There will be a winner-take-all Game 3 in the Knoxville Regional! Tennessee made sure of that, slugging past Notre Dame 12-4 in a must-win situation on Saturday.

Playing without Drew Gilbert after a Friday night ejection, the Vols offense was sluggish through the first 4 innings of action Saturday and carried a 1-0 lead into the 5th inning. That is when Luc Lipcius and the bats showed up.

Lipcius started the inning with a solo home run, but that was just the beginning. Jordan Beck and Evan Russell also added home runs before Lipcius homered again to cap the inning. Beck and Lipcius both had 3-run home runs.

When it was all said and done, the Volunteers scored 8 runs in the frame on 4 long balls. Lipcius paved the way with a pair of home runs and 4 RBI. Along the way, Russell and Lipcius bypassed Tennessee legend, Todd Helton, for first place on the school’s all-time home run record. The duo is tied at 39 career home runs.

On the mound, Chase Dollander was fantastic and allowed Tennessee to give its bullpen a breather heading into Sunday’s Game 3. Dollander went 7 innings with 2 scattered earned runs with 5 strikeouts and did not issue a walk.

First pitch for Sunday’s game is scheduled for 1 pm ET. Tennessee will be back at full strength with Drew Gilbert and pitching coach Frank Anderson back after the one-game suspension.