Omaha, Neb. – The nation’s No. 1 team, the University of Tennessee Volunteers, knocked off the No. 8 ranked Florida State University Seminoles 7-2 at Charles Schwab field in Omaha on Wednesday.
With the win, Tennessee advanced to the best-of-three NCAA National Championship series.
“That’s a good team in the other dugout, clearly. Well-constructed, variety of arms, physical offensively, dynamic, athletic. They made some exceptional plays. You could basically go around the diamond and make a note of the exceptional plays they made,” FSU head coach Link Jarrett said during the post-game press conference.
The Seminoles ended the 2024 season with their record at 49-17.
The Volunteer offense came out of the gates fast. After a Christian Moore lead-off, first baseman Blake Burke rocked a single down the right field line, with Moore advancing to third base with no outs.
The next batter, third baseman Billy Amick, grounded into a fielder’s choice to Florida State third baseman Cam Smith, with Smith throwing over to second baseman Drew Farout for the first out of the top of the first inning, resulting in Moore coming in to score for the first run of the game.
A few moments later, designated hitter Hunter Ensley drove an RBI single to left field, scoring Amick to extend the lead to 2-0.
Florida State starting pitcher John Abraham went just one-third of an inning, allowing two hits, two earned runs, and two walks. Jarrett then brought on relief pitcher Brennen Oxford with only one out in the top of the first.
The Volunteers grabbed their third run inning when Oxford threw an errant pick-off attempt to first base, and left fielder Dylan Dreiling came into score to make it 3-0.
During the bottom of the first inning, Kavares Tears made a big-time play, slamming into the wall in center field with two outs off the bat of FSU designated hitter Marco Dinges to keep the score at 3-0.
Wall about to be in concussion protocol…
📺 https://t.co/ATUUBSttxp (ESPN)#GBO // #OTH // #MCWS // #BeatFSU pic.twitter.com/6jC99TCpFF
— Tennessee Baseball (@Vol_Baseball) June 19, 2024
“KT’s catch set the tone, especially in the first inning. I know our offense scored in the top of the first, but he set the tone right there,” Volunteers starting pitcher Zander Sechrist said during the post-game press conference.
In the top of the second inning, Tennessee plated their fourth run of the game with Burke ripping an RBI single to right field, scoring Moore to extend the lead to 4-0.
Tennessee added their fifth run in the top of the fourth inning with Moore slamming a triple down the right field line, scoring catcher Cal Stark to make it 5-0.
The Volunteers broke away with another run in the top of the seventh inning with Dreiling rocking an RBI single to right field, scoring Amick to add another run to the lead and make it 6-0.
The Florida State offense got on the board in the bottom of the second inning with first baseman Daniel Cantu, and shortstop Alex Lodise hitting back-to-back solo home runs over the right field wall off Sechrist to make it 6-2.
Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello took out starting pitcher Zander Sechrist shortly after and called upon relief pitcher Kirby Connell to halt any Seminole momentum.
Sechrist threw 6.1 innings, allowing five hits, two earned runs, one walk, and three strikeouts.
The Volunteers offense added another run on the board in the top of the ninth inning, with Burke cracking a solo home run over the center field wall, his 20th of the year, to make it 7-2.
Tennessee relief pitcher Nate Sneed came into the game in the bottom of the ninth inning and replaced relief pitcher Connell.
Connell threw 1.2 innings, allowing one hit and striking out one while facing five batters.
A few moments later, Sneed got Lodise to line out to Volunteers shortstop Dean Curley for the final out of the game, with Tennessee punching a date to the NCS with a 7-2 win over FSU.
“Heck of a time in Omaha. And us being the sandwich game, it was one of the weirdest games I’ve ever been a part of. Maybe we came out of the winning end because we have one of the weirdest pitchers I’ve ever been around in Zander. And he threw the ball really well and led us into the battle the way he should,” Vitello said during the post-game press conference.
This was the second matchup of the 2024 CWS. Tennessee beat Florida State 12-11 on the first day of the tournament on Friday, June 14.
The Seminoles offense left five men on base during their elimination loss on Wednesday.
Tennessee will play No. 3 (52-13) Texas A&M for Game 1 of the best-of-three 2024 College World Series Finals at 7:30 p.m. EDT on Saturday, June 22 at Charles Schwab Field. Both programs are aiming for their first national championship title.
Game 2 of the NCS will be at 2 p.m. EDT on Sunday, June 23.
If the NCS goes to a Game 3, the start time will be at 7 p.m. EDT on Monday, June 24.
Every game of the NCS can be watched on ESPN.
Photo Credit: Tennessee Volunteers celebrate winning. (Photo by Bryan Lynn/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
