to a double by Sorrell that brought in a run, Tennessee still triumphed with a 6-3 win.
This win marks Tennessee’s first national championship and their 60th win of the season.
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