For the second time in three years, the Tennessee Volunteers are Omaha bound.
The Big Orange punched their ticket to the 2023 Men’s College World Series with a 5-0 victory over Southern Miss in the winner-take-all game three of the NCAA Hattiesburg Super Regional late on Monday night at Pete Taylor Park.
Outstanding pitching performances from sophomores Drew Beam and Chase Burns led the way for the Vols as they posted their ninth shutout of the season, holding the Golden Eagles to seven hits, all of which were singles.
Beam got the start and was able to keep USM’s hitters off balance all night long by utilizing all of his pitches, tossing six scoreless innings with seven strikeouts. Beam ran into trouble in the seventh after allowing back-to-back seeing-eye singles to put runners on the corners with no outs before making way for the bullpen.
The trio of Griffin Merritt, Zane Denton, and Maui Ahuna provided the offense for Tennessee, combining for three hits, three runs, and five RBIs.
With the victory, Tennessee won its fourth super regional in program history, including its third on the road.
The Vols (43-20) travel to Omaha for their sixth appearance in the Men’s College World Series, where they will open up with a marquee SEC matchup against No. 5 national seed LSU on Saturday night at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.
