No. 1 Tennessee will stay in the winner’s bracket in Omaha after their win over No. 4 North Carolina on Sunday.
Tennessee took their second victory at 6-1 over the Tar Heels. That leaves the Volunteers a game away from making the final of the College World Series. As for UNC, they’ll have a conference date with Florida State on Tuesday to determine who will get a rematch with the Vols.
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The first three innings were a defensive standoff with Drew Beam and Shea Sprague on the mound. Five of the first six frames were three up and three down for both the Volunteers and the Tar Heels with only one player reaching base off of a walk. It featured quality pitching as well as some highlights from the fielders, including one from UNC’s Colby Wilkerson at shortstop to get their first out of the game and one from Tennessee’s Hunter Ensley in the second where he ran right into the wall.
The fourth is when the offenses finally got going at varying degrees. For North Carolina, they got the first hit of the game from Parks Harber, even though the Vols would get three more out afterward. Tennessee then got the scoring started when a three-run homer by Kavares Tears made it 3-0 for the orange.
The Volunteers, who are known for their long ball, then went back to back with another in the fifth. Reese Chapman hit a solo shot to make it 4-0 and led to the first pitching change for UNC.
Vance Honeycutt did hit a home run to open the sixth inning that to bring it to a 4-1 deficit. That generated some energy for the Tar Heels as Casey Cook and Harber got base hits to end the night for Beam. However, Kirby O’Connell came out of the dugout and immediately got them out of the jam with the three outs.
The seventh and eighth went by with little action in the scoring department, even though both teams bats were well and warm by then. Still, Tears got one more swing in for a base hit that scored Billy Amick and created the final margin of 6-1. North Carolina wouldn’t respond in four at bats at the top of the ninth, which would end the game in the five-run victory for the Vols.
Tennessee will remain in the winner’s bracket and wait until Wednesday to play again. From there, they’ll have to win just one out of two to advance to the final series for the championship.
As for UNC, this sets up a conference matchup between them and Florida State in the loser’s bracket. The winner of that game on Tuesday will get the rematch with the top seed and have to win two to get to play for the title.
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