Late power surge helps Tennessee even up MCWS against Texas A&M
Tennessee(53-14) vs. Texas A&M(59-13) in College Baseball World Series Championship Game TONIGHT at 7pm on ESPN
from Mike Santa Barbara, with YardBarker.com/www.yardbarker.com
Texas A&M was only nine outs away from clinching the Men’s College World Series Championship on Sunday. But a power surge late helped Tennessee come from behind to win, 4-1, forcing a Game 3.
Trailing 1-0 in the seventh, Dylan Dreiling smashed a clutch two-run shot to put the Volunteers ahead for good.
Cal Stark repeated the feat in the eighth, crushing a two-run insurance bomb which gave Tennessee a 4-1 advantage.
From there, the Volunteers bullpen tight-roped through the eighth and ninth innings. It took three pitchers, but Tennessee preserved the victory, scattering three hits and a walk while forcing Texas A&M to leave five runners on base.
As was the case in Game 1, the Aggies got on the board first with a home run. Unlike during Saturday’s offensive explosion, though, the offense went quiet from there.
For Dreiling, the go-ahead round-tripper was his second of the series. Afterward, the Volunteers slugger admitted to blacking out during all the excitement but remembered that he was looking for a “heater” to hit, which he got and didn’t miss.
After snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, the Volunteers seem to have the momentum in the three-game series.
Since giving up nine runs in a Game 1 loss, Tennessee has kept Texas A&M scoreless through eight consecutive innings. They also have the mental advantage over the Aggies, who must quickly put Sunday’s let-down behind them.
While the Volunteers have new life, in order for it to matter they will have to maintain the same desperation and intensity level heading into Monday’s (2 p.m. ET) decisive Game 3. However, Dreiling said he believes that will be “pretty easy” to do.
“What’s at stake tomorrow? I don’t think it will be a problem at all,” Dreiling told Michella Chester.