Tennessee beat Texas A&M 6-5 on Monday night in the third game of the championship series at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Neb. to win the College World Series. A spectacular slide by Hunter Ensley helped make the difference in the game.
The Vols led 3-1 for most of the game but then opened things up with three more runs in the bottom of the 7th inning. First, Dylan Dreiling hit a 2-run home run to make it 5-1. Then Ensley singled and was followed by Kavares Tears, who hit a ball off the wall in right-center field. Tears cruised into second easily for a double, but the question was whether or not Ensley was safe at home after a relay attempt by the Aggies tried to nail him.
Though the throw beat him, Ensley made a spectacular dive to avoid the tag and reached out to touch home plate.
HOW DID HE AVOID THE TAG 😱🤯 pic.twitter.com/1HqQMD4Z3C
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 25, 2024
.@HunterEnsley ARE YOU KIDDING US!?!?!#MCWS #SCTop10 x 🎥 ESPN / @Vol_Baseball pic.twitter.com/A8R79fv8Sn
— NCAA Baseball (@NCAABaseball) June 25, 2024
What an awesome, athletic play by Ensley.
This is how close he was to being tagged:
You’ll never see a better slide than what Hunter Ensley just did pic.twitter.com/T8JmyR0Pus
— Connor O'Gara (@cjogara) June 25, 2024
Hunter Ensley pic.twitter.com/MybI5rkzK7
— gmannVOLS (@gmannVOLS) June 25, 2024
What a play.
Ensley also made an awesome catch running into a wall earlier in the tournament:
This angle of Hunter Ensley’s catch is RIDICULOUS 🤯 pic.twitter.com/zv1ZlGLt8y
— Vol Report (@AllVolReport) June 16, 2024
He’s a magnet for big plays. And that extra run he scored was the difference in the game. A&M scored two in the 8th to make it 6-3. They added two more in the 9th off a nonchalant Aaron Combs, who felt very comfortable operating with a 3-run lead but closed it out for the 6-5 Vols victory.
