OMAHA, Neb. – After the bats led the way in Friday night’s win, it was No. 1/1 Tennessee’s pitching staff that came up big in Sunday’s 6-1 victory over No. 3/6 North Carolina at Charles Schwab Field, propelling the Volunteers to their first ever 2-0 start in the Men’s College World Series.
UT got an incredible pitching performance from junior righthander Drew Beam, who allowed just one run and four hits over five innings while striking out seven batters to earn the win. The Murfreesboro, Tennessee, native moved to 9-2 on the season and picked up his 26th career victory, moving him into third all-time in program history.
With Beam rolling on the mound, Kavares Tears carried the offense with another impressive performance at the plate.
The Lewisburg, Tennessee, native went 2-for-4 with a three-run homer and an RBI double. Tears’ four RBIs tied his career high and marked the first four-RBI outing from a UT player in the MCWS since Jeff Christensen accomplished the feat on June 12, 2001, in a 10-2 win over Southern Cal.
Tears’ four bagger opened the scoring after three scoreless innings from both teams to start the game while his RBI double capped the scoring in the eighth inning. The redshirt sophomore is now 4-of-9 with two home runs, a triple, a double and six RBIs through the Vols’ first two games in Omaha.
Reese Chapman also went deep on the night with a solo shot into the right-field bleachers to open the fifth inning. Dean Curley was the only other Vol to record an RBI, doing so with a two-out single to score Colby Backus in the sixth inning after the Tar Heels scored their lone run of the game in the top of the inning on a Vance Honeycutt solo home run.
Kirby Connell and Nate Snead were brilliant out of the bullpen in relief of Beam, each tossing two scoreless innings to lock things down.
Connell took over for Beam in the sixth inning and worked out of a jam with two runners on and no outs, getting a groundout, a pickoff and strikeout to end the UNC threat.
Snead gave up zero hits in his outing and had an effective nine-pitch eighth inning to build upon pitching staff’s momentum.
UNC starting pitcher Shea Sprague took the loss after allowing four runs on three hits across four innings.
STAT OF THE GAME: Tears’ three-run blast was his 20th of the season, making him the fourth UT player this year to reach the 20-homer mark. Tennessee is just the second team in NCAA Division I history to have four players with 20 or more home runs in the same season, joining Alabama, who did so in 1997.
UP NEXT: The Vols will have two days off before taking on the winner of Tuesday’s elimination game between UNC and Florida State.
That contest is slated for Wednesday, June 19 at 2 p.m. ET on ESPN and a win would secure UT a spot in the MCWS championship series.
