Tennessee baseball beats Evansville in super regional, one win from College World Series
Hunter Ensley curled his body in and connected.
The Tennessee baseball outfielder gazed as the final, finishing blow soared down the left-field line at Lindsey Nelson Stadium to push the Vols within a win of going back the College World Series.
The No. 1 Vols bashed four homers to handle Evansville 11-6 on Friday in the first game of the Knoxville Super Regional to move within one win of reaching Omaha in back-to-back seasons for the first time.
The Vols (54-11) and Evansville (38-25) play again Saturday (11 a.m. ET, ESPN2). UT's 54 wins matched the 1995 Vols for the second-most in program history. The Vols won a program-record 57 in 2022.
UT is chasing its third trip to the College World Series in four seasons.
The Vols got big power from the top of the lineup
Ensley slugged a three-run homer in the seventh for the final homer for the Vols on Friday. He had three hits in the five-hole with two runs and four RBIs.
Blake Burke got Tennessee started with a solo homer off the scoreboard in the first. Christian Moore followed in the third with a two-run homer to right-center. Billy Amick blasted a solo shot off the light pole in left two batters later for a 5-2 Tennessee lead after UT briefly fell behind 2-1.
UT got six hits, six runs and five RBIs from the top three in the lineup.
Tennessee baseball hurt itself with a fifth-inning error
Tennessee was cruising with AJ Causey on the mound until a Moore error with one out in the fifth. The Purple Aces got a two-out, two-strike double off the wall from Kip Fougerousse and a run-scoring single from Chase Hug to tie the game 5-5.
Causey pitched around trouble in the sixth. He had two on with one out before getting a groundout then freezing Evansville's Simon Scherry for a strikeout with two in scoring position.
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Causey struck out eight in 4⅔ innings. He allowed three unearned runs on four hits with two walks.
Aaron Combs finished it emphatically for Tennessee vs Evansville
Evansville rallied in the top of the ninth. The Purple Aces scored a run off Kirby Connell before Vols coach Tony Vitello turned to Aaron Combs.
Combs walked a batter to loaded the bases before getting back-to-back-to-back strikeouts.
Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on Twitter @ByMikeWilson. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee baseball beats Evansville in super regional, a win from CWS
