Omaha, Neb. – The No. 1 program in the country, the University of Tennessee Volunteers, beat the No. 8 ranked Florida State University Seminoles 12-11 in walk-off fashion on Friday night, as the shadows glared during the early evening start of the second game on the first day of the College World Series.
The Volunteers trailed 11-8 going into the bottom of the ninth inning; a leadoff triple by Kavares Tears started the rally. It ended with left fielder Dylan Dreiling roping a single to left-center field, scoring first baseman Blake Burke to cap off a furious Volunteers comeback.
#TENNESSEE CALLS “GAME” WITH THE WALK OFF OVER #FLORIDASTATE #MCWS 🤯 pic.twitter.com/UmLnREAbLr
— World Baseball Network (@WorldBaseball_) June 15, 2024
Tennessee second baseman Christian Moore became the second player in NCAA Division I CWS history to hit for the cycle on Friday night and finished the game with five hits, joining Minnesota’s Jerry Kindall in 1956 against Ole Miss.
Moore is ranked at No. 25 in the Top 200 Draft Prospects from MLBpipeline.com.
“The whole game, the only mindset I have is to win, get on base for my team, and set the tone. I have really good hitters behind me, so I just want to get on for them,” Moore said during the post-game press conference.
After FSU scraped a run across in the top of the first, the Volunteers offense got to work, putting up four runs in the first two innings thanks to some timely hitting.
The FSU offense broke out six runs in the top of the third inning. It started with outfielder Jamie Ferrer drilling a two-run double to right-center field, scoring right fielder Tibbs and designated hitter Marco Dinges to cut the deficit to 4-3.
A few batters later, West drew a bases-loaded walk to score Ferrer and tie the game at 4-4. Some sloppy Tennessee defense resulted in three more runs for FSU, and they extended the lead to 7-4.
In the top of the fourth inning, the FSU offense gave even more insurance as Ferrer launched a two-run home run over the left field wall, scoring designated hitter Marco Dinges to make it 9-4.
After a Kavares Tears two-run home run cut the deficit to 9-6 in the bottom of the fifth, Christian Moore came to the plate in the sixth looking to make history. He was a home run short of the cycle, and on a friendly 3-1 count, he launched a 440-foot solo home run over the center field wall, his 33rd of the year, to make it 9-7 and to complete the cycle.
@Moore10Chris HITS FOR THE SECOND COLLEGE WORLD SERIES CYCLE EVER #MCWS pic.twitter.com/OFsOgUUlYA
— World Baseball Network (@WorldBaseball_) June 15, 2024
“It’s nice to turn over the lineup, and Christian Moore was a man on a mission tonight,” Tennessee Manager Tony Vitello said during the postgame press conference.
After an FSU two-run double extended the lead in the seventh, Tennessee trailed by four going into the eighth inning. Their offense, tasked with an uphill battle, cut the deficit to three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning when outfielder Dylan Dreiling drove an RBI single to left field, scoring Burke to make it 11-8.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, still trailing 11-8, Tears led off with a triple to center field to begin the rally.
The next batter, Dean Curley, lifted a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Tears to cut the deficit to 11-9.
A few batters later, Burke roped a two-run single up the middle into center field, scoring pinch hitter Cannon Peebles and Moore to tie the game up at 11-11.
Dreiling came up to the plate looking to be a hero in Omaha, and he delivered a game-winning single on a 1-0 count to score Burke and give Tennessee the 12-11 victory.
“With this offense, we’re always one inning away. That’s kind of our motto this year. And we just had a belief that a big inning was coming and just trusting each other”, Dreiling said during the post-game press conference.
No. 1 Tennessee (56-12) will play at 7 p.m. EST on Sunday, June 16, against No. 4 North Carolina (46-15) in the double-elimination round.
No. 8 FSU (47-16) is on the brink of elimination and will play on Sunday, June 16 against No. 12 Virginia (48-14) at 2 p.m. EST.
No. 2 Kentucky (45-14) will play No. 10 NC State (38-21) at 2 p.m. EST on Saturday, June 15, during the second day of the 2024 CWS.
No. 3 Texas A&M (49-13) will play Florida (34-28) at 7 p.m. EST on Saturday, June 15.
The 2024 NCAA Division I CWS games will be televised on ESPN family networks.
(Photo by Vols Wire)
