OMAHA, Neb. — The Tennessee Volunteers haven’t lost consecutive games since succumbing at Alabama in the middle of March.
Doing so now would end their season.
Texas A&M used a five-run third inning to break free for a 9-5 victory in the College World Series best-of-three championship series opener Saturday night before 26,498 fans at Charles Schwab Field Omaha. The Vols, who are seeking their first national championship in baseball and their first in any sport since winning the 2009 crown in women’s indoor track, now must win Sunday’s second game, which is set for 2 p.m. Eastern on ABC.
A triumph by the top-seeded Vols (58-13) would force a third contest Monday night. One more win by the No. 3 Aggies (53-13), who are 9-0 in this year’s NCAA tournament, would result in Texas A&M’s first national title in the sport.
“I thought we played we really well, for the most part, and we got a lot of timely hits and had some really good at-bats against some really good pitchers,” Texas A&M coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “It’s one win, and we can’t make it anything more than that. We still have a ballgame to win and a series to win.
“We all know what’s at stake.”
Texas A&M pounded out 13 hits against Tennessee pitching and benefited from three Vols errors. Kaeden Kent, the 8-hole hitter for the Aggies, drove in four runs and gave them their largest lead at 9-2 with a two-run homer to right field in the seventh inning.
A Dylan Dreiling two-run homer to right and a Hunter Ensley solo shot to left in the bottom of the seventh pulled the Vols within 9-5, and those came on the final pitches of the night for Aggies relievers Josh Stewart and Brad Rudis. Sensing Tennessee’s momentum, Schlossnagle brought in star closer Evan Aschenbeck, who recorded the final eight outs.
“It’s just something I’ve kind of been doing all year,” Aschenbeck said. “I just try to give my team the best chance to win.”
Aschenbeck recorded seven of his eight outs via strikeouts, and the Aggies racked up 17 strikeouts overall.
Christian Moore and Kavares Tears were a combined 0-for-10 at the plate for the Vols, who had beaten Texas A&M in their only previous meeting this season, winning 7-4 at last month's Southeastern Conference tournament in Hoover, Alabama.
“The team that played better won the game,” Tennessee coach Tony Vitello said of Saturday's rematch. “They appeared more prepared. A couple things didn’t go our way, and it kind of got a little more emotional than it normally does.
“They played better, and even though we didn’t play our best, you’re within striking distance against their guy there at the end of the game.”
The Aggies got going in the third with a Jace LaViolette walk and a Jackson Appel infield hit before Hayden Schott singled to center field to increase their lead to 3-1 with runners on the corners. A Ted Burton bunt up the first-base line was quickly fielded by Blake Burke, who threw home in time to get Appel at the plate, but Caden Sorrell made it 4-1 in the next at-bat when he singled to right to score Schott.
A tricky grounder to third by Ali Camarillo was scooped cleanly by Billy Amick, but then Amick threw wildly to Burke at first for an error that scored Burton and put runners on second and third. It then went from bad to worse for the Vols when Kent’s bloop single to center scored Sorrell and Camarillo to extend Texas A&M’s advantage to 7-1.
Tennessee answered Texas A&M’s five-run outburst with only one run in its half of the third, with Ensley singling to left on an 0-2 pitch to bring home Burke. The Vols had a promising start to their half of the fifth, when Burke ripped a leadoff double to left and Amick followed with a walk, but they went down in order after that as Texas A&M maintained its 7-2 advantage.
Chris Stamos started Saturday’s game for the Vols and promptly gave up a home run to right field by Aggies leadoff hitter Gavin Grahovac on an 0-2 pitch. Stamos also surrendered an Appel one-out double down the left-field line, and following an error by shortstop Dean Curley that put runners on the corners, he was replaced by AJ Causey after facing four batters.
Causey quickly recorded a strikeout but then gave up a single up the middle to Sorrell that put Texas A&M up 2-0.
Aggies starting pitcher Ryan Prager had a productive first inning, getting Moore to pop up in the infield before striking out Burke and Amick, but he did throw 19 pitches. The Vols bounced back with three hits in the second, with a Curley single up the middle scoring Dreiling to make it 2-1.
Tennessee continued to produce exciting outfield catches at Charles Schwab Field, with Tears making a diving snag in left-center for the final out of the fourth inning, which prevented Texas A&M from adding to its 7-2 lead. Yet the Stamos-Causey combination struggled for a second consecutive time in Omaha, combining to throw 92 pitches over four innings and allowing eight hits and seven runs, with five of them earned.
“I think we can definitely play better,” Vitello said. “This isn’t a traditional series against an SEC opponent, but you go through a season, and you welcome the competition for a reason. You find out different ways to respond, and we can either get frustrated with the way it went tonight, or we can get more determined.”
Odds and ends
Tennessee is 49-0 this season when outhitting its opponents but fell to 8-12 when getting outhit. … Dreiling went 4-for-5 and has 18 hits in the NCAA tournament. … Vitello on Ensley not playing center field for a second straight game: “There is a chance he can play (in the field) tomorrow. It was close today, but given that we have two or three games to play, I wasn’t comfortable with the idea of him pushing it after a couple of days of nonaction.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.