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Tennessee fell 10-8 to Evansville in Game 2 of the Knoxville Super Regional on Saturday afternoon.
The loss sets up a winner-take-all Game 3 for the Vols and Purple Aces on Sunday. Evansville is playing for its first-ever trip to the College World Series.
Ninth inning rally comes up just short and we’ll play tomorrow in a winner-to-Omaha game three.#GBO pic.twitter.com/IQyIpg93af
— Tennessee Baseball (@Vol_Baseball) June 8, 2024
Tennessee led 5-0 in this game after jumping out to an early lead thanks to a trio of first-inning home runs. But the Purple Aces stormed back with 10 runs — 3 in the 4th, 3 in the 5th and 4 in the 6th — to take a commanding lead going into the 9th inning.
The Vols plated 3 runs in the 9th and had the bases loaded with 2 outs for star Christian Moore. After a long at-bat, Evansville’s Shane Harris was able to get Moore to fly out to right field to end the game.
Tennessee starter Drew Beam got off to a good start on the mound, but stumbled in the 4th inning and wasn’t able to make it out of the 5th. He departed after giving up 5 earned runs in 4.2 innings of work. Nate Snead, usually a reliable bullpen arm for the Vols, gave up 3 runs on 4 hits in just 1 inning on the mound.
Looking ahead to Sunday, Tennessee is expected to start Zander Sechrist with a trip to the College World Series on the line. Sechrist has allowed just 2 earned runs in his last 3 starts (16.2 combined innings against South Carolina, Vanderbilt and Southern Miss).
If recent history is any indication, Evansville will likely turn to freshman Kevin Reed to start Sunday’s game. Reed has a 7.38 ERA this season and has really struggled in the postseason — he gave up 7 runs in 3 innings against East Carolina in the Regional round last week. Harris, arguably Evansville’s best overall pitcher, has now thrown on back-to-back days so his availability for Sunday is somewhat uncertain.
First pitch on Sunday is set for 6 p.m. ET.
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Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
