Tennessee baseball spared its fans ninth-inning drama and demonstrated the traits that made the Vols the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament by beating North Carolina 6-1 Sunday at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska.

Two days after beating Florida State with a furious ninth-inning comeback, the Vols quickly killed the suspense that was so prevalent in the first four games of the CWS. All four were decided by one run, and three of them included walk-off hits.

The Vols beat the Seminoles with hitting. They beat the Tar Heels (48-15) with the kind of balance that has produced a 57-12 record as well as SEC regular-season and tournament championships.

Fielding lapses repeatedly caused problems against Florida State. And coach Tony Vitello had to lean on six pitchers to close out a 12-11 victory, achieved after the Seminoles had taken a five-run lead.

But the victory over North Carolina was more in keeping with UT’s overall play this season. Drew Beam’s superb pitching and solid defense combined with another home run display subdued the Tar Heels.

All that reminded everyone why the Vols are favored to win their first baseball championship in school history. Their favored status improved with a 2-0 start. Twenty-seven of the past 33 national champions started 2-0 in the CWS.

Beam, who had struggled in postseason play, was sharp right away. The defense stepped up, too.

First baseman Blake Burke barely succeeded in keeping a foot on the base with a long stretch to save an off-target throw for the third out of the first inning. Parks Harber was first ruled safe, but a review reversed the call.

In the second inning, Tennessee center fielder Hunter Ensley ran hard into the padded center-field wall after making a spectacular backhand catch of a deep hit from Anthony Donofrio. Ensley, who injured a leg on the play, left the game two innings later and was replaced by Colby Backus.

Relief pitcher Kirby Connell provided the key defensive play of the sixth inning after the Tar Heels finally broke through against Beam. Connell picked a runner off first base with North Carolina threatening.

Only routine plays usually were required on behalf of Beam through the first five innings. He breezed through the first four innings, then struck out the last two batters in the fifth after North Carolina had two runners on with just one out.

Beam’s performance was crucial after the Vols had gone so deep into their bullpen against Florida State. It was more indicative of his Tennessee career than his recent starts.

Beam, who was making the 50^th start of his Tennessee career, had given up 25 runs in last 30.1 innings. He allowed just one run and struck out seven before giving way to Connell against the Tar Heels.

As helpful as the pitching and defense were, Tennessee also lived up to his hitting reputation. The Vols slammed their nation-leading 176^th and 177^th home runs of the season. Kavares Tears hit a line drive, three-run homer in the fourth and Reese Chapman hit a solo homer in the fifth.

ADAMS: Tennessee baseball's clutch hitting turns the impossible into possible vs FSU

Chapman’s hit reflected the depth of Tennessee’s batting order. Five of the first six hitters in Tennessee’s lineup are hitting over .300 with 19 or more home runs.

But Chapman, who was batting eighth as the designated hitter, is also a home run threat. Shortstop Dean Curley, batting seventh, added an RBI single in the victory.

That all proved too much for North Carolina to handle. It might be too much for the rest of the CWS field, too.

John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or john.adams@knoxnews.com. Follow him at: twitter.com/johnadamskns.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee baseball has championship performance in College World Series