Tears of joy for Tennessee.
Tears of sorrow for Southern Mississippi.
The No. 1 Volunteers found themselves trailing in Sunday night’s Knoxville Regional final against the Eagles, but a three-run home run by Kavares Tears to right-center field in the sixth inning gave them a 5-3 lead and served as a sizable momentum shift in their eventual 12-3 victory at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
Tennessee won its 12th consecutive NCAA tournament regional contest dating to 2021 and will host a best-of-three super regional next weekend against East Carolina or Evansville.
Evansville and site host East Carolina will play one game Monday to decide the Greenville Regional champion.
“We’ve been working this whole season to get to the postseason, and once we got here, it became about winning the game right here in front of us,” Tears said afterward on the SEC Network. “When I was getting into the box, I was just wanting to hit the ball hard. This is just time for us to grow even closer as a team, and we’ve got a great trust right now from top to bottom in our lineup.”
Tennessee improved to 53-11 after winning its three Knoxville Regional games over Northern Kentucky, Indiana and Southern Miss by the combined score of 33-12. The Eagles ended their season at 43-20.
The Tears homer highlighted a four-run sixth inning that included a Christian Moore groundout that scored Dean Curley, and Tennessee extended its advantage to 9-3 in the seventh inning on Dylan Dreiling’s solo homer to center and Dean Curley’s two-run homer to right. Southern Miss had taken a 3-2 lead in the fifth on a two-run double to right-center by Ozzie Pratt.
Cal Stark provided the Vols a 2-1 lead earlier in the fifth on a homer to left, and his three-run homer to left in the ninth was Tennessee’s 159th this season, setting a program record.
“I hope these guys take a moment to soak it in when they win tournaments like this, or like last week in Hoover,” Tennessee coach Tony Vitello said in a news conference. “I don’t think people do that enough. They need to enjoy this for a moment.”
The Vols, who were the visiting team for a second straight contest, struck first in the second inning when Dreiling led off with a double into the left-field corner and scored on Hunter Ensley’s ensuing single up the middle. Tennessee starting pitcher Zander Sechrist needed just 21 pitches to zip through the first two innings but faced runners at first and second with one out in the third.
Vols first baseman Blake Burke fielded a grounder and tried to start an inning-ending double play, but his throw to second base bounced off the helmet of Eagles runner Gabe Broadus and rolled into center field, which enabled Lawson Odom to score on the play and produce a 1-1 tie.
Sechrist’s second pitch of the fourth inning came back at him and ricocheted off his left knee, sending him down to the ground for a couple of minutes. He then stood up, walked around, threw some warmup pitches and stayed in the game, nearly working five full innings before turning things over to Nate Snead.
“The homers are fun, but some of this exit velocity stuff can get a little scary,” Vitello said. “It’s not just the comebackers, but we’ve had it happen with baserunners on the right side, too, when they are coming off hot.”
Snead would allow only three hits in his four-plus innings of scoreless relief.
Lady Vols rowers third
Tennessee’s rowing team earned the program’s best NCAA championship finish Sunday, placing third behind Texas and Stanford in Bethel, Ohio.
Each of the three Lady Vols crews set program-best marks by boat classification, with the First Eight and Second Eight teams finishing third and the Four boat placing fifth. Tennessee’s Second Eight crew includes Elizabeth Walley of Lookout Mountain and Erin Gifford of Chattanooga, with Walley serving as coxswain.
“I’m so impressed with this team and coaching staff for all they have accomplished,” Lady Vols first-year coach Kim Cupini said via a release. “From the very beginning, they believed in themselves, each other, their goals and the process. I’m so proud of how every one of them handled the changes and committed to what it took to reach the podium at the NCAAs.”
Tennessee and Alabama rowers compete in the Big 12 Conference along with Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Kansas State, UCF and West Virginia.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.