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Tennessee Volunteers

Tennessee advances to regional final with HR-fueled victory over Liberty

Keith Farner

By Keith Farner

Published:

Tennessee continued to use the long ball to fuel its success, and this time it came against Liberty.

After an early onslaught, the Vols coasted to a 9-3 win over Liberty in the winner’s bracket of the Knoxville Regional.

By the third inning, the Vols had five home runs, and nine home runs in two games so far this regional, which set a new NCAA Tournament program record. Tennessee starter Blade Tidwell went 5 2/3 innings, and gave up three runs on four hits with three walks and three strikeouts.

The Vols were led by Drew Gilbert, who was the hero on Friday with a walk-off grand slam, who launched one to the batter’s eye in center field on Saturday, along with a pair of home runs each from Liam Spence and Luc Lipcius. It was Spencer’s first career multi-home run game, and he had four RBIs in the game.

Liberty coach Scott Jackson was ejected in the seventh inning for arguing balls and strikes after Will Wagner tried to check his swing, and home plate umpire Angel Campos called it a strikeout. Tennessee got an inning-ending double play after that strikeout. In the eighth, Campos ejected Liberty pitching coach Matt Williams during a Liberty pitching change as they had a conversation near the mound.

The Vols will play the winner of the Liberty-Duke game, which is set for Sunday afternoon, at 6 p.m. ET on Sunday.

Keith Farner

A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.

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