Texas A&M wins slugfest against Tennessee, just one win away from first College World Series title

OMAHA, Nebraska – Great start. Great ending.

And now, after beating Tennessee 9-5 in the opening game of the College World Series on Saturday night, Texas A&M faces its toughest task of the season. The Aggies must beat the strong national first-place team one more time on Sunday to claim their first national championship.

The Aggies (53-13) put themselves in good position when Gavin Grahovac hit a home run early in the game, winning the game with a fifth inning and bringing in Evan Aschenbeck, who pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings to slow a Tennessee offense that was just starting to gain momentum.

“We all know what’s at stake,” Schlossnagle said. “There’s no Lombardi speech. We’re just trying to keep it as light as possible.”

Tennessee (58-13) is looking to become the first national first-place team since 1999 to win the championship and enters Sunday’s second game with just one consecutive loss this season, not since March 16-17 at Alabama.

“You find different ways to react and you either get frustrated with how the night went or you get more determined,” Vols coach Tony Vitello said. “We have guys that have done that a lot in the past where the determination increases and the game gets better.”

The No. 3 Aggies benefited from a couple of errors that led to two runs – Tennessee has allowed eight of them in four CWS games – and the inability of pitchers Chris Stamos (3-1) and AJ Causey to hit their spots consistently.

Grahovac hit Stamos’ 0-2 fastball to right for the first home run in a CWS final since Sam Fuld did it for Stanford against Rice in Game 2 in 2003.

The Aggies’ Caden Sorrell (Flower Mound Marcus) had two RBI singles. Causey walked Jace LaViolette in the third inning, Jackson Appel’s comebacker bounced off Causey’s foot and was a base hit, and Hayden Schott followed with an RBI single to start the Aggies’ five-run outburst.

Kaeden Kent, son of former major league player Jeff Kent, made it a seven-run game with his home run into the right bullpen in the seventh inning.

“When I rounded the bases, I was able to take it in,” Kent said. “The bullpen went crazy. The fans were so loud; those fans are incredible. I love playing in front of those fans. They help us so much and they deserve a lot of credit for that.”

Kent, who came into the starting lineup two weeks ago after star Braden Montgomery broke his ankle in the Super Regionals, finished with three hits and four RBIs.

The Vols, the country’s most successful home run team for three decades, used the long ball to put the Aggies under pressure in the second half of the seventh inning.

Dylan Dreiling’s two-run hit to right ended the night for reliever Josh Stewart (2-2), and Hunter Ensley’s high fly over the left-field fence by Brad Rudis made it 9-5. The Vols have hit 180 home runs this season, eight shy of LSU’s NCAA record set in 1997.

Ensley was the only batter Rudis faced. Aggies coach Jim Schlossnagle brought in Aschenbeck, and the left-hander struck out six in a row before back-to-back singles put runners on the corners and an out in the ninth inning. The National Stopper of the Year struck out Ensley and Kavares Tears to end the game.

“It’s just something I do all year long. I just try to give my team the best chance to win,” Aschenbeck said. “That’s what pitchers are for. Our job as relief pitchers is to step in and catch the guys in front of us. To get that opportunity was great because the atmosphere was crazy.”

“It’s the College World Series. Everything about it is cool.”

The Vols went 2 of 13 with runners in scoring position, 2 of 11 with two outs and left 10 runners on base.

“Even though we didn’t play our best,” Vitello said, “at the end of the game we were within striking distance of their opponent.”

Aschenbeck was responsible for seven of the Aggies’ 17 strikeouts, a season high, and allowed just one earned run in his last nine appearances over 25 2/3 innings.

“I’ve had some great relievers in the past, and he’s one of them all,” Schlossnagle said. “You just know he’s going to control his heart rate, No. 1. The moment is never too big.”

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