Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello referred to Florida State's impressive six-run third inning as a "damn touchdown" in Friday's College World Series opener in Omaha, Nebraska.

"We just need to handle the circumstances better," Vitello said. "And by that, I don't mean in the moment or playing in Omaha or anything like that, this is a pretty mature group. Obviously, we got to throw strikes. We have to do a better job at playing catch."

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Ironically, the Vols had a 4-1 lead by the top of the third inning against the Seminoles.

Florida State took a 7-4 lead with the six-run outburst and added two more runs in the fourth.

The Vols cut it to 9-7 with runs in the fifth and sixth.

FSU made it 11-7 in seventh.

The Vols scored a run in the eighth to trail 11-8.

And although Vitello wanted a "damn touchdown" for the rally, the Vols scored four runs in the ninth to win 12-11.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tony Vitello said Tennessee baseball needs a 'damn touchdown' to catch FSU