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College Football

Tennessee drops Super Regional opener to Notre Dame, faces NCAA Tournament elimination

Andrew Olson

By Andrew Olson

Published:

Tennessee’s 2022 season is on the line. The No. 1 national seed Volunteers fell to Notre Dame 8-6 in Game 1 of the Knoxville Super Regional. If UT can win Game 2, it would play in a decisive Game 3 for a spot in the College World Series. Another Super Regional loss, though, and Tennessee’s season is over.

Notre Dame scored its 8 runs on 4 home runs, 1 each in the first 4 innings of play. It was 8-1 Irish before the Vols started to chip away at the 7-run deficit, their largest of the year.

Trey Lipscomb made it 8-2 with a solo home run in the bottom of the 4th inning. Jorel Ortega cut it to 8-3 with another solo shot in the 6th inning. Lipscomb came through again with a 2-RBI double in the 7th inning, trimming the deficit to 8-5. Jordan Beck hit a solo homer in the 9th to get it down to a 2-run game (8-6), but the Vols were unable to continue the rally.

UT starter Blade Tidwell, the game’s losing pitcher, was tagged for 5 earned runs after giving up 7 hits in 3 innings. The Vols used 5 pitchers on the night.

Notre Dame starter Austin Temple went only 3 innings (3 H, 2 ER). Reliever Alex Rao picked up the win, going 3.2 innings, allowing 3 earned runs and 2 hits.

Tennessee will play Game 2 without starting outfielder Drew Gilbert, who was ejected in the 5th inning for arguing a strike call. UT pitching coach Frank Anderson, who was also tossed, is reportedly facing a multi-game suspension.

The Vols are looking to be part of a small club of No. 1 overall national seeds to drop Game 1 of Super Regionals and still make it to the College World Series.

Andrew Olson

Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.

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