COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — Tennessee fell to Texas A&M in Game One of the College World Series Finals to Texas A&M by a final score of a9-5 at Charles Schwab Field on Saturday night.
The Aggies jumped out to a lead on the third pitch of the game. Gavin Grahovac hit a leadoff home run to put Texas A&M up 1-0. With one out, the Aggies got runners on first and third base.
Chris Stamos, who started the game, was taken out as the coaching staff put AJ Causey in to pitch. He dealt a strikeout against the first batter he faced. With two outs, Texas A&M brought in a run when Caden Sorrell singled to make it 2-0.
After Orrell stole second base, Texas A&M had a runner on second and third base. Causey got the Vols out of the half-inning with another strikeout.
UT was unable to get a runner on base in the first inning. Christian Moore, Blake Burke and Billy Amick all went down in order.
In the top of the second inning, Causey dealt back-to-back strikeouts and then forced a groundout to get three quick outs.
In the bottom of the second inning, the Vols got runners on first and third base with no outs. With one out, Dean Curley brought in UT's first run with a single, cutting the deficit to 2-1. That; 's all they were able to do.
After a walk and an odd bounce off Causey's foot on a grounder resulted in a runner on first and second base for the Aggies, Hayden Schott hit a single to make it 3-1. Jackson Appel then put a bunt down towards Burke who threw out the runner coming from third base after Cal Stark applied the tag.
Ali Camarillo reached on a throwing error from Amick to Burke that allowed a run to score and make it 6-1.
With runners on second and third base, Kaeden Kent hit another single for the Aggies that brought in two more runs. The Vols were down 7-1 heading into the bottom of the third inning.
Tennessee had runners on first and second base with two outs in the bottom of the third inning Hunter Ensley hit a single to bring in a run to make it 7-2. That's all the damage they could do.
In the top of the fourth inning, the Aggies got a runner on second base with two outs. A game after Kavares Tears had an incredible catch running into the wall for an out, he had an incredible diving catch in center field to secure the final out.
The Vols wouldn't score in the bottom of the fourth inning despite getting a runner-in-scoring position at second base with one out.
In the top of the fifth inning, the Vols got their second out of the inning throwing out a runner at third base. It saved a run because Texas A&M got a single on the next at-bat. With runners eventually on second and third base, Marcus Phillips came into the game to relieve Kirby Connell and dialed up a strikeout to get UT out of the half-inning.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Burke hit a leadoff double. Amick was then walked to get two runners on. Dreiling struck out, Ensley struck out and Tears grounded out after that.
The Aggies extended their lead in the top of the seventh inning with a two-run home run. That made the score 8-2.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Vols tried to make a move. Dreiling hit a two-run home run to cut the lead to 9-4. In the next at bat, Ensley hit a solo home run to make it 9-5. Tears and Curley struck out back-to-back to end the inning.
In the top of the eighth inning, Omaha native Dalton Bargo made a great diving catch, narrowly getting the ball in his glove for the out after substituting in for Reese Chapman.
Bargo struck out in the bottom of the eighth inning, then Stark flew out. Moore stuck out for the final out of the eighth inning and he was 0 for 5 from the plate.
UT didn't allow any runs in the top of the ninth. They needed four runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to send it to extra innings in Game One.
Burke struck out looking for the first out. Amick hit a single to put one runner on. Dreiling then singled to put runners on first and third base.
Ensley struck out for the second out. Tears struck out for the final out of the game. UT lost 9-5.
The Vols now need to win the next two games of the College World Series Finals to win the national championship. They have won three series this season against Georgia, Auburn and Kentucky after losing the first game of the series during the regular season.
In 20 Finals, the Game One winner has won the series 13 times and swept nine times.
The second game of the three-game series will be played on Sunday at 2 p.m. That game will be broadcast on ABC.
