Tennessee wins its first Men's College World Series title - ESPN

OMAHA, Neb. — Christian Moore hit a leadoff homer, Dylan Dreiling went deep for the third time in three games and Tennessee won its first national championship in baseball with a 6-5 victory over Texas A&M on Monday night in Game 3 of the Men's College World Series finals.

The Volunteers bounced back from a Game 1 loss to win two straight and become the first No. 1 national seed in the NCAA tournament to win the title since Miami in 1999.

Tennessee (60-13) held an Aggies offense — averaging 8.5 runs per game for the season — to six runs over the last 20 innings of the finals, with Zander Sechrist and Nate Snead doing the heavy lifting on Monday before the Aggies came back to score four runs and get the tying run at the plate in the ninth.

Aaron Combs struck out Hayden Schott and Ted Burton to end the game and set off a Tennessee celebration behind the pitcher's mound.

«Kids are tough these days. They will do what you ask them to do,» Vols coach Tony Vitello said. «I know our fans got us through that tough inning. That was a group effort on the mound. If you're in the SEC, you're going to be a superstar player, but you need to be a good teammate, and that's what these guys were.»

Minutes after the final pitch, the 45-year-old Vitello shared an embrace with his father, Greg, a longtime successful high school baseball and soccer coach in St. Louis.

«I felt like I was the dad and he was the kid because he wouldn't stop crying,» Vitello said. «I had to rub some dirt on him.»

Vitello jumped into the stands to share a group hug with fans, players did a lap around the warning track high-fiving fans, and Kavares Tears squatted in right field taking in the moment with a towel over his eyes.

The Vols are the eighth Southeastern