OMAHA, Neb. — Tennessee baseball will face off against Texas A&M in the College World Series Final Series after both the Vols and the Aggies went through the first half of the tournament unbeaten.
Tennessee (58-12) is in the College World Series finals for just the second time ever. The Vols came from behind to defeat Florida State 12-11 in its world series opener before coasting past North Carolina 6-1 and Florida State 7-2 to advance to the finals. Texas A&M (52-13) is in the College World Series finals for the first time ever after defeating Florida 3-2, Kentucky 5-1 and then Florida 5-0 again on Wednesday night.
Neither team has ever won the National Championship despite combining for 15 total trips to the College World Series.
The two teams met just once this season with Tennessee eliminating Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament with a 7-4 victory. Chris Stamos turned in perhaps his best outing of the season, allowing one run in 3.1 innings pitched while Kavares Tears and Cal Stark each hit home runs.
More From RTI: Tennessee’s Pitching Inspiring Confidence Entering College World Series Finals
Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello was an assistant coach under Texas A&M head coach Jim Schlossnagle for three years at TCU. Vitello and the Vols are 4-0 against Schlossnagle in his three seasons at Texas A&M.
Tennessee and Texas A&M meeting marks the third time in the last four years that the final series has been between two SEC teams. It also guarantees that a SEC team will win the National Championship for the fifth straight season.
The Vols will be the home team in game one and in game three if necessary while Texas A&M will be the home team in game two.
First pitch for game one of the College World Series finals is at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN Saturday night. First pitch for game two is at 2 p.m. ET on ABC Sunday afternoon. If the series goes three games, first pitch on Monday will be at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.
