Pitching duel set for Game 1 of College World Series final

Tennessee and Texas A&M have each announced their starting pitchers for the first game of the College World Series on Saturday night in Omaha.

The Vols will start with graduate transfer and senior left-hander Chris Stamos (3-0, 4.26 ERA), while the Aggies will start with left-hander Ryan Prager (9-1, 2.88 ERA).

Neither is a huge surprise, as Tennessee will likely keep its Stamos-AJ Causey pitching plan from Game 1. Stamos is expected to be used as an opener (0.1 – 3.0 innings) before giving way to Causey, who can throw up to 100 pitches as Tennessee’s makeshift ace.

Prague Is Texas A&M’s top player. The redshirt sophomore left-hander has been one of the best pitchers in the nation this season and had a standout performance against Kentucky on Monday (6.2 innings, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 95 pitches).

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Stamos has started a Game 1 every week since the LSU series in mid-April. The Cal graduate has pitched three or more innings just twice and 0.1 innings three times.

Stamos’ most recent appearance was last Friday against Florida State, where he made one out, allowed one earned run and walked one batter. The Pasadena, Calif., native hasn’t pitched more than 1.1 innings since the SEC Tournament.

In Hoover, Stamos pitched 3.1 innings against Texas A&M, his best performance of the season, allowing one earned run, walking one batter and striking out three batters.

In that game, the Aggies started Prager, who was on pitch count. Prager allowed one earned run on three hits while allowing two walks and recording two strikeouts in 2.1 innings on 53 pitches.

Against the Vols, Prager wasn’t as sharp as they expected him to be, but A&M didn’t want to put pressure on Prager because they had higher ambitions than winning the SEC Tournament.

The Aggies haven’t lost a game since Texas A&M lost to Tennessee in Hoover, winning their regional before sweeping Oregon in the College Station Super Regional.

With Tennessee and Texas A&M both 3-0 in Omaha so far, both teams have the luxury of completely revamping their pitching for the weekend. It will be like any other SEC series this weekend at Charles Schwab Field, but for the 2024 National Championship.