Tennessee’s baseball team faced a season full of “what ifs” and crushed it with the barrel of its bat in Game Two to keep its season alive in the finals of the College World Series.
The Vols, as they did in Game One, struggled at the plate against Texas A&M before managing enough runs to top the Aggies 4-1 in Game Two of the best-of-three national championship series.
Left fielder Dylan Dreiling’s two-run homer in the top of the seventh inning broke an inauspsicious trend of poor performances at the plate, especially with runners in scoring position. Catcher Cal Stark’s two-run blast in the eighth provided more remedy for the Vols against one of the nation’s top pitching staffs.
The Aggies have mostly manhandled the Vols at the plate in the championship series, especially in Game One when Texas A&M beat Tennessee with 17 strikeouts. The Vols struck out 12 times in Game Two. Moreover, the Vols have struggled with runners on base. Tennessee left nine runners on base against the Aggies in Game Two and 10 in Game One.
Had the Vols not broken through in the latter stages of Game Two, the story of the series would have been all about the Vols missing out on opportunities – with some fielding errors thrown in. Now, the Vols have lived to play another day and will take part in a winner-take-all Game Three on Monday evening at 7 p.m.
Tennessee’s struggles at the plate have been head scratching considering the Vols have been historically good this year with the bat in their hands. After knocking two dingers against the Aggies, the Vols now have hit 182 home runs this season, a remarkable feat which is just six short of the all-time NCAA record. LSU set that mark with 188 round-trippers in 1997. However, that record was set with highly questionable bats that had more pop than the Fourth of July.
The Vols won’t likely reach it, but they’ve come remarkably close to breaking one of the NCAA’s records that has long been thought to be unbreakable. More importantly, Tennessee can win their first mens championship since the track and field team won it all in 2002. However, Tennessee’s last “major sport” championship, which would include baseball, was in 1998 when the Vols’ football team won the Bowl Championship Series.
While chasing championships and an all-time (supposedly) unreachable record, the Vols made things incredibly close late in Game One, allowing two runners on base in the bottom of the ninth inning before holding on for the game’s final count.
One would think that drama will be at an all-time high in Game Three in which the Aggies are currently deemed a 1-1/2-point favorite. If the series’ tradition holds, the Vols’ season-long strength, which is their prowess at the plate, will determine if Tennessee wins its first baseball championship in program history.
