Tennessee baseball completes climb from bottom of SEC to top of College World Series mountain

You had to be there from the beginning to fully appreciate what Tennessee accomplished Monday at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska.

The Volunteers won their first national championship in baseball with a 6-5 victory over Texas A&M in an all-SEC College World Series finale. But their championship run didn’t begin when they drew a No. 1 overall seed for the NCAA baseball tournament.

It began as an underdog, way back in 2017 when then-Tennessee athletic director John Currie hired Tony Vitello. Tennessee has been on the rise since.

The Vols peaked in 100-degree heat in America’s Heartland. Fittingly, their hottest hitters delivered again.

Christian Moore led off Tennessee’s first inning with his 34^th home run. Clutch-hitting Dylan Dreiling finished what Moore started. He hit his third home run of the best-of-three championship series as part of a three-run seventh inning that enabled the Vols to claim a 6-1 advantage.

They took a five-run lead. They didn’t kill the suspense.

Texas A&M responded with two runs in the eighth against Tennessee relievers Nate Snead and Dylan Loy. Then, it was Kirby Connell time.

The fifth-year senior with the most famous moustache in Tennessee sports struck out both Kaden Kent and Ryan Targat with two runners on base to put the Vols within one inning of a national championship. Aaron Combs gave up two runs but struck out three in closing out the victory.

READ ALL ABOUT IT: Celebrate Tennessee's national title with our new book

The Vols didn’t just win a national championship. They won a school-record 60 games. But Tennessee’s baseball ascent is best measured by the losses.

The Vols lost 21 SEC games in both 2016 and 2017. This team lost only 14 games overall.

This was the third Vitello team to win 50 or more games. It also was the first No. 1 overall tournament seed to win the national title since Miami (Fla.) in 1999.

Never mind Tennessee's No. 1 seeding. Or all its success. It still had its underdog moments.

The Vols trailed Florida State by five runs in their CWS opener. They still were down by three in their last at-bat when they rallied for a two-out, 12-11 victory.

Tennessee began the championship round the way they began the CWS – on the wrong side of the score. After losing the opener of the best-of-three series to the Aggies on Saturday, they were behind 1-0 in Game 2 until Dreiling saved them with a two-out home run in the seventh inning

Dreiling’s homer – just like his game-winning hit against Florida State – reminded us: The Vols aren’t just good. They’re clutch.

No comeback was necessary in the championship game. The Vols tacked on two more runs in the third for a 3-1 lead against starting pitcher Justin Lamkin, who hadn’t given up a run in his two previous College World Series appearances across eight innings.

“He wasn’t as crisp,” was how Texas A&M coach Jim Schlossnagle summed up Lamkin’s pitching during an in-game television interview.

Unlike Lamkin, Tennessee starter Zander Sechrist continued his superb pitching in the CWS. He lasted 5 1/3 innings before Vitello turned to Snead with runners on first and second and one out in the sixth.

Snead pitched out of trouble, thanks to first baseman Blake Burke being in just the right spot when Caden Sorrell slammed a line drive into his glove for the third out.  

As if Snead didn’t have enough pressure trying to hold Tennessee’s lead, he had to compete with Evan Aschenbeck, one of the top closers in college baseball.

Snead’s big moment came with two on and two out in the seventh, facing Texas A&M’s best power hitter, Jace LaViolette. With two left-handers warming up in the bullpen, Vitello stuck with his right-handed pitcher against a left-handed batter. Snead made Vitello look smart by getting LaViolette on a groundball out.

Aschenbeck couldn’t match that. With two out, he gave up a single to Billy Amick. That gave Dreiling another chance, and he followed with Tennessee’s 184^th home run of the season, the second-most in college baseball history.

But they made history in what mattered most.

The final sequence went like this: Relief pitcher Aaron Combs struck out three batters in the ninth, Tennessee fans roared their approval, College World Series MVP Dreiling held up his trophy, and Vitello hugged his father

The seven-year climb from the bottom of the SEC to the top of college baseball was complete.