2024 College World Series Final: Previewing Tennessee-Texas A&M
Image credit: Billy Amick (11) of Tennessee vs Texas A&M in a 2024 SEC baseball tournament game at Hoover Metropolitan stadium in Hoover, AL on Thursday, May 23, 2024. (Photo by Eddie Kelly / ProLook Photos)
And then there were two.
Every series this season has built to this weekend, where a champion is crowned at the 2024 College World Series final. Both Tennessee and Texas A&M are vying for the first championship and program history. No matter what, a sixth different SEC team will win the national title since 2017.
Below, we’ve broken down some of the key things to know ahead of the 2024 College World Series championship.
College World Series Championship Schedule
Saturday, June 22
Final Game 1: Tennessee vs. Texas A&M, 7:30 p.m. ET
Sunday, June 23
Final Game 2: Tennessee vs. Texas A&M, 2 p.m. ET
Monday, June 24
Final Game 3 (if necessary): Tennessee vs. Texas A&M, 7 p.m. ET
How They Got Here
Both the Volunteers and Aggies went a perfect 3-0 in their respective brackets to reach the championship series. After a thrilling, come-from-behind win over Florida State on Friday, the Volunteers outscored North Carolina and the Seminoles by a combined margin of 13-3 over the course of a pair of convincing victories. Tennessee’s deep, relentless lineup is firing on all cylinders, while its pitching staff—outside of Friday night’s fiasco—has been excellent.
Texas A&M’s 3-0 run is just as impressive, if not more impressive than Tennessee’s given the number of injuries up and down its roster. On top of losing superstar outfielder Braden Montgomery and blue-chip sophomore Shane Sdao, Jace LaViolette is playing through a hamstring injury and Hayden Schott is also banged up. Nonetheless, the Aggies have persisted and a host of players—namely Kaeden Kent and Caden Sorrell—have stepped up. They face their biggest test yet this weekend, but I have no doubt they will give Tennessee all it can handle.
Top 2024 MLB Draft Prospects
Tennessee
15. Christian Moore
19. Billy Amick
41. Drew Beam
62. Blake Burke
72. Dylan Dreiling
100. Kavares Tears
Texas A&M
5. Braden Montgomery (will not play)
65. Ryan Prager
90. Chris Cortez
You can see Baseball America’s top 500 draft rankings here.
Keys To The College World Series
For Tennessee, I don’t worry a whole lot about its offense producing enough to keep it in each game, even with how talented Texas A&M’s pitching staff is. Even with how banged up the Aggies are, their offense is still a dangerous unit. With that being said, Tennessee’s pitching—especially the opener duo of Chris Stamos and AJ Causey—needs to stay on track. The Volunteers probably cannot afford another tough outing from them, and at the same time they need Drew Beam to carry over his performance from last Sunday into this weekend.
Texas A&M needs an arm on its pitching staff step up, particularly in game one, to presumably hand the ball off to Chris Cortez and Evan Aschenbeck. Ryan Prager will likely be unavailable since he threw 6.2 innings on Monday and Justin Lamkin is in a similar boat after throwing five on Wednesday night.
There are two names that I have zeroed in on as potential “openers” for A&M on Saturday night. The first is junior Tanner Jones. Jones has not thrown since June 9 against Oregon and struggled some down the stretch, but he had some success early on in the Aggies’ rotation. He can also give them length, which is imperative. The second, and this one is more unlikely, is Josh Stewart. Stewart has been solid in a late-inning role and has thrown more than two innings just once this season, but he is a sleeper option. However, a combination of the two might make the most sense.
