OMAHA, Neb. – Omaha Idol has a winner.
Zander Sechrist held the Seminoles in check for six innings as top-seeded Tennessee downed No. 8 Florida State 7-2 on Wednesday afternoon to win Bracket 1 in the 2024 College World Series.
The Volunteers (58-12) advance to the CWS Championship Series and will face either Texas A&M or Florida for the national title. The Seminoles ended their season at 49-17.
Sechrist (5-1) put up zeroes for six innings before surrendering a pair of runs in the seventh. He worked 6.1 innings with five hits, two runs, one walk and three strikeouts.
“It’s one of the weirdest games I’ve ever been a part of,” UT head coach Tony Vitello said. “Maybe we came out on the winning end because we have one of the weirdest pitchers I’ve ever been around in Zander. And he threw the ball really well and led us into battle the way he should.”
UT got the bats going early. Christian Moore drew a leadoff walk in the top of the first and went to third on a single by Blake Burke. Moore scored on a fielder’s choice by Billy Amick, Hunter Ensley added an RBI single and Dylan Dreiling came home on an error as the Vols took a quick 3-0 lead.
The Seminoles had a runner on first with two away in the bottom of the first when Marco Dinges launched a ball to right center. Kavares Tears caught the ball crashing into the wall to end the inning.
“K.T.’s catch set the tone,” Sechrist said, “especially in the first inning. I know our offense scored in the top of the first, but he set the tone right there.”
Moore had a two-out single in the second for the Vols, took second on a balk and scored on a base hit by Burke to make it 4-0.
FSU missed a scoring opportunity in the third. Jaxson West had a leadoff single and went to third on a double by Max Williams. Cam Smith hit a bouncer to short. Dean Curley threw home to nail West at the plate as Williams advanced to third. James Tibbs III hit a hard grounder to first. Burke stepped on the bag and fired to second. Curley tagged out Smith before Williams touched home, keeping the Seminoles off the scoreboard.
“I’ve had a couple of those plays this year where I messed up by hitting the runner throwing to second,” Burke said. “I touched the base, threw it over, had a lane.”
Cal Stark worked a one-out walk in the fourth for UT and motored home on a triple into the right field corner by Moore to extend the lead to 5-0.
Amick had a two-out double in the top of the seventh for the Vols and came home on a single by Dreiling as advantage expanded to 6-0.
FSU finally got on the board in the bottom of the seventh as Daniel Cantu and Alex Lodise both homered to right, the ninth of the season for each, as the Noles pulled to within four at 6-2.
“The two home runs clearly were a little jolt,” FSU head coach Link Jarrett said, “but it wasn’t enough. And that’s unfortunate.”
Kirby Connell took over on the mound for UT and worked 1.2 scoreless innings with one hit and one strikeout.
The Seminoles looked to keep the offense in the eighth. Williams had a leadoff single. Smith lined a ball that looked like it was ticketed for center field. Connell got a glove on it and deflected it to Drew Faurot at second. He stepped on second and made the relay to first for a double play.
Burke homered to lead off the top of the ninth, his 20th of the season, to make it 7-2.
“First couple of pitches he threw me a couple of fastballs,” Burke said, “and then a change-up and then out of nowhere threw that slider. It was nasty, a back foot slider. I told him ‘Good pitch.’ I did that just so I could get it again because I knew it was coming. I fouled a fastball off and kind of knew that pitch was coming. I was prepared for it. I got my barrel on it.”
Nate Snead fanned one in a scoreless ninth with one punchout to secure the win for the Vols.
Burke went 3 for 5 with one run and two RBI. Moore and Amick both had two hits, two runs and one RBI.
Williams finished with two hits for FSU.
Brennen Oxford pitched 3.1 innings in relief for FSU with four strikeouts. Joe Charles fanned five in 4.1 innings for the Seminoles.
“I know neither team played really clean,” Jarrett said, “but I think the athleticism on display on both sides was exceptional. The college game has never been played better than it is right now and you saw that.”
Notes
Tennessee is 3-0 at the CWS for the first time in program history. The Volunteers will play for the CWS title for the second time. UT lost to Oklahoma in 1951.
UT leads the nation with a program-record 58 victories. The Volunteers also lead with 178 home runs and 642 runs.
All four ACC teams have been eliminated from the CWS, ensuring that it will be an All-SEC Championship Series. The SEC went 5-0 vs. the ACC in the 2024 CWS and the SEC has won 11 of the past 12 encounters with the ACC in Omaha. The national champion will come from the SEC for the fifth straight tournament.