Texas A&M Has ‘Full Faith’ As College World Series Game 3 vs. Tennessee Looms

Texas A&M and Tennessee are set to duke it out one last time in Omaha for the right to hoist the College World Series championship trophy, and as far as the Aggies are concerned, they’re comfortable and confident in themselves.

Jun 23, 2024; Omaha, NE, USA; Texas A&M Aggies right fielder Jace Laviolette (17) celebrates after hitting a home run against the Tennessee Volunteers during the first inning at Charles Schwab Field Omaha. / Dylan Widger-USA TODAY Sports

One run was never going to be enough to eliminate one of the most talented teams in baseball.

Yet, in the sixth inning of Game 2 of the College World Series Final between the Texas A&M Aggies and the Tennessee Volunteers, that was the score. One side hoped it might be all it needed, and one was hoping that wouldn’t be all she wrote on its season.

Luckily for the latter team, it wasn’t. Tennessee managed to scrape together two “two-out home runs” — as Aggies coach Jim Schlossnagle called them — in both the seventh and eighth innings to secure a lead an an eventual victory and force a winner-take-all matchup Monday evening.

All of the sudden, the Aggies were no longer postseason-perfect.

They were the ones facing elimination.

”Close ball game,” Schlossnagle said following his team’s first postseason loss. “Exactly what you'd expect with these two teams. To think you're going to roll right through it in two games … that would have been nice, but obviously — we get to play. We don't have to play. We get to play the last college baseball game of the season, and that's awesome.”

Jun 23, 2024; Omaha, NE, USA; Texas A&M Aggies shortstop Ali Camarillo (2) reacts after striking out against the Tennessee Volunteers during the seventh inning at Charles Schwab Field Omaha. / Dylan Widger-USA TODAY Sports

Texas A&M didn’t come out victorious in Game 2, despite starting fast with a solo home run from Jace LaViolette to mark two games in a row that they scored first in such fashion. As much as the momentum seemed to be on their side after an electric Game 1 victory, Tennessee reminded both the Aggies and the rest of their supporters why they were the top overall seed in the NCAA Tourney.

“They have a really good pitching staff,” LaViolette, the only batter to score in Game 2, said. “You give a lot of credit to them, but I just feel like (if) we make a few better swings and a few balls land, it's a different game. But that's baseball. It happens, so credit to them.”

The Aggies have outscored the Volunteers collectively through Games 1 and 2 but were unable to notch any runs beyond LaViolette’s solo shot in the top of the first inning after Tennessee’s bullpen kept them from chipping away at its lead.

Schlossnagle and company recognized their own fault on offense, but it didn’t keep them from holding their heads high heading back to the locker room — a blessing, they’ll tell you — and preparing for Game 3, when they‘ll have just as much of a chance to emerge victorious as they did in both of the two matchups prior.

“It's a blessing to wake up and be able to play this game,” LaViolette said. “Obviously, it sucks that we lost today, but at the end of the day, I get to wake up tomorrow and play the game I love. It's a blessing.”

One more baseball game remains in the 2023-24 NCAA tournament. Nine more innings stand between either Tennessee or Texas A&M and their first-ever College World Series championship. One run likely won’t be enough to subdue either team, but that won’t be known until both teams hit the field at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha.

The Aggies just hope they’ll be ones on top at the end of it all.

”This is the most comfortable we felt playing baseball in a while,” LaViolette said. “I have full faith in this team. I think every single person on this team has full faith in ourselves. At the end of the day, it's another baseball game. Elimination or not, we always put our pants on the same. We do all the things the same. It's about who can settle in first and the quickest.”

First pitch from Game 3 of the College World Series Final is scheduled for 6 p.m. CST.