OMAHA, Neb. — The Tennessee Volunteers have played a program-record 72 games this baseball season.
Their 73rd will determine whether or not they are national champions.
Tennessee squared the College World Series’ best-of-three finals against Texas A&M on Sunday afternoon with a 4-1 triumph before a crowd of 25,987 at Charles Schwab Stadium Omaha. Dylan Dreiling hit a two-run home run to right field with two out in the seventh inning to give the Vols a 2-1 lead, and Cal Stark added a two-run homer to left with two out in the eighth.
“I’ve already gotten emotional trying not to wuss out on you here, but if we wanted a belt or any kind of trophy today, it was that we could be around each other more than any team in the country — same as Texas A&M,” Tennessee coach Tony Vitello said in a news conference. “We had a dry erase board meeting at the beginning of the season, and the guys wanted to lead the country in velo(city) and RBIs and all kinds of crazy stuff.
“It was kind of a trick question, because what the coaching staff wanted was to have fun and to be around each other as much as possible.”