Tennessee baseball players have stressed throughout this season that they have never felt out of games as long as there are still outs available.
The top-seeded Volunteers lived up to that pledge like never before in Friday night’s 12-11 triumph over No. 8 Florida State in the College World Series opener for both teams. The Seminoles built a 9-4 lead through four innings and still led 11-9 in the ninth, when the Vols strung together four consecutive two-out hits to produce the most memorable and arguably the most meaningful win of the Tony Vitello era.
Dylan Dreiling had the fourth of those hits, driving the ball to left-center field to easily score Blake Burke from second base.
“We hit BP early, and we had a lot of down time in kind of a holding room, or a makeshift locker room,” Vitello said late Friday night in a news conference. “As we were getting ready to go out to the dugout, I was looking around the room and had a sense of comfort. Looking at the group of guys that we were about to go do battle with, I felt pretty dang good about it.
“I think we knew we were going to do battle with a very offensive team, as you saw. There was no game plan other than to compete, and they did a good job there.”
Friday marked the first opening win for the Vols at the College World Series since 1995. This is Vitello’s seventh season with the program, which is at the eight-team event for the third time in four years.
Tennessee (56-12) has advanced to face No. 4 North Carolina (48-14), which opened play at Charles Schwab Field Omaha on Friday afternoon with a 3-2 topping of No. 12 Virginia. The Vols and Tar Heels each won on walk-off hits, and No. 2 Kentucky joined them Saturday afternoon with a 5-4 victory over No. 10 North Carolina State in 10 innings.
ESPN2 will televise the Tennessee-North Carolina pairing Sunday night at 7 Eastern.
This is the 77th College World Series and the first to begin with three consecutive walk-off wins. Tennessee faced the most adversity of the three prevailing teams after Florida State used a six-run third inning to turn a 4-1 deficit into a 7-4 lead.
“When we go out there, we always think that we can put up whatever number on the scoreboard,” Burke said. “We aren’t trying to put up a six-spot. We’re just trying to win every pitch. We threw a bunch of jabs all game, and then we threw that big punch in the ninth inning.”
Said Christian Moore: “We’ve played a lot of games together, so there is that certain comfort between us and knowing my brother has my back at all costs. When you go out there and have that, good things can happen, like tonight.”
Moore and Burke have topped Tennessee’s batting order all season and were a combined 8-of-11 with four RBIs and seven runs scored Friday, with Moore hitting for the cycle. Add in Billy Amick and Dreiling, and the top four hitters for the Vols were a combined 14-of-22 against the Seminoles.
Yet getting to the top of the lineup in the ninth inning would never have happened had Cannon Peebles not drawn a one-out walk off Seminoles closer Brennen Oxford. Following a Cal Stark foulout that took the Vols down to their final out, Moore doubled to left to put runners on second and third, and Burke singled up the middle to bring those runners home and force an 11-11 deadlock.
Before Burke’s single, he had a check swing with two strikes that could easily have been ruled as the final play of the game. That wasn’t in the script, however, as an Amick single and Dreiling’s winner instead told the story of the night Tennessee and incredible drama collided.
“We kind of knew at the beginning of the season that we had something special, and we knew all we had to do was put it on the field and work hard to be in this situation,” Moore said. “All of the guys, even the guys in the dugout, really pushed themselves to be here and to be part of this team.
“I’m super proud of everybody, and I’m hoping we can keep this train going.”
As is Vitello, who may have needed Saturday to decompress.
“I think I was the least composed out of the group,” Vitello said of Friday night’s late innings, “but I assure you that I was confident.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.