Tennessee uses electric 4th inning to down Wake Forest, advance to Super Regional

Tennessee baseball is heading to the Super Regional round of the NCAA Baseball tournament for the 5th straight season. The Vols downed Wake Forest Monday evening 11-5 and will face off against Arkansas in Fayetteville next week.

For all intents and purposes, the game was won in the 4th inning. The Vols, after falling behind 2-1 early, put up 7 runs in the 4th to catapult to an 8-2 lead. Reese Chapman, Manny Marin and Andrew Fischer did the work for the Vols, with Chapman driving in a run to tie things at 2 to start things off.

Wake Forest then allowed another run to score on a wild pitch before Manny Marin launched his 3rd home run of the season to extend the Tennessee lead to 4, 6-2.

Then Andrew Fischer happened. Sit back and watch Fischer’s 24th home run of the season, which extended the Vols’ lead to 6, 8-2.

Wake Forest tried to make things interesting and scored 3 runs across the next 2 innings, but Tennessee – as it seems they always do – had an answer: Future Top 5 MLB Draft pick Liam Doyle.

Doyle, an Ole Miss transfer, has been one of the best pitchers in the country this season, and he came out in the 7th to put the Demon Deacons to bed. With momentum starting to swing Wake Forest’s way, Doyle entered the game and immediately extinguished any hopes or a miraculous comeback. Across the final 2 innings Doyle threw 5 strikeouts and allowed zero hits – a simply massive performance when the Vols needed to slam the door shut.

The reigning national champs appear to be getting hot at the right time.

Ethan Stone

Ethan Stone is a Tennessee graduate and loves all things college football and college basketball. Firm believer in fouling while up 3.