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Tennessee baseball powers through Indiana despite struggling bullpen

By Colton Pickard

Tennessee's Christian Moore (1) and Tennessee's Cannon Peebles (5) celebrate after Moore hits a home run during a NCAA Baseball Tournament Knoxville Regional game at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on Saturday, June 1, 2024 in Knoxville, Tenn.
Tennessee's Christian Moore (1) and Tennessee's Cannon Peebles (5) celebrate after Moore hits a home run during a NCAA Baseball Tournament Knoxville Regional game at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on Saturday, June 1, 2024 in Knoxville, Tenn. / Angelina Alcantar/News Sentinel / USA
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Tennessee baseball is sitting in the driver's seat of the Knoxville Regional after its 12-6 win over Indiana. The win set up the Vols to be one win away from earning a spot in the Super Regionals. Tennessee would host the winner out of the Greenville bracket for a spot in Omaha. 

The Hoosiers struggled to slow down the Vols at the plate. They didn't sit the Vols down 1-2-3 until the seventh inning. Tennessee's bats totaled 12 runs on 13 hits, with five home runs throughout the game. 

Drew Beam and the pitching staff struggled to keep Indiana at bay for moments throughout the game. A Devin Taylor three-run home run in the third inning gave the Hoosiers some life, followed by a run scored off a base hit in the fourth inning and two runs scored in the eighth. 

Andrew Behnke took over for Beam in the fourth and carried the Vols throughout the heart of the game, getting the Vols to the eighth inning with an eight-run lead. The bullpen struggled to finish off Indiana in the game's final two innings. 

In the eighth inning, Marcus Phillips came in relief but didn't last long. Dylan Loy became the second Tennessee pitcher to take the mound in the eighth inning after Phillips gave up an earned run and only recorded one out. 

Loy couldn't slow down the Hoosiers either, giving up another run on nine pitches without recording an out before being pulled. The third pitcher of the eighth inning was Tennessee's leverage pitcher, Aaron Combs, who came into the eighth with one out and runners on first and second base. 

Combs wasted no time retiring the next two Indiana batters, getting the Vols out of the jam, and putting them three outs away from advancing through the winner's bracket. Combs remained in the game for the ninth inning but faced trouble shutting down the fighting Hoosiers. 

He ultimately got the job done after allowing two hits, saving another arm for the Vols ahead of Championship Sunday and sending the Vols to the final round of regionals. Tennessee's pitching staff totaled ten strikeouts while allowing six runs on 11 hits throughout the night. 

After a stressful final two innings, the Combs and the Vols shut the door on Indiana. The offense carried the Vols to the win, posting double-digit runs and 21 total runs over the first two games of the NCAA Tournament. 

With Indiana's loss, they will face Southern Miss on Sunday at 12:00 PM ET. The winner of that game will face Tennessee in a win-or-go-home game at 6:00 PM ET. Tennessee will have some wiggle room on Sunday and would need to lose twice to be eliminated, with the second game taking place on Monday if necessary.

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