The Tennessee Volunteers saved their season on Sunday, with a 4-1 victory over the Texas A&M Aggies in Game 2 of the College World Series finals.
Tennessee's pitching staff was key to the victory. Starter Drew Beam allowed one run in four innings and reliever Aaron Combs provided four innings of scoreless relief.
For the Aggies, everything went well until the 7th inning. Then, in a couple of innings, reliever Kaiden Wilson got hammered with four runs which was more than enough for Tennessee to win.
Now, the Volunteers turn to star opener Zander Sechrist. They want to shut out the Aggies in the final game of the series. Sechrist has four quality starts in his last four games. He has a record of 5-1 and an ERA of 3.22, which is impressive for a college pitcher. He has made 17 starts this season.
Tony Vitello on Tennessee's win on Sunday
In the aftermath of Sunday's win, head coach Tony Vitello spoke of the manner in which his team won and what he thought about it:
"It was an SEC war, or just a postseason war. And in that situation, if you had your Druthers, you’d like to have the last at-bat because you know the ninth inning is going to be full of drama."
"But I think our kids kept their composure in that ninth inning including Ariel in a real tough play. You don’t want to see anyone get hurt there. But it was a do-or-die deal where you couldn’t shy away. You had to make a decision what you were going to do..."
He concluded by saying:
"Obviously, it’s easy because the score is what it is. But I felt we were more true to who we were today in pregame, in the dugout, during the game. And, again, it’s easy to say that because we end up doing okay on the scoreboard. But I’d rather go into battle with that group the way they showed up today and hope they do the same tomorrow.”
Tennessee's potential lineup in Game 3 of the College World Series final today
- C: Carl Stark
- 1B: Blake Burke
- 2B: Christian Moore
- SS: Dean Curley
- 3B: Billy Amick
- RF: Reese Chapman
- CF: Kavares Tears
- LF: Dylan Dreiling
- DH: Hunter Ensley
- P: Zander Sechrist
How to watch Game 3 of the College World Series tonight?
Game 3 between Tennessee and Texas A&M will air on ESPN, like all College World Series games so far. Fans can also stream the action through the network's app, ESPN+. The app is available for iOS, Android, Amazon Fire TV, Roku, and other mainstream devices.
Fans can stream the games on Hulu Live TV, FuboTV, and DirecTV Stream.
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