Texas A & M beat Tennessee 9 to 5 in three hours and 50 minutes last night, but now the Aggies and the Vols are already back at it for Game Two. Today the Aggies are the home team: white uniforms with maroon pinstripes, the word "Aggies" in maroon script on the jersey, and maroon numerals. UT has black hats (with orange logo), black shirts with VOLS in orange block print and orange numerals, and gray pants. The Aggies look great, and I just don't like these Tennessee uniforms.
It is 86 degrees and clear in Omaha, and we have a huge crowd on what could be the last day of the CWS. We'll be watching this one on ABC.
Meanwhile, they're playing "Michael in the Bathroom" on Sirius/XM's "On Broadway" channel. It's an amazing song.
ReplyDeleteIn the bottom of the 1st, Jace Laviolette, a sophomore from Tompkins H.S. in Katy, Tex., whacks a home run to right, and the Aggies take an early 1-0 lead.
ReplyDeleteTony Vitello, the Bobby Knight of college baseball, is already yelling at the home plate umpire about balls and strikes.
ReplyDeleteIt works, as the umpire calls out an Aggie on strike three to end the first. But A & M still leads 1 to 0 after one.
ReplyDeleteWith two outs in the top of the 2d, the Vols have the bases loaded with a single, a walk, and a throwing error. The Aggies are already on their second pitcher of the game.
ReplyDeleteThe Aggies get Christian Moore -- UT's star and leadoff hitter -- to ground out to second and strand three runners. That was huge.
ReplyDeleteTennessee wastes a leadoff walk in the top of the 3d, and A & M still leads 1-0 after 2 1/2 innings.
ReplyDeleteAfter 3: A & M 1, UT 0
ReplyDeleteNow Sirius/XM is playing a song from "Oliver!" I've never understood the popularity of that show.
ReplyDeleteNext up, however, John Tartaglia gives us a number from "Merrily We Roll Along," which is brilliant. Daniel Radcliffe and Jonathan Groff both won Tony Awards for this show, and they deserved them.
ReplyDeleteTheir acceptance speeches were terrific.
DeleteWith two outs in the top of the 4th, Christian Moore walks to load the bases for Tennessee. He's yapping at the pitcher, and the umpire has to tell him to go and take his base. A & M still leads 1-0, but the Vols have a major threat going.
ReplyDeleteAnd now we have a song from "Ragtime." That's an incredible show.
ReplyDeleteBlake Burke is out on a weak grounder to second. It was such a close play that the second baseman had to flip the ball to first directly from his glove. But that Vols are out and they leave the bases loaded. Through four innings, UT has left eight men on base.
ReplyDeleteIf you spend an hour or so on YouTube listening to songs from "Merrily We Roll Along" and "Ragtime," you will be very entertained.
ReplyDeleteA & M leads 1-0 after 4.
ReplyDeleteThe Vols go down 1-2-3 in the top of the 5th.
ReplyDeleteNow we get "Can't Help Lovin' That Man," from Showboat. We are coming up on the 100th anniversary of Showboat, which opened on December 27, 1927 at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York City. It was an immediate hit -- as it should have been.
ReplyDeleteNow we get "Come to the Fun Home," which is the best Broadway song ever written about kids in the 1970's whose parents own a small business in a provincial American town. I know something about the world of kids in the 1970's whose parents owned a small business, and I cannot overstate how brilliant this song is.
ReplyDeleteNow we get "I'm the Greatest Star" from Funny Girl. Barbra Streisand did this song when she was about 22 years old, and it still sounds amazing.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, Texas A & M still leads Tennessee 1-0 after six innings. This has been an excellent -- if nerve-wracking -- game.
ReplyDeleteChristian Moore leads off the top of the 7th with a walk.
ReplyDeleteAnd now we have a song from "Come From Away." Eric, if you haven't listened to this cast album, you really should do so.
ReplyDeleteMoore advances to second on a fly to center field. One out in the top of the 7th. Still 1-0 for A & M.
ReplyDeleteAnd there it is. With two out in the top of the 7th, Dylan Dreiling of Hays, Kan. hits his second home run in two games -- a soaring blast into the right field seats. The Vols have finally broken through, and they now lead 2-1.
ReplyDeleteWe take the 7th inning stretch more than 2 1/2 hours after we started, and for the first time in two days Tennessee is in the lead: UT 2, A & M 1. The Vols need nine more outs to force a winner-take-all Game Three.
ReplyDeleteI've been watching these two teams for a month, now, and here's my conclusion: Texas A & M is probably more talented, but Tennessee is just meaner and tougher.
ReplyDeleteNow that they're in the lead, the Vols are in a hurry to wrap up this game. They mow down A & M 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 7th. UT 2, A & M 1.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile we've gotten another song from Ragtime: "The Night that Goldman Spoke in Union Square." I have some issues with Ragtime, but it's a brilliant show.
ReplyDeleteNow we get Jerry Orbach singing "Try to Remember" from "The Fantasticks. It seems like they play this song On Broadway almost every Sunday, and I enjoy it every time.
ReplyDeleteIn the top of the 8th, the Vols' number-9 hitter -- their catcher, Cal Stark, who went to Farragut H.S. in Knoxville, Tenn. -- blasts a homer to right to put the Vols up 4-1 and bury the Aggies.
ReplyDeleteTennessee is one of those teams that wants to win so badly that when you're playing against them, it's tempting to let them win just so that everyone can go home.
ReplyDeleteTennessee is now on pace to become the first overall Number One seed to win the NCAA Baseball Tournament since 1999. I just can't see A & M beating the Vols in a winner-take-all game.
ReplyDeleteThe Yankees might be able to beat UT in a winner-take-all game, but there'd be a big brawl at some point before the game was over.
DeleteMeanwhile, Scottie Scheffler wins the Travelers' Championship. That's his sixth win on tour since early March, including the Masters and the Players' Championship.
ReplyDeleteThe last player to win six times on tour in one year was Tiger Woods, who did so in 2009. So Scheffler is the first to do it in the Heath Post Era.
DeleteNow we get "Six Months Out of Every Year." It's amazing to think that there's a major Broadway show about the Washington Senators. Imagine if, back in the 1970's, Stephen Sondheim wrote a show about the Expos.
ReplyDeleteTennessee beats A & M 4-1 tomorrow, and the Vols and Aggies will play for all the marbles tomorrow night.
ReplyDeleteI am rooting for the Aggies and the Oilers.
ReplyDelete