As a Tennessee fan, it’s felt like – regardless of the sport – that bad things happen in the program’s biggest and most pivotal moments.
And do you know why it feels that way? Because……bad things have happened constantly in the school’s biggest and most pivotal moments.
That’s been the life of a Vol fan. Reach the Elite Eight in 2010 and 2023? Come up just short. Make it to Omaha? Vols’ bats went quiet while opposing hitters’ did not. And then, in football……yeah. Books have been written about the failures there this century, with a few limited exceptions.
So, no one should blame any Vol fan from feeling like “here we go again” on Sunday afternoon. After all, after what really has appeared to be Tennessee’s year, the Vols laid an egg in the championship series opener 9-5, trailing 9-2 at one point. The defense faltered, the pitching couldn’t get past a bat, and the Vols couldn’t make enough solid contact until it was too late.
And then on Sunday, Texas A&M led off the bottom of the first with a solo home run to go up 1-0. And then Tennessee couldn’t solve Texas A&M flamethrower Chris Cortez and his 100+ mph fastball. After 99 pitches, the Vols had no runs and not much momentum to change that.
Until they did. With one out in the top of the seventh, Dylan Dreiling saw a fastball grooved right there middle-up, and he clubbed it over the bullpen in right field for a 2-1 lead. The script was flipped. The Vols would add on two more when Cal Stark bludgeoned a curveball over the bullpen in left field. Aaron Combs was brilliant in relief of Beam, who allowed just one run himself over 4.1 innings. Nate Snead closed the door in a pressure-filled ninth for the save.
But that’s what the Vols have done in Omaha more than once now. They’ve stood up in pressure situations, ones with the highest pressure, and they’ve delivered.
Dropping your first game in Omaha is a ticket to the fast lane of going home. The Vols appeared to be headed that way, down 9-4 to Florida State. However, a comeback for the ages followed. The Vols were down to their last out, their last strike. And they didn’t blink. As a result, they spurred on this run to the championship series with a 12-11 win in their opener that will go down as one of the greatest in recent memory of this tournament.
And facing adversity again – a Texas A&M staff that has been absolutely filthy in Omaha – with their season on the line, the Vols once again kept their nerve and delivered in the clutch on Sunday. I mean, that’s just not something you see from Tennessee athletics in clutch situations anytime recently.
I don’t know who wins on Monday night. Either team is good enough to pull it off, and it should be a battle. But what I know about Tennessee that gives me comfort going into it is that the moment isn’t too big for them. That if a clutch pitch or clutch at bat is needed, players are going to relish the moment, not shrink from it.
That’s just a championship mentality. We’ll see on Monday if the Vols can secure the trophy to match it.