Texas A&M, Tennessee Set to Play In College World Series Final
It’s finally time for the final weekend of the College World Series tournament. So far, this has been an incredible tournament with walk-off wins, extra-inning thrillers, and high-scoring games. After convincing wins in their last couple of games, many fans believed that the final would consist of these teams. Both the Aggies and Vols had pretty convincing wins on Wednesday to qualify for the final as well.
Texas A&M shutout Florida six to nothing in their qualifying game. Justin Lamkin threw five scoreless with nine strikeouts and only gave up three hits and one walk. After Chris Cortez came in and immediately walked two, Josh Stewart came in, cleaned it up, and threw two scoreless. Evan Aschenbeck threw the final two. Caden Sorrell drove in three, including a solo shot, while Gavin Grahovac, Ted Burton, and Kaeden Kent each drove in one.
In their qualifying game, Tennessee stomped Florida State, seven to two. Zander Sechrist started on the mound for the Vols, throwing six and a quarter innings with three strikeouts and gave up two. Kirby Connell threw an inning and two-thirds and Nate Snead threw two innings out of the bullpen for the Vols. Blake Burke drove in two while Dylan Dreiling, Billy Amick, Christian Moore, and Hunter Ensley each knocked in one.
Both Texas A&M and Tennessee don’t have a national championship, so we are going to see a first-time champion when this series is over. This is going to be an action-packed series, as both teams are top five nationally, Tennessee being first and Texas A&M being fourth respectively. Both teams have loaded rosters, with good pitching staffs and lineups. Game one of the three-game series takes place Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Eastern on ESPN. Game two is Sunday at 2 p.m. Eastern and, if necessary, game three would be Monday at 7 p.m. Eastern, both on ESPN. Tennessee’s moneyline to win the tournament is set at -210 while Texas A&M is at +170. Even though the Vols should be the favorite, it’s going to be a lot closer than Vegas bookmakers are giving it credit for here. This has the potential to be one of the best College World Series finals in recent history, as Tennessee looks to be the first number-one seed to win since Miami in 1999.
