Tennessee baseball slugs to College World Series with decisive Game 3 win vs. Evansville
Blake Burke swung and Evansville center fielder Ty Rumsey scrambled to the wall in pursuit of the ball.
It landed innocently in shallow center field as Burke cruised for a double. But who could blame Rumsey for darting to the edge of the field at Lindsey Nelson Stadium? Tennessee baseball was amid an all-out home run assault that guaranteed this time, it wouldn't be denied a trip to the College World Series as the No. 1 seed.
The Vols are going back to Omaha for the third time in four seasons, thwarting underdog Evansville 12-1 in Game 3 of the Knoxville Super Regionals with seven homers to back up the best start of Zander Sechrist's career.
Tennessee (55-12) will play Florida State (47-15) in its College World Series opener on either Friday or Saturday. The Vols, who have seven CWS appearances in program history, also went to Omaha in 2021 and 2023.
Evansville finishes its season 39-26.
Zander Sechrist did it again
Zander Sechrist had gone six innings in a start just once in the first 36 starts of his career. He has done it three times in the past four games, and Sunday was his greatest work.
The senior left-handed pitcher threw a career-best 6⅓ innings. He struck out six and allowed one unearned run on six hits. He also threw quality starts against South Carolina to clinch UT a share of the SEC regular-season title and again in the SEC tournament semifinals against Vanderbilt.
The Vols were a home run machine
Tennessee, which had seven home runs, set the postseason single-game record and matched the overall program single-game record.
Christian Moore, who has a program-record 32 homers, hit a solo shot over the batter's eye six pitches before Burke's double had Rumsey out of sorts. Billy Amick sent the pitch after clear over it, a 446-foot, two-run homer.
The Vols hit three solo homers in the first two innings Sunday after blasting three solo shots in the first inning Saturday.
Moore's 429-foot missile to left in the first inning tied the score 1-1. Dean Curley and Dalton Bargo went back-to-back in the second, and Bargo hit another in the fourth inning to left-center. Moore hit his second of the game, also in the fourth, before Amick hit the sixth homer of the game. Cal Stark's three-run homer in the fifth tied the program record.
Omaha native Dalton Bargo had himself a day
Dalton Bargo, an Omaha native, started for the second time in the postseason. He made good on the opportunity.
Bargo bashed a solo homer in his first at-bat, then hit another in his second at-bat. He hadn't homered since April 6 at Auburn, when he also had a two-homer game.
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 hits 7 homers vs Evansville for trip back to CWS
