Tennessee is hosting a block party outside Lindsey Nelson Stadium for this weekend’s Knoxville Super Regional against Notre Dame. The party will begin 90 minutes prior to first pitch of the weekend’s games.
Top-seeded Tennessee (56-7, 25-5 SEC) broke its program record for single-season wins while sweeping through the Knoxville Regional last weekend. Notre Dame (38-14, 16-11 ACC) is in the super regionals for the second straight season after winning three games over Texas Tech and Georgia Southern in the Statesboro Regional.
Tennessee is bringing back the block party after its debut for last season’s super regional series win over LSU. The block party’s location is changing this season. Last year, Tennessee held the event on Pat Head Summit Street between the Haslam (practice football) Field and down the left field line at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
This year, the block party will be beyond the right field Tennessee coaches’ offices and catty corner to the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity house.
The previous location on Pat Head Summit Street is restricted due to construction on Haslam Field, according to a UT spokesperson. Tennessee has extended the concourse onto a small stretch of Pat Head Summit Street this season to provide food trucks and much needed space for the sell-out crowds.
The extended concourse will be in effect this weekend as it was for the Knoxville Regional and the regular season.
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While discussing Lindsey Nelson Stadium renovations last week, director of athletics Danny White harped on the need for better gamed experiences including bathrooms and concessions lines.
“What we love about this footprint is proximity to all of our other facilities and the idea of getting as many fans as close to the field as possible,” White said. “All those things are great, but we need to do a better job with the new stadium of providing better experiences— concessions, restrooms, the lines are too long. We know that. The fan experience needs to get better with the new stadium.”
Tennessee and Notre Dame begin the best of three series at 6 p.m. ET Friday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. First pitch for game two is at 2 p.m. ET Saturday and the NCAA hasn’t announced the start time for a potential Sunday rubber match.
ESPN2 will broadcast game one of the series while game two will be on ESPN.