OMAHA, Neb. — The Tennessee Volunteers have reached the College World Series finals with a roster representing all parts of the country.
Christian Moore, Blake Burke, Billy Amick and Dylan Dreiling are the first four batters in Tennessee’s lineup, and they hail from New York, California, South Carolina and Kansas, respectively. Yet the Vols also have multiple prominent players from the Volunteer State who would love nothing more than to bring a national championship back to Knoxville.
“This is definitely an awesome opportunity that we have in front of us, to be able to wear ‘Tennessee’ and make everybody back home proud,” right fielder Kavares Tears said after Wednesday’s 7-2 victory over Florida State. “It’s a great opportunity that we’re looking forward to.”
Tears, who played at Columbia Academy in Lewisburg, will try to help lead Tennessee to its first national crown in baseball when the top-seeded Vols (58-12) challenge No. 3 Texas A&M (52-13) in a best-of-three series at Charles Schwab Field Omaha starting Saturday night at 7:30 Eastern on ESPN. Game 2 is at 2 p.m. Sunday on ABC, with the third game set for 7 p.m. Monday on ESPN, if necessary.
Tennessee coach Tony Vitello said in Friday’s news conference that the pitching combination of starter Chris Stamos (3-0, 3.26 ERA) and AJ Causey (13-3, 4.21) would be used in Saturday’s opener. The Aggies will counter with Ryan Prager, who is 9-1 this season with a 2.88 ERA.