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The Tennessee Volunteers are traveling to Omaha, Nebraska for the Men’s College World Series for the eighth time in the program’s history. In the pivotal third game of the Knoxville Super Regional on Sunday night, the top-seeded Vols easily defeated Evansville, 12-1, to secure their trip to Omaha for the third time in four years. In program history, this is Tennessee’s first appearance to the College World Series in back-to-back years.
Senior Zander Sechrist gave UT fans an amazing pitching performance in his final start at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. He struck out six batters in 6.1 innings, giving up just one unearned run, and left with one out in the seventh inning to a standing ovation from the Tennessee fans. The Big Orange tied a single-game program record with seven home runs on the evening, paced by two each from Christian Moore and Omaha local Dalton Bargo. Sechrist received plenty run support on way to his fourth victory of the season.
The Big Orange tied a single-game program record with seven home runs on the evening, paced by two each from Christian Moore and Omaha local Dalton Bargo. Sechrist received plenty run support on way to his fourth victory of the season. Moore quickly evened the game with a blast over the fences in left field after the Purple Aces (39-26) had started the scoring with an unearned run in the top of the first. From that point on, it was all Vols. In UT’s four-run fourth inning, Moore not only scored three runs in the game but also hit his second long ball of the season and 32nd overall.
Blake Burke had a fantastic night at bat as well, recording four hits—three of which were doubles—to set a new career high. Billy Amick (two runs in the fourth), Dean Curley (solo in the second), and Cal Stark (three runs in the fifth) all joined in on the home run parade. After Sechrist’s amazing start, Tennessee’s bullpen was just as good, even though the bats were blazing hot. After recording at least one out in the last 2.2 innings, Nate Snead, Dylan Loy, Kirby Connell, and Marcus Phillips combined to lead the Vols’ relievers in allowing only one hit.
Cal McGinnis and Ty Rumsey both had a pair of hits for Evansville while Brett Widder drove in the Aces lone run with a two-out single in the top of the first inning. Starting pitcher Kevin Reed lasted just 1.1 innings and gave up five runs on four hits and two walks to fall to 5-3 on the year.
UP NEXT: Tennessee (55-12) will take on No. 8 national seed Florida State in its opening game at the College World Series on either Friday or Saturday. Official game times for Friday and Saturday’s game will be announced in the coming days.
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