Hunter Ensley scored the winning run of the 2024 College World Series on Monday in dramatic fashion for Tennessee baseball at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska.

The junior outfielder was on first base when Kavares Tears hit a single to center field. Ensley raced the throw home, cutting inside Texas A&M catcher Jackson Appel at the last second. He tumbled across home plate, tagging it with his left hand before popping back up.

Ensley tore his helmet off and threw it on the ground in celebration. It gave the Vols a 6-1 lead and wound up being the difference after the Aggies rallied to make the final score 6-5. Tennessee (60-13) held on to win the program's first national championship.

Ensley said he knew Tears "really hit that ball hard" and he assumed that he got enough contact.

"(I) peeked in, saw that it stayed in. It took a really good bounce right to (Jace) LaViolette. When I saw that I knew I had to get on my horse," Ensley said. "Dean (Curley) was pretty much telling me outside, outside, outside. And the throw actually ended up carrying the guy to the outside.

"Just natural instinct trying to make a play right there and get back on the inside part of the bag. And just was able to avoid the tag right there, and ended up being a pretty big run."

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Ensley went 2-for-4 with two runs scored in the win. Dylan Dreiling, who was named Most Outstanding Player, led the team with three RBIs, one from a sacrifice fly and two from a home run in the seventh inning. Dreiling became the first player in CWS history to homer in all three games of the final series, crushing a two-run homer in the seventh inning of each game.

Tennessee is only the second No. 1 overall seed in NCAA tournament history to win the College World Series (Miami did it in 1999). The Vols are the first 60-win SEC team in history and they won UT's first national title in a team sport since the women's indoor track and field team did it in 2009.

Cora Hall covers University of Tennessee women’s athletics. Email her at cora.hall@knoxnews.com and follow her on Twitter @corahalll. If you enjoy Cora’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that allows you to access all of it.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Hunter Ensley explains CWS winning slide for Tennessee baseball