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Tennessee Baseball: Vols lose to Tar Heels in regional final

By Colton Pickard

OMAHA, NE - JUNE 21: The North Carolina Tar Heels battle on offense in the fifth inning against the Rice Owls during the Tar Heels 7-4 win in Game 13 of the NCAA College World Series at Rosenblatt Stadium on June 21, 2007 in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
OMAHA, NE - JUNE 21: The North Carolina Tar Heels battle on offense in the fifth inning against the Rice Owls during the Tar Heels 7-4 win in Game 13 of the NCAA College World Series at Rosenblatt Stadium on June 21, 2007 in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
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Tennessee reached the Regional Championship game for the first time since 2005, and the Vols laid an egg against North Carolina dropping the championship game 4-2.

The first inning proved fatal for the Vols after they gave up all four of North Carolina’s runs in the opening frame. Zach Linginfelter was the man on the mound to start the game for the Vols, and he wasted no time to make the game interesting. After back-to-back base hits from Carolina hitters, he walked the bases loaded. Ashton McGee then hit a base hit into center field to get across the Tar Heels’ first two runs in the first inning. Linginfelter gave up two more and was pulled after getting just two outs in the first inning. Will Heflin came in to get the final out of the first inning to end the nightmare start for the Vols.

The pitching was a nightmare, and the bats might’ve been equally disappointing. Tennessee scored their first run of the game in the second inning after a leadoff walk, two wild pitches, and a sacrifice fly. The Vols didn’t record their first hit until Jay Charleston hit a single in the bottom of the fourth to lead off the inning. A couple of pitches later Charleston stole second to put himself in scoring position. Alerick Soularie came up clutch with a base hit to bring Charleston home to cut the lead in half.

Carolina added another run in the sixth to extend their lead to 5-2 and ultimately put the game away. Austin Bergner entered the seventh inning just under 100 pitches. Bergner dominated Tennessee hitters in his seven innings of work; he threw 111 pitches and only gave up two runs.

After seeing what Carolina did to Liberty on Friday night, we kind of knew what we would be getting into. They can get hot at the plate pretty quickly, and once they’re hot, they are hard to stop. We witnessed that first hand in the first inning. Once they got going, it took a relief pitcher to come in and shut it down. Luckily, the Vols were able to hold that to a minimum from then on. The Vols had a chance to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth but were unable to get the job done.

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Although the season ended with a loss, I am still proud of what these guys accomplished and impressed; they reached the regional championship game. Head coach Tony Vitello is just in his second year and has already taken a team that couldn’t win an SEC game to save their life all the way to the NCAA tournament. Vitello is well ahead of schedule, and the future is bright for Vitello and his Vols now they just have to take what they did this season and continue building off it in the future.

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