Tennessee baseball tied its single-season program record of 57 wins Sunday night in the College World Series. The Vols defeated North Carolina, 6-1, to pick up win No. 57 on the year, tying the program record the 2022 Volunteers set.
The 2022 Vols went 57-9 on the season. The current Vols are now 57-12.
As historic as Tennessee’s 2022 season was, this year’s Vols are slowly but surely etching their name into the program record books more than the team two years ago. In the Vols’ win over Evansville in the Super Regional Final, they set the single-season program home run record. Second baseman Christian Moore has also set the single-season home run record with 33 bombs on the year.
And now, Tennessee is off to a 2-0 start in Omaha, the first time the Vols have done that in program history. Additionally, Tennessee has won multiple games in the College World Series for the first time since 2001.
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Sunday’s win over North Carolina put Tennessee in the final round of its bracket, meaning the Vols are one win away from advancing to the College World Series Finals. Thus, Tennessee is three wins away from a National Championship.
Tennessee’s win over the Tar Heels was as routine as they come. The Vols’ pitching was much better than Friday night, as Drew Beam turned in a solid 5.0-inning start in which he shoved for four frames.
Kirby Connell and Nate Snead followed it up with 2.0 scoreless innings apiece, shutting the Tar Heels down to preserve Tennessee’s multi-run lead.
Redshirt-sophomore Kavares Tears was the highlight offensively, totaling four RBIs on two hits. The left-handed slugger put Tennessee on the board in the fourth inning with a crucial three-run homer then later put the nail in the coffin in the eighth inning with an RBI double.
Dean Curley and Reese Chapman were responsible for the other two Tennessee runs, recording an RBI single and solo homer, respectively.
Tennessee now has two days off in Omaha and will play the winner of Tuesday’s North Carolina vs. Florida State matchup on Wednesday. Either UNC or FSU would have to beat Tennessee on Wednesday and Thursday to advance to the CWS Finals and eliminate the Vols.
Red-hot senior left-handed pitcher Zander Sechrist will likely start for Tennessee on Wednesday. The fourth-year senior has pitched six or more innings in three of his last four starts and hasn’t given up more than two earned runs in an outing since May 12 at Vanderbilt.
