Tennessee announces parade plan, downtown celebration for baseball national championship

Tennessee Baseball will celebrate its first ever national championship with a parade down Gay Street in downtown Knoxville on Tuesday. The parade will begin at 6:15 p.m. Eastern Time and will start at the corner of Gay and Main Street, proceeding north toward Market Square.

Immediately following the parade will be a championship celebration held in Market Square for the Vols, who won the title Monday night by beating Texas A&M 6-5 in Game 3 of the College World Series Final at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha. 

Tennessee (60-13) not only won its first baseball national championship but also became the first team since Miami in 1999 to win the College World Series as the No. 1 overall seed. The Vols also set a new program and SEC record for single-season wins with 60. 

Previously Tennessee’s best finish in the College World Series was second in 1951, when the Vols lost to Oklahoma 3-2 in the championship game. The 1995 Tennessee team finished tied for third. 

The party continues Tuesday in downtown Knoxville! pic.twitter.com/cIhLbeE0hB

— Tennessee Athletics (@Vol_Sports) June 25, 2024

Dylan Dreiling named College World Series Most Outstanding Player

Dylan Dreiling was named the College World Series Most Valuable Player after starring for No. 1 Tennessee in the three-game championship series.

Dreiling, who hit the two-run go-ahead home run in the seventh inning of Game 2 on Sunday afternoon, hit another two-run home run in the seventh on Monday night to give Tennessee a 5-1 lead.

Dreiling’s home run extended Tennessee’s lead to 5-1. Kavaers Tears added an RBI double two at-bats later, before A&M scored three runs in the eighth and two in the ninth.

Over the three game series, Dreiling went 7-for-12 with seven runs batted in and four runs scored. He hit three home runs, all two-run shots, in the series, hitting one in each game. He had three RBI Monday and two each in Game 1 and Game 2.

Dreiling earlier on Monday had the go-ahead RBI with a sacrifice in the bottom of the third, putting Tennessee up 2-1 after Texas A&M had tied the game in the top of the inning.

The 5-foot-11, 200-pound sophomore and native of Hays, Kansas, had 11 RBI over Tennessee’s six games in Omaha, tying a program record for most RBI by a Tennessee player in the College world Series.

Tennessee rallied to win title after dropping Game 1 in three-game championship series

Texas A&M started the championship series with a 9-5 win Saturday night. The Aggies used a five-run third inning to take control, building a 7-2 lead. Dreiling and Hunter Ensley hit back-to-back home runs in the seventh to get back within four runs, but the Vols would get no closer. 

A&M on Sunday was seven outs away from winning the title, leading 1-0 in the top of the seventh inning when Dreiling hit a two-run, go-ahead home run with two outs. Cal Stark added a two-run home run as Tennessee marched on to a 4-1 win to force Monday night’s Game 3. 

The run in Omaha started with a 12-11 walk-off win over Florida State, with the Vols scoring four runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to stun the Seminoles. It was just the second win for Tennessee in its first game at the College World Series, with the 1995 team previously being the only one to win Game 1.

Next was a 6-1 win over North Carolina, then a 7-2 win over Florida State to eliminate the ‘Noles and send Tennessee to the best-of-three championship series against Texas A&M. The Aggies won Game 1 on Saturday night, 9-5, before Tennessee rallied for a 4-1 win Sunday afternoon to force Game 3.