For Tennessee, a national championship won the only way it could be

OMAHA, Neb. — Hunter Ensley was going to get there anyway he could.

As Jace LaViolette picked up the ball that Kavares Tears drove to the wall in right-center field, Ensley began to round third base.

There was no hesitation. No second-guessing. Not on this night.

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Ensley barreled towards home plate with only Jackson Appel standing between. Ensley stepped towards the infield. Appel stretched out his glove, missing him by inches.

The score capped a critical three-run seventh inning in the College World Series finale and it ultimately proved to be the difference in Tennessee's 6-5 win over Texas A&M to claim its first-ever national championship at Charles Schwab Field late Monday.

“I think I owe (Ensley) a steak dinner. He saved me," Tennessee third base coach Josh Elander said. "You’re trying to extend the lead anyway you can. Jace (LaViolette) made a great relay throw, but you’ve got to make him play catch. Ensley saved the day. I’d send him almost every single time there."

"Coming around third, I took a small peek in," Ensley said. "The ball actually carried (Appel) to the outside of the plate. Just natural instinct, trying to make a play.”

If a single play could describe an entire team, it was that one.

Just two days before, Ensley didn't even play in the outfield because of a hamstring injury he sustained after smashing into the wall to make a momentum-killing catch against North Carolina last Sunday.

That hamstring was an after thought at that moment. Just like the wall was when Tears chased down a ball vs. Florida State and when Aaron Combs pitched the final three outs of a one-run, winner-take-all game less than 24 hours removed from his last appearance.

“We do whatever it takes to win," Tears said. "Whenever you see us running into walls and flipping over into dugouts, all we want to do is just win, get the out. Whatever it takes.”

Tears appreciated Ensley's toughness before the two arrived in Knoxville three years ago.

As Ensley side-stepped Appel and laid out to reach the plate, Tears thought back to the clashes between the two on the football field when Huntingdon High School played Columbia Academy.

"I always knew that he was a bad mofo. I still believe it to this day now that I’ve spent the last three years with him," Tears said. "He’s become one of my best friends off the field, too. I think me and him have a bond that will never be broken. To watch what he did, to battle through injury in one of the toughest parts of the season and come back out and play the way that he did, it’s just insane."

Tennessee wouldn't have been where it was Monday night if it wasn't for players like Ensley. It's fair to say that it wouldn't have gotten there without the perfect marriage of Tony Vitello and the team that plays for him, either.

Vitello had already revived a baseball program that had slipped from relevancy in the SEC, leading Tennessee to CWS appearances in three of his six years as head coach. His third trip ended in a championship because he knew how to get the most of his players and they knew how to be receptive.

Now, the Vols can count themselves among the SEC elite. A new-look stadium and facilities back in Knoxville—the fruits of the seemingly overnight creation of a winning brand—were already on the way. A championship banner is coming, too.

"I think we've tried to build a support staff that kind of has that (gritty) image," Vitello said. "When we first came to Knoxville from Arkansas (where) you were looking at the best fans in the league and best stadium, huge crowds, winning tradition. So how were we going to compete? That was our answer when we had that long conversation...

"That was our niche. We got to play with some attitude, we got to play with some grit. And we're going to have to get some guys that maybe don't want to say yes to a school with a better winning record than us."

MORE FROM VOLREPORT: Everything Tony Vitello, Tennessee players said after national championship

Vitello got those guys. Christian Moore was one of them. So was Blake Burke. They were freshmen on the 2022 team that had its season abruptly ended one game shy of the CWS.

That Super Regional loss to Notre Dame that year was a motivator for Moore and played a part in getting Tennessee to the promised land. Moore, who became the program's the all-time career home run leader among a bevy of other accomplishments.

"(Vitello) gave me a chance. He gave me a chance to show everybody who I was," Moore said. "I'm so grateful for him, man. I did it for him. I wanted this for him."

Chris Burke stood among the pandemonium of Tennessee's postgame celebration, understanding better than most the weight of what the Vols had just done.

He was a shortstop on the third Tennessee team to reach the CWS in 2001 and has spent time around the program a broadcaster for ESPN. He knew Vitello's approach in going after gritty, blue collar players would yield results, it would just be a matter of time.

"Just an incredible group of dudes. So tough, so talented," Burke said. "Just ready for the moment. Kids that just love the moment. You admire them.”

There was no other way it was going to end. There was no other way Dalton Bargo wanted it to end.

Dylan Dreiling provided the offensive breakthrough Tennessee had been waiting for in the seventh, taking a swing on an 0-1 pitch from touted Texas A&M closer Evan Aschenbeck and sending the ball into deep right to widen the gap by four runs.

Tears followed it up with the RBI double that scored Ensley to lead by five going into the eighth.

The national championship was already in sight. Now it was in reach.

Then Tennessee found itself in a familiar spot. The Aggies answered with three runs to pull within one. Vitello decided to let Combs close the door. He slammed it, striking out the tying run.

“This is Vol fashion. Let it get tight in the end and finally pull it out," Bargo said. "Hit balls out of the yard, playing small ball, getting the job done. Fighting for each other, fighting for everyone of our brothers. That’s Vols baseball and that’s why we’re at where we’re at now.”

"Vol fashion" is the term coined by Tennessee players after a series of wins that they either needed to come from behind in or hold on at the end. The CWS Game 3 final was the latter.

If Tennessee was going to win a national championship, winning it in Vol Fashion was the only way.

"All year, I think we’ve just been a gritty team. We’re relentless," Ensley said. "You can never count this group out, man. Sixty wins. Most winningest team ever. No one can ever argue that. We’ve got a lot of guys that love to compete. It was incredible. Just really happy to be with this group of guys."

MORE FROM VOLREPORT: On biggest stage of career, Zander Sechrist staying true to himself

There never seemed to be a moment too big, even when Tennessee was playing with its back against the wall.

The Vols needed to beat Evansville in a decisive Game 3 of the Knoxville Super Regional just to get to Omaha. Zander Sechrist delivered with a career outing on the mound. He did it again against Florida State to punch Tennessee's ticket to the CWS finals for the first time in 73 years.

On a stage bigger than any he had ever been on before, Sechrist was magnificent in the national championship game, the final game of his career.

When the Vols' title hopes were on the brink heading into the bottom of the ninth against Florida State more than 10 days ago, Dreiling knocked the first of several clutch hits on the way to winning Most Valuable Player in the CWS, walking it off to spark their run to the championship.

The catches in the outfield, the game-saving appearances out of the bullpen from Kirby Connell and Nate Snead, the back-picks when runners continued to foolishly test the arm of Cal Stark from behind the plate, can’t be forgotten either.

"No better team to win for the University of Tennessee than a bunch of guys who were truly the definition of a team," Vitello said. "And no better play for our program to be the winning run on that slide, a guy that's built with a ton of grit. And his teammates follow his leadership. It's a great example of how to get things done."

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