Tennessee's run to first-ever national title paved with memorable moments

OMAHA, Neb. — Cal Stark stood at third base and watched the crowd through red, watery eyes.

Dean Curley sat quietly with his mom just outside of the infield. Drew Beam smiled with the Tennessee state flag draped over his shoulders. Christian Moore stood atop the dugout, standing before a sea of orange like Moses before the Red Sea, but this crowd was far from parting. They lingered, draining every second that they could in the presence of something long-awaited and desired.

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Charles Schwab Field was flooded with Tennessee players, their families and confetti late Monday night in Omaha, a scene that was all parts elation, emotion and realization after the Vols beat Texas A&M, 6-5 to win the program's first-ever national championship in Game 3 of the College World Series finals.

"It hasn't sunk in yet," Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello said as he tired to balance interviews and celebrating with his players, staff and family.

“(The emotions) are all over the place, man. This is what we wanted to do since August. This is what every little kid dreams of" Stark said. "For us to be able to say we’re national champs, for all of the hard work we did to come through for these guys, these coaches and all these fans right here.”

Tennessee, the first No. 1 overall seed to win the title since 1999, added to its laundry list of accomplishments this past season by winning the most games in program history at 60.

The Vols reached that number in the final game of the college baseball season, a feat years in the making.

Tennessee reached the CWS for the first time under Vitello and only the fourth time ever in 2021. That run ended in a quick exit after two losses. The 2022 team was primed to get back there and win it, running through its schedule with relative ease and looking virtually unbeatable until Notre Dame shocked the Vols in a Super Regional loss.

The 2023 team overachieved, turning a losing record early in SEC play into a second CWS appearance in three years, though it ended in defeat two games shy of the finals.

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The difference between those teams and the 2024 team that soaked up every second it had left together on the field on Monday was a kind of grittiness that never counted them out.

The lineup was explosive to be sure. The Vols put up record numbers at the plate, both within the program annals and nationally that will be held for awhile. But it was the ability to make plays in the field, running into walls to chase down a ball and get outs when they were needed most.

Nearly everyone got a chance to be the hero in the six games that Tennessee played in Omaha, from its opener to the final out of the final game.

“All year, I think we’ve just been a gritty team. We’re relentless," Outfielder Hunter 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.”

It wasn't even Christian Moore's biggest hit of the night, but it was an historic one.

The Tennessee second baseman, who became the program's all-time home run leader during the regular season, added to the CWS record books in the Vols' opening game against Florida State.

It started with a triple to lead off the bottom of the first inning. He hit a double in the second and singled in the fourth. Then Moore stepped up to the plate with Tennessee trailing by three runs in the sixth.

Facing a 3-1 count, Moore mashed a solo home run that left little doubt from the time it left his bat to when it laded under the batter's eye beyond the center field wall. The hit completed just the second cycle in the 77-year history of the CWS.

Moore had inched Tennessee closer after the Vols trailed by four or more runs twice. He was one of the kick-starters of the Vols' come-from-behind, 12-11 victory to spark an unbeaten stretch to the CWS finals.

Tennessee's season was on the brink.

A loss to Florida State, which was becoming more and more of a reality late into the Vols' CWS opener, wouldn't have ended Tennessee's eventual championship run, but it would have made the climb a lot harder.

The Vols had chipped away at their deficit, which swelled to as much as five runs after the Seminoles scored six runs in the third and two in the fourth, but with one out, Tennessee had nearly exhausted its opportunities.

Moore doubled to move two runners into scoring position. Blake Burke worked through a long at-bat and paid it off with a single up the middle, driving in two runs to draw even with Florida State. Dylan Dreiling was a next in the order.

Dreiling had already proven himself as a clutch hitter during the regular season, but none were bigger than the ball he drove into center to walk off the Seminoles

It wasn't the first game-changing hit that Dreiling, who was later named the CWS' Most Valuable Player, accounted for, but its importance to Tennessee's title is undeniable.

Hunter Ensley knew what was coming, but kept running anyway.

As the ball drifted further and further towards the wall in center, Ensley didn't take his eyes off of hit. He stretched out his glove, caught it and barreled into the wall at full speed.

The catch—one of several made by Tennessee outfielders during the CWS—robbed North Carolina of at least a double in the second inning and took away momentum that the Tar Heels never recovered.

Ensley played the next two innings and then sat out the rest of the game with a hamstring injury. Tennessee won comfortably, 6-1 behind a stellar defensive performance that moved it within a game of the CWS finals.

Ensley was relegated to designated hitter in the following two games, but returned for the finals against Texas A&M, bolstering the Vols both in the outfield and at the plate the rest of the way.

Tennessee's fortunes changed in a matter of seconds.

The Vols, who had squandered opportunities with the bases loaded twice against Texas A&M, were staring down the end of their season in Game 2 of the CWS finals.

The Aggies were clinging to a 1-0 lead heading into the seventh, and Tennessee needed something at the plate. Dreiling delivered it, mashing a two-run shot into the bullpen in right to give the Vols their first lead. Cal Stark added to it with two outs in the eighth inning to put the Vols ahead by three runs.

Tennessee had the lead and the momentum. Aaron Combs maintained both.

The right-handed relieving pitcher entered the game in the fifth for starter Drew Beam, who was brilliant in his outing in keeping the Vols within reach. Combs did the same, immediately getting Tennessee out of jam with two runners on.

Combs pulled off another escape act in the eighth, holding off Texas A&M until Kirby Connell and Nate Snead closed out a 4-1 win that kept the Vols' hopes alive.

Hunter Ensley glanced towards home plate as he approached third base. His mind was made up.

Ensley darted towards home plate as the ball hit by Kavares Tears to right-center made its way back into the infield.

Jackson Appel was Texas A&M's only hope of preventing another run, but Ensley side-stepped him, missing the glove by inches before falling and touching the plate. The decision did more than just extend the Vols' lead in the seventh, it proved to be the deciding run in Tennessee's national championship.

The Aggies attempted to rally in their last two frames, scoring four runs to trim the Vols' lead to one. Combs slammed the door in his second relief appearance in less than 24 hours to lift Tennessee into the promised land.

Ensley and third base coach Josh Elander's decision to be aggressive paid off in the sweetest way that it could have and it provided the ultimate defining moment of the Vols' championship season.

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