HATTIESBURG, Miss. — Drew Beam’s fantastic freshman season ended in a dud. After not pitching in his final two high school seasons due to COVID-19 and injuries, Beam’s arm wore down and the right-handed pitcher wasn’t a factor in the Vols’ 2022 postseason.
One year later, sophomore Beam carved up Southern Miss in six scoreless innings to send Tennessee back to the College World Series in a 5-0 victory.
Here’s everything to know as the Tennessee BaseVols become the OmaVols again.
Poor Situational Hitting Cost Tennessee Early
While Drew Beam dominated on the mound early in game three, Tennessee’s offense earned a pair of fantastic chances to get to Southern Miss starter Niko Mazza.
The first came in the second inning when Christian Moore singled and Zane Denton walked to give Tennessee two-on with no one out. Griffin Merritt delivered to bring the game’s first run home as his ground ball had eyes and found a hole in the right side of the infield.
Tennessee led and had runners on the corners with no one out, looking poised to take a strong early lead. But Mazza worked out of it, striking out Blake Burke on three pitches, inducing a pop out for Christian Scott and striking out Cal Stark to leave Denton standing on third.
The following inning had a similar rhythm. Maui Ahuna worked a six pitch walk and Hunter Ensley singled up the middle. Tennessee had two-on with no one out again, this time for the middle of its lineup.
But Jared Dickey flew out, Christian Moore struck out and Zane Denton hit a weak grounder as Mazza escaped the inning unscathed.
The early one run lead was nice for Tennessee, but the Vols missed a golden opportunity to take a healthy advantage and take all the pressure off Beam.
Drew Beam Does His Job And Then Some
Tony Vitello said before a series finale rubber match this season that no one’s resume was better for the moment than Drew Beam. Beam struggled that day in Athens but no one in orange cares about that now. The sophomore was fantastic for Tennessee Monday night in the Vols’ biggest game of the season.
Much like last weekend against Charlotte, Beam’s curveball was filthy and the sophomore consistently located it well. He mixed it with a strong fastball. The heater wasn’t as lethal but his mistakes with it were out of the zone and not over the middle of the plate— always a key for Beam.
The sophomore wasn’t shut down, only retiring the side in order once. But he worked around traffic extremely well as Southern Miss hitters batted just one-of-10 against him with runners on base.
Beam’s final numbers were strong, allowing seven hits and one walk while hitting a batter and striking out seven in six scoreless innings. After he had no postseason role a season ago, the Vols’ QB1 delivered on the biggest stage and let Tennessee’s bats warm up on a hot Mississippi night.
More From RTI: Play-By-Play Of Tennessee Baseball’s Game Three Win
Zane Denton Provides Tennessee With The Run Support It Was Looking For
Tennessee was still searching for run support in the fifth inning when Zane Denton stepped to the plate with runners on the corners with two-outs.
Christian Moore stole second on the second pitch of the at-bat to give Tennessee a chance to score two runs with a single. Denton had other ideas.
The Alabama transfer turned on a 2-0 pitch and drove it 418 feet to deep right center field for a three-run home run. Denton’s 16th long ball of the season gave Tennessee the breathing room it was looking for and took a little bit of tension out of the game.
The third baseman hasn’t boasted a great batting average this postseason but all his hits have been huge. Denton now has five hits in the NCAA Tournament with four being home runs that drove in eight runs.
Chase Burns Shuts The Door
While Drew Beam was fantastic, his day didn’t end well. Southern Miss used back-to-back hits to put runners on the corners with no one out in the seventh inning. His bullpen picked him up.
Aaron Combs came in to face Southern Miss leadoff man Matthew Etzel, striking him out on four pitches.
Then Tennessee went to flamethrower Chase Burns. The sophomore struck out Golden Eagles’ stud Dustin Dickerson on three pitches before sitting Slade Wilks down on a 102 mph fastball, releasing a roar that Vol fans in Memphis heard.
M7 | CHASE BURNS IS AN ELECTRIC FACTORY!!! ⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️
102 by ’em and Tennessee wiggles out of the seventh with a 4-0 lead!!#GBO // #OTH // #BeatUSM pic.twitter.com/HrRt24Lfuu
— Tennessee Baseball (@Vol_Baseball) June 13, 2023
Burns took Tennessee the rest of the way home. He struck out two more batters in the eighth inning before Southern Miss finally put a ball in play with a lazy fly out to left.
The Gallatin native had slight issues in the ninth inning, surrendering a leadoff walk before retiring the side. Burns finished the game with four strikeouts in 2.2 innings pitched.
Final Stats
Up Next
Tennessee baseball advances to the College World Series for the second time in three years. The Vols will face LSU in their CWS opener Saturday night at 7 p.m. ET.
