Just short: Texas A&M baseball team falls in national championship final (2024)

OMAHA, Neb. — After the two-week grind that was the 2024 College World Series, all the Texas A&M baseball team could do was sit in the dugout and stare at the orange mayhem that unfolded on the field before them. Tears streaked eye black down several players cheeks. Eventually, hugs were shared as Tennessee took the rapidly constructed stage on the infield of Charles Schwab Field to claim a national championship trophy.

"I'm obviously sad, a little pissed, but at the same time, walking through that dugout, I'm so damn grateful," Aggie designated hitter Hayden Schott said.

Monday, with a national championship on the line, the injury bug finally caught up to the red-hot Aggies, in a 6-5 loss to Tennessee in the College World Series final at Charles Schwab Field. The Volunteers claimed their first national title in program history.

The Aggies' journey through the College World Series always depended on how long they could outrun the injury outbreak that descended upon the program during the final two weeks of the season.

With limited starting options — due in part to a season-ending injury to Shane Sdao in the super regionals — head coach Jim Schlossnagle had few choices but to hand the ball to starter Justin Lamkin to start Monday’s Game 3. The sophom*ore lefty threw eight innings and 112 pitches over the last 10 days and worked on short rest for the second time in Omaha.

"I think everybody has to fight through something," Schlossnagle said. "It's unfortunate, but it's just another example that I can use as a coach and players can remember, that your time can come and it can change in an instant. It changed in an instant for Braden [Montgomery]. It changed in an instant for Shane."

Lamkin never had full control of his fastball from the start and got in a hole incredibly early, thanks to Tennessee’s high-powered offense.

Four pitches into the game, Tennessee’s Christian Moore drove a ball into the back wall of the home bullpen, punishing the Florida State pennant that hung just below the seats. It was Moore’s 34th homer of the season.

The Vols (60-13) began the third with a leadoff double by Blake Burke, which led to him scoring on a sacrifice fly by Dylan Dreiling. The Vols added to their lead on a two-out single by Dean Curley that scored Hunter Ensley, putting them ahead 3-1.

Lamkin lasted 2 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on five hits. He walked two and struck out two, throwing 60 pitches for the Aggies (53-15).

Right-handed reliever Josh Stewart made his fourth appearance of the College World Series and kept the Volunteers off the board in 2 1/3 innings of work.

Prior to Monday’s game, NCBWA Stopper of the Year Evan Aschenbeck had allowed one run in the entirety of the NCAA Tournament. He entered the game in the sixth and Tennessee cracked the code in the seventh, posting a three-spot.

Dreiling notched his third home run of the championship series, one in each game, on a two-out, 0-1 pitch that scored two. Two batters later, Kavares Tears lined an 111 mph exit velocity double off the wall in center. LaViolette, who moved to center before the start of the inning, made a bare-handed grab off the wall that started a perfect relay home. However, Ensley somehow managed to dive around catcher Jackson Appel’s tag and put his hand on the plate to increase the lead to 6-1.

With the Aggie offense stagnant through the first two innings of the game, Travis Chestnut took matters into his own hands. With two strikes, Chestnut feathered a bunt between the pitcher’s mound and home that left catcher Cal Stark without a play. Stark, however, attempted a spinning, errant throw that flew by first and into foul territory, giving Chestnut second easily. Just a few pitches later, Chestnut was on third with a stolen base.

“[Chestnut has] struck out a lot, so it couldn’t be worse,” Schlossnagle told ESPN during the game. “We let him know to do that on the play and it worked out.”

Tennessee starter Zander Sechrist left a change up high in the zone that Gavin Grahovac turned on, giving Chestnut the easiest 90 feet of the inning and tied the game at one.

The Aggies added two more runs in the eighth on an RBI single by Hayden Schott and a run-producing double to left center by freshman Caden Sorrell. However, Volunteer veteran pitcher Kirby Connell struck out two batters to close out the eighth, stranding a pair of Aggies on base.

A&M scored two more in the top of the ninth and had the tying run at the plate, but a strikeout of Ted Burton by Aaron Combs sealed the title for the Volunteers.

"We got the tying run to the plate in the ninth, which I knew we would regardless of the score," Schlossnagle said. "It's tough to swallow, even when you make it this far. Everybody wants to win their last game."

The Aggies had runners reach third in consecutive innings, the fifth and sixth, but couldn’t get the clutch hit needed to cut further into the Volunteer lead.

For an Aggie squad that set a new team single-season record for home runs hit (136), A&M managed four through its stay in Omaha and none during Monday’s season finale. Tennessee hit 11 in six College World Series games and 182 as a team this year.

"Great series. Same number of hits [13]. Same number of errors [1]," Schlossnagle said. "Probably the difference in the ball game was timely hits and some of their hits were homers and ours weren't."

The Aggies’ trip to the College World Series finals, their first shot at a national title in 130 years of fielding a program, was a first in the career of Schlossnagle. He has reached the College World Series seven times and has done it twice with A&M in his three-year tenure. Tennessee’s Tony Vitello, a former assistant of Schlossnagle’s at TCU, claimed his first national title in his seventh season at Tennessee.

Words mostly escaped both Schott and Schlossnagle after the loss on what this team means to them. However, the tale of a season that finished one game short of the ultimate prize was found in the quiet hugs given in the Aggie dugout after the final out was recorded.

"I don't know how to explain the love that I have for— I'm sure it's biased because probably every team feels the same way— but the love I have for these guys is undoubtable," Schott said.