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Tennessee Baseball: Errors save Tennessee’s season

By Colton Pickard

Omaha, NE - JUNE 27: A general view of a baseball on the field prior to game two of the College World Series Championship Series between the Oregon State Beavers and the Arkansas Razorbacks on June 27, 2018 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images)
Omaha, NE - JUNE 27: A general view of a baseball on the field prior to game two of the College World Series Championship Series between the Oregon State Beavers and the Arkansas Razorbacks on June 27, 2018 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images) /
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The Vols looked to get payback on Liberty after they lost 6-1 Friday night. It took Tennessee an extra inning, but Tennessee took advantage of that opportunity with a 6-5 victory over the Flames on Sunday.

It took Tennessee five innings to get three hits in their game against Liberty on Friday night. On Sunday it only took three batters to get three hits. The Vols jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the first inning until the second inning where the Vols added one more thanks to a Pete Derkay triple. Derkay scored on a sacrifice fly to extend the Vols lead to 3-0.

Sean Hunley took the mound for the Vols to start the game. He found himself in a sticky situation with runners on the corners in the first inning with one out, but he was able to get out of the jam unscathed. Hunley then gave up one in the second and continued to struggle until he exited the game in the bottom of the third inning with two outs. Garrett Crochet entered in relief, and he got a strikeout to end the inning.

The fourth inning didn’t go as well for Tennessee as Liberty were able to tack on two more runs to tie the game at three. Andre Lipcius hit a two-run home run in the fifth inning to give the Vols back the lead, and they never lost it after that. Both teams threatened to add some runs throughout the game but weren’t able to get it done at the plate when they needed to. Tennessee led by one in the bottom of the ninth, but Liberty was able to rally and tie the game and force extra innings.

An error by Liberty in the 10th inning allowed Tennessee to score the go-ahead run in extra innings and regain the lead 6-5. Once again, Tennessee found themselves up by one with a chance to move on in the final inning. Unlike the ninth inning, the Vols held on to their lead in extra innings to advance to the Championship game.

Tennessee will play North Carolina at 6 Eastern Time, and the winner will face the winner of the Atlanta Regional. North Carolina is the top seed in the region, and they won both of their games they have played so far and have put themselves in a good position to advance to Super Regionals.

First, North Carolina faced off against four seed North Carolina-Wilmington and the game was tied 6-6 before a three-hour rain delay ensued. After the delay, the Tar Heels wasted little time as they scored the winning run on an error. North Carolina had a little less trouble with Liberty on Saturday. Five home runs lifted the Tar Heels to a 16-0 win over Liberty. The Tar Heels led 10-0 in the sixth and batted around in the eighth and ninth inning to prove their dominance by adding four in the eighth and two more in the ninth.

Next. Marcus Mariota and receivers are clicking on all cylinders. dark

North Carolina is a very good baseball team, and if Tennessee’s pitching staff performs as they did in either game against Liberty, the Vols are going to be in trouble. For now, the Vols need to rest up as much as they can especially the relief pitchers because they are going to have to be at the top of their game during Sunday night’s matchup.

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