Tennessee-Texas A&M Game 3 Is Everything You Could Want Out of the College World Series
After 139 combined games for Tennessee and Texas A&M this season, it all comes down to one. Whoever wins on Monday night will take home its first baseball national championship in school history — and in A&M's case, its first in a big three sport since 1939.
This is the showdown you hope to get entering the NCAA Tournament every year, but it rarely comes to fruition. The Aggies were the No. 3 national seed, but I would have said even entering the Tournament the two teams playing tonight were the two best over the course of the season. Tennessee hit the most home runs in the country; A&M was No. 4. The Aggies finished with the third-best ERA in the country; the Vols were right behind them at No. 5. A win would make UT the only team in SEC history to reach 60 victories in a season. However you want to dissect these teams, they're probably right at the top of the country.
Tennessee will send Zander Sechrist to the mound tonight, whose last five starts have been about as perfect as you could hope for: he's allowed four earned runs over 29.1 innings and the Vols have either won a championship of some kind or been sent to a final in all of them.
Texas A&M will have ace reliever Evan Aschenbeck ready to take over at any moment after leading the country in ERA this season with a 1.49 in 72.2 innings. Whoever gets the big hits in this game will have earned it.
I'm just so fired up. Obviously if you're a Tennessee or Texas A&M fan, you live for nights like this. But even if you're just someone who enjoys awesome baseball, this one is going to be for you too.
Tony Vitello's entire tenure in Knoxville has been leading to tonight and I'd storm the gates of Hell with a super soaker for that guy. We have Zander on the bump and the best offense in college baseball that's been waiting to break out. Let's ride.