After sweeping their way through the NCAA Regionals last week, Tennessee baseball is now looking to advance to its second straight College World Series. That would be a first in history for the program, which has only made five CWS appearances all time.
As the No. 1 overall seed and the SEC regular season and tournament champion, Tony Vitello’s team will face the Notre Dame Fighting Irish this weekend for a best-of-three series. UT beat the Alabama State Hornets, Campbell Fighting Camels and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets to advance in the Knoxville Regional last week.
Led by third-year head coach Link Jarrett, Notre Dame is in its second straight Super Regional after coming out of the Statesboro Regional last week, hosted by the No. 16 seed Georgia Southern Eagles. Here is all the information you need for Tennessee baseball’s matchup.
Game 1: Notre Dame wins 8-6
Game 2: Tennessee wins 12-4
Game 3 broadcast info
UT will have Blade Tidwell on the mound to start Friday and Chase Dollander to start Saturday. Notre Dame will start Austin Temple Friday and Michael Bertrand Saturday. Starting pitchers for Sunday, if necessary, are to be determined.
To win last week’s regional, the Vols had to overcome back-to-back 4-0 deficits against Campbell Saturday and Georgia Tech Sunday, but they ended up winning both pretty convincingly. Strong ninth innings and clutch pitching were a part of those games.
Notre Dame, meanwhile, beat the Texas Tech Red Raiders twice and Georgia Southern in the middle of that to advance in the regional. The Irish were roughly one spot out of hosting a regional, so they are a dangerous team. They are looking to make their first CWS since 2002.
The first team to win two games wins this series and will advance to the CWS, which begins next Friday and will last through Monday, June 27. Both Tennessee baseball and Notre Dame are looking for their first national championship ever in the sport.