Tennessee needed a boost.
Down 1-0 to Texas A&M in the top of the seventh with seven outs to go and eliminated from the Men’s College World Series, they needed something to give them an offensive advantage. One of the most powerful offensive teams in college baseball was thwarted by three Aggies pitchers and in danger of losing.
Dylan Dreiling came on and sparked it all with one swing of the bat.
The man who had been the Volunteers’ hero in Omaha’s first game lived up to the hype again, blasting an unquestionable home run into deep right field that also scored Christian Moore and gave Tennessee a 2-1 lead heading into the seventh inning.
Dreiling caught a 94 mph fastball from left-hander Kayden Wilson and fired it into the bullpen in right field.
That swing changed the game, but it wasn’t the Volunteers’ only big hit. Catcher Cal Stark came to bat in the top of the eighth after going 0-for-16 with nine strikeouts and hitting a hanging slider to left field for a two-run homer.
The home run came on Stark’s next swing, when the bat flew out of his hand as he hit a mid-90 mph fastball. Volunteer fans seemed pretty happy that Stark didn’t let the bat go on his next swing. Those two runs were the final score, and Tennessee won, 4-1.
The Volunteers held off the Aggies in their final two at-bats thanks to relief pitcher Aaron Combs and the bullpen.
Combs took the mound first as the Volunteers’ starting pitcher and did an excellent job of slowing down the Texas A&M offense while taking the ball from starting pitcher Drew Beam. The Tennessee starter allowed only one run in the first inning on a solo home run by Jace Laviolette before being replaced by Combs in the fifth inning. Combs came on to the mound with two A&M players on base and no outs, but he got out of the jam with two strikeouts and a pickoff play at first base for the final out of the inning.
The Aggies threatened in the eighth when Laviolette singled with two outs off a shift in right field, bringing the tying runner to the on-deck circle, before Combs walked Jackson Appel, who was called to Tennessee pitching coach Frank Anderson to calm Combs down.
Anderson’s advice to Combs worked, as the right-hander got dangerous cleanup hitter Hayden Schott to fly out to end the inning.
Combs started the ninth inning but allowed a single to leadoff hitter Ted Burton. Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello brought in left-hander Connell, but he couldn’t get an out and allowed a single to Caden Sorrell. Vitello was replaced by Nate Snead, who got the final three outs of the game to close out the game.
The third out was a tough battle against dangerous pinch-hitter Ryan Targuck, who worked the count after trailing 2-2 and hit a long fly ball down the right field line that looked like it would tie the game when he hit it. But Targuck got out of the jam with a fly ball to right field on the next pitch.
So it all comes down to tomorrow night in Omaha.
