Winning a National Championship is hard, doesn’t happen nearly as often as fans would like and ultimately triggers wild celebrations when they do occur.
As widely reported, Tennessee Baseball had not made an appearance in a Men’s College World Series final since 1951. Amazingly the 2022 Tennessee team that was a dominating force during the regular season and odds on favorites to win the national title failed to even make it to Omaha with a shocking upset loss at home in the Super Regional.
The 2024 team was not as dominant as the 2022 team but seemed to have the ability to hit another gear when needed. You only have to look as far back as the first game in the MCWS. It appeared the Vols were headed to the losers bracket in Game 1 before pulling off a three run comeback walk off win in the bottom of the 9th. The Vols were one out away from dropping Game 1 to FSU and then hit that extra gear by making four consecutive pressure hits to complete the comeback.
The Championship Series began with a game similar to the Vols first game in the MCWS where they were down by five runs to TAMU. They appeared to be pulling another Houdini act before TAMU closed the game out with a two run win.
The Vols struggled at the plate in Game 2 before finally striking for four runs off two homers and forcing a Game 3 winner take all matchup. Tennessee appeared to have Game 3 under control. But winning a National Championship is hard. Taking a 6-1 lead into the 8th inning, the Vols gave up two runs in the 8th and two more in the 9th making it a 6-5 game. Ace reliever Aaron Combs struck out a TAMU batter to set off a wild celebration on the field, in the stands and across Big Orange Country.
How close was it? Both teams had thirteen hits. Both teams had one error. Both teams gave up two walks. As the TAMU coach mentioned in his post-game interview, the main difference was two of Tennessee’s hits were home runs.
The last National Championship recorded by a Tennessee Athletics team belongs to the 2009 Lady Vols Track & Field team. Ranked 2nd in the country going into the 2009 NCAA Indoor Championships, the Lady Vols ironically took that title from the top-ranked TAMU Aggies who had defeated them earlier in the season in a home dual meet.
Yes, National Championships are hard to come by, don’t happen often and should be enjoyed to the fullest when they do happen. Celebrate this 2024 Baseball National Championship to the fullest Vol fans as we just don’t know when the next one will happen. But we certainly hope it will not take another fifteen years to get that next natty!!
