Everything you need to know ahead of Tennessee baseball's game with Florida State
Tennessee baseball is preparing for a rematch with Florida State on Wednesday afternoon. The Seminoles beat North Carolina on Tuesday afternoon to eliminate the Tar Heels and allow FSU to fight another day.
The Vols have started the College World Series 2-0 with wins over Florida State and North Carolina. Tennessee needed a walkoff win to beat FSU the first time around and cruised to victory against UNC in game two, thanks to a strong pitching performance from Drew Beam and the Vols bullpen.
Zander Sechrist is the projected starter for Wednesday's game, and he is familiar with the big moments. He was the starting pitcher in Tennessee's game to clinch the regular-season SEC Championship, win regionals, and win super regionals.
He hasn't swayed in any of those three pivotal starts to get the Vols to where they're at now and will have the opportunity to do it again by sending the Vols to the CWS Finals. Sechrist pitched a combined 17 innings in those three starts and allowed zero earned runs with 13 strikeouts.
FSU could put their No. 1 pitcher, Jamie Arnold, back on the bump. The Vols saw Arnold in their first game against the Seminoles five days ago. Arnold went 5.0 innings and allowed four runs in his 2024 CWS debut.
The Noles could also look to Conner Whittaker to eat some innings as the starter or out of the bullpen since he only faced five batters on Tuesday. Whittaker pitched 3.1 innings against Tennessee and allowed three runs.
Both offenses have also brought their hot bats to Omaha, as we saw in Game 1 between these two teams. Tennessee scored 18 total runs in two games, while Florida State scored 27 runs in three games while in Omaha.
Tennessee is also 11 home runs shy of tying LSU's single-season home run record of 188 total home runs. The Vols have hit 177 home runs so far as they continue to inch closer to the record and could take advantage of Florida State's pitching if they rely on their best guys on short rest.
Wednesday's game will also be the first time Tennessee will be the away team in this year's CWS. The Vols have been the home team in both of their games in this year's College World Series so far.
The rematch between the Seminoles and Vols will also have a slightly adjusted start time. The weather has pushed Kentucky and Florida's elimination game from Tuesday night to Wednesday morning, pushing Tennessee's start time one hour to 3:00 PM ET. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.