OMAHA, Neb. – Top-seeded Tennessee used a familiar formula for success on Sunday evening.
Drew Beam and two relievers combined to hold No. 4 North Carolina to one run and Kavares Tears homered and drove in four in a 6-1 victory in Game 6 of the 2024 College World Series.
“Two good lineups that are very dangerous,” UT head coach Tony Vitello said, “but runs were at a premium tonight for a few different reasons. One was the defense was outstanding on both sides. And there were also some balls that were stung that defenders were in a position to make a play on.”
The Tar Heels (48-15) will face No. 8 Florida State in an elimination game on Tuesday, June 18, at 1 p.m. CT. The Volunteers (57-12) will take on the winner of that game on Wednesday, June 19, at 1 p.m. CT.
Beam retired the first 11 batters he faced before surrendering a single to Parks Harber. He fanned Anthony Donofrio to end the top of the fourth inning.
UT got its first hits and runs in the bottom of the fourth. Blake Burke had a leadoff single and went to second when Dylan Dreiling drew a one-out walk. With two away, Tears lined a homer to right, his 20th of the season, to give the Vols a 3-0 advantage.
Beam allowed a pair of one-out walks in the top of the fifth but struck out the next two hitters to keep UNC off the scoreboard.
“I thought he did a good job the first time through the order,” Harber said, “attacked us with fastballs. The second time around he did a good job landing the off-speed pitches to get ahead in the count and kept you off balance. Credit to him and his preparation tonight.”
Reese Chapman smacked a leadoff homer in the bottom of the fifth, his seventh, as UT went up 4-0. That ended the night for starter Shea Sprague (3-2), who went 4.0 innings with three hits, two walks and six strikeouts.
Vance Honeycutt belted a leadoff homer in the top of the sixth, his 27th, to make it 4-1. Casey Cook and Harber followed with singles to end the night for Beam, who scattered four hits and two walks with seven strikeouts.
“I felt really good early on,” Beam said. “Cal [Stark} called a great game behind the plate. We had pretty much everything going.”
Kirby Connell took over on the mound. Donofrio hit into a fielder’s choice to erase Harber at second. Connell picked off Donofrio and struck out Gavin Gallaher to end the threat.
“I thought Drew Beam was really, really good,” UNC head coach Scott Forbes said. “We had our chance that one inning. Obviously we didn’t capitalize.”
After the Vols added a run in the bottom of the sixth, Connell kept UNC off the board in the top of the seventh.
Tears added an RBI double in the eighth that extended the lead to 6-1.
Nate Snead pitched the final two innings for UT, not allowing a hit or run to preserve the win.
“At the end of the day,” Forbes said, “I thought they got the big hit and they capitalized and we could not do that. But they got it done with runners in scoring position and we didn’t. Good thing is we lost but we ain’t done. So we’ll bounce back and we’ll be ready to roll on Tuesday.”
There were multiple outstanding defensive plays in the game. In the bottom of the first, Moore hit a ball in the hole on the left side. UNC shortstop Colby Wilkerson dove to his right and threw from his knees to nip Moore at first.
Donofrio hit a long drive to center to lead off the top of the second. Hunter Ensley ran down the ball and crashed into the wall but held onto the ball for the out.
“I was very hyped because it saved me,” Beam said, “and probably would have been a triple or inside-the-parker. He hit that wall hard. I was just making sure he was okay. But I was dumbfounded. That was a crazy catch.”
Donofrio hit a bouncer up the middle to begin the top of the ninth. Moore snared the ball and flipped it to first, where Burke stretched and picked the one-hopper for the out.
Notes
Tennessee went 2-0 in the College World Series for the first time in program history.
The Vols lead the nation and tied the program record with 57 victories, originally set in 2022.
UT leads the country with 177 home runs, of which 30 have come in the NCAA Tournament.
SEC is now 3-0 vs. ACC in 2024 CWS.