Tennessee downs upset-minded Evansville to take Super Regional opener
Vols one win away from seventh College World Series appearance
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - Tennessee defeated Evansville 11-6 on Friday to open play in the 2024 Knoxville Super Regional.
The Purple Aces are the ninth four-seed in NCAA Baseball Tournament history to make a Super Regional since Super Regionals began in 1999.
Four seeds are 0-29 against the number 1 national seed since 1999.
Evansville is trying to become the fourth four-seed to make it the College World Series.
Tennessee is seeking its seventh trip to the College World Series in program history.
Updates will begin below when the game begins. Scoring plays will be listed in italics.
TOP FIRST INNING
Chris Stamos struck out the side in the first inning.
BOTTOM FIRST INNING
Blake Burke opened the scoring with a solo home run to rightfield | Tennessee 1, Evansville 0
Burke’s home run provided Tennessee’s only hit of the inning.
TOP SECOND INNING
A leadoff double put a runner in scoring position to begin the second inning.
Cal McGinnis gave Evansville its first ever lead in a Super Regional with a two-run home run to centerfield | Evansville 2, Tennessee 1
Chris Stamos was removed from the game after allowing the home run. AJ Causey struck out the first batter he faced.
Causey struck out the last two batters of the inning. Five of the six Volunteer outs recorded in the first two innings were strikeouts.
BOTTOM SECOND INNING
After a Hunter Ensley strikeout, Kavares Tears drew a one out walk.
Dean Curley grounded into a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning.
TOP THIRD INNING
Causey worked around a walk and a hit by pitch with a strikeout, throwout double play to end the inning.
BOTTOM THIRD INNING
After a walk to Cal Stark, Christian Moore launched a two run home run to give Tennessee the lead back | Tennessee 3, Evansville 2
Billy Amick hit a tape-measure shot to the left field porches to Give Tennessee its largest lead of the day | Tennessee 4, Evansville 2
Dylan Dreiling flew out to the warning track to end the inning.
TOP FOURTH INNING
Evansville put a runner in scoring position for the second straight inning with a two out double.
Causey stranded the runner at second with a strikeout.
BOTTOM FOURTH INNING
Hunter Ensley led off the fourth with a double off the top of the outfield wall.
Kavares Tears moved Ensley to third with a groundout for the first out of the inning.
A sacrifice fly off the bat of Dean Curley extended the Tennessee lead to three | Tennessee 5, Evansville 2
TOP FIFTH INNING
The Purple Aces reached first on a Christian Moore error with one out in the fifth.
A single down the rightfield line put runners at the corners and brought the tying run to the plate.
AJ Causey struck out Evansville’s Mark Shallenberger for the second out of the inning.
A two run double by Kip Fougerousse cut the deficit to one | Tennessee 5, Evansville 4
Evansville tied things up on a Chase Hug RBI single | Tennessee 5, Evansville 5
BOTTOM FIFTH INNING
Christian Moore worked a one out walk to put the go-ahead run on first.
Blake Burke gave Tennessee the lead back with an RBI double off the centerfield wall | Tennessee 6, Evansville 5
A throwing error on Evansville third baseman Brent Widder allowed Burke to score from second | Tennessee 7, Evansville 5
Evansville’s Kenton Deverman was relieved in the bottom of the fifth after 4.2 innings. Deverman allowed seven runs, six earned, with two strikeouts.
Shane Harris relieved Deverman.
Hunter Ensley beat the shift, sending a ball through the right side to drive in a third Tennessee run in the fifth | Tennessee 8, Evansville 5
A Kavares Tears groundout ended the inning.
TOP SIXTH INNING
Cal McGinnis walked to leadoff the inning.
A hit by pitch put runners at first and second with one out.
A groundout moved the runners to second and third with two outs in the inning.
Causey struck out Simon Scherry to strand both runners and keep the lead at three runs.
BOTTOM SIXTH INNING
The Vols were retired in order in the sixth. It was the first time Tennessee was held scoreless since the second inning.
TOP SEVENTH INNING
Kirby Connell began the seventh inning on the mound, striking out the first batter he faced.
Connell retired the side in order.
BOTTOM SEVENTH INNING
With two outs in the inning, Billy Amick laced a double down the leftfield line to put a runner in scoring position.
After a two out walk, Hunter Ensley launched a three-run home run to the leftfield porches to give Tennessee its largest lead of the afternoon | Tennessee 11, Evansville 5
TOP EIGHTH INNING
Kirby Connell retired the side in order in the eighth.
BOTTOM EIGHTH INNING
The Vols were retired in order in the eighth.
TOP NINTH INNING
The Aces pulled within five runs, stringing together three straight singles | Tennessee 11, Evansville 6
Aaron Combs replaced Kirby Connell following the first Evansville run of the inning.
A walk loaded the bases before Combs recorded the first out of the ninth via strikeout.
Another strikeout put Evansville down to its final out with the bases still loaded.
Combs’ third and final strikeout of the inning ended the ballgame.
FINAL | TENNESSEE 11, EVANSVILLE 6
Tennessee and Evansville will meet at 11:00 on Saturday morning. The Vols will serve as the road team in the matchup. A win will send Tennessee to its seventh College World Series.
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