DIAMOND VOLS!
HOW TENNESSEE SEIZED NCAA BASEBALL’S ULTIMATE GEM IN THE 2024 COLLEGE WORLD SERIES &
ON THE COVER
The Tennessee Volunteers mob pitcher Aaron Combs after defeating the Texas A&M Aggies at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha on June 24, 2024.
DYLAN WIDGER / USA TODAY SPORTS
The Rock on the
CREDITS
EDITORS
Joel Christopher
Phil Kaplan Mike Wilson
PROJECT COORDINATOR
Chris Thomas
SPECIAL THANKS
Michael Anastasi
Beverly Burnett
Jennifer Dedman
Chris Fenison
Brianna Paciorka
Sarah Riley
Emily Crutcher Wilson
University of Tennessee campus is painted in honor of the Vols on June 26, 2024. CAITIE MCMEKIN / KNOX NEWS
HOW TENNESSEE
SEIZED NCAA
BASEBALL’S ULTIMATE GEM IN THE 2024 COLLEGE WORLD SERIES
THE SEASON
A game-by-game look at the epic run that took the Vols from No. 8 in preseason to the top of the SEC.
It started with a thriller against FSU and ended in jubilation against Texas A&M. How the Vols won it all in Omaha. 15 37 49 111 103 69
THE TEAM
From Christian Moore to Kirby Connell — and, of course, Tony Vitello — the key people in UT’s rise to the top.
THE SEC TOURNAMENT
UT began play in Hoover, Alabama, with a blowout loss. It didn’t lose again en route to sweeping conference titles.
THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
Lindsey Nelson Stadium was rocking as the Vols lived up to their No. 1 seed hosting a regional and super regional.
THE BEST OF THE BEST
The best pitchers and hitters in Tennessee baseball history? Mike Wilson settles the argument with his Top 5s.
THE CWS
Tony Vitello was hired as the Tennessee coach in June 2017 after successful stints as an assistant at Missouri, TCU and Arkansas. He is pictured during a March 2018 game against ETSU, one of his first with the Vols. CALVIN MATTHEIS / KNOX NEWS
A front row seat to watch UT’s success
BY CHRIS BURKE
The history of Tennessee baseball is a tricky thing to unpack.
The program has seen tremendous highs: It was the runner-up in 1951, a national semifinalist in 1995 and 2001, and a six-time College World Series team prior to the 2024 season. Tennessee has had incredible players, including Phil Garner, Condredge Holloway, Rick Honeycutt and, of course, the legendary Todd Helton.
But high-end success has been elusive in Knoxville outside of the nearly two decades under Rod Delmonico from 1990–2007. The Vols had been to one regional in program history outside of the Delmonico years and the program was limping in the powerful SEC following his departure.
With that as a backdrop, Tony Vitello entered after the 2017 Tennessee season finished in disappointing fashion. John Currie landed on one of the most accomplished recruiting coordinators and assistant coaches in the country. A risky move, for sure, but one that also had the foresight to predict that this dude knew how to get players.
The question was could he coach and develop a program? It’s a question he answered on the way to the highest of highs.
Vitello’s first season showed signs of improvement in 2018. By the end of 2019, Tony V had his boys winning 40 games and playing in a regional final. It was clear something was changing in Knoxville. The Vols got off to a fast start at 15–2 in 2020, but the pandemic shuttered that season down, and Vol fans will never know what could have been with a roster that featured multiple big leaguers headlined by All-Star Garrett Crochet.
The momentum had flipped. The Vols were on their way and starting in 2021 they would begin to establish themselves as one of the premier programs in America.
The 2021 season brought an SEC East title, 50 wins and the first CWS appearance in 16 years. The 2022 Vols were arguably the best team in SEC history to not make it to Omaha. They went 57–9 and were SEC regular-season and SEC tournament champions. It was the most talked-about team of the 21st century, but it wasn’t meant to be. At that time, most assumed it
was back to the drawing board for the Vols. They lost 10 MLB Draft picks, and faced the scrutiny of whether the brash style of the 2022 team would ever allow the program to be legitimate title contenders.
Well, if the doubters were circling, they were feasting on the start of the 2023 team. A 5–10 start to SEC play had Tennessee on the outside looking in for NCAA regional predictions. What this program was made of was officially in question. The response was swift and decisive. A three-game sweep of Vandy answered all the doubts and propelled the Vols on a season-anda-half stretch that has cemented them as a standard bearer in the sport. The 2023 team found its stride and rode the momentum to road regional and super regional victories that sent Tennessee back to Omaha for the second time in three years. The Vols went 1–2 at the CWS, but the group of returning players were clearly set up to hunt for everything in 2024.
What Tennessee did in 2024 is unprecedented in SEC history. It won the regular-season title and the SEC Tournament championship — then became the first SEC team to win 60 games and a national title.
If there were debates about the depth of this program and the staying power of a hotshot young coach, all were put to rest. The Tennessee brand is stronger than ever, Vitello’s place at the top of the game is unquestioned, and his success marks the past seven years as one of the great turnarounds in college baseball history.
Remember, Tennessee had only been to three SEC Tournaments from 2005–17 when Vitello got the job. They have now been to three College World Series in the past four years and the one team that didn’t make it during that run is arguably the most talented team in college baseball history. The success of the current version of the program has people wondering what’s next? I hope this book allows people to truly appreciate the run that has gone on over the past five years and not miss the incredible job this coaching staff has done to give the Volunteer nation such a great ride.
The story of the 2024 team was authored by Tony V, Christian Moore, Blake Burke, Drew Beam and many more. However, equally intertwined in the story is the love affair that has taken place between the fan base and this program. As we look back and celebrate the incredible on-field accomplishments of this group, don’t lose sight of your place in this story. This national championship was won by the baseball program but it was celebrated by Vols fans everywhere, and I, for one, feel very blessed to have had a front row seat.
TENNESSEE BASEBALL
YEAR-BY-YEAR
CHRIS BURKE is one of the best players in Tennessee history and a widely respected voice in college baseball. He has served as an ESPN college baseball analyst for more than a decade since his MLB career concluded. The Louisville, Kentucky, native wrote his name throughout the UT record book during his career from 1999–2001. He hit .404, one of the best career batting averages in SEC history. He remains the Tennessee program record holder for runs, hits, doubles and triples.
SEC Champions/ Made Mideast regional
SEC Champions/ Made Knoxville Super Regional
T-4th SEC East/ Placed fifth in CWS
SEC Champions/ CWS Champions
Tennessee coach Tony Vitello helped lead the Vols to the program’s first national title in 2024. The Vols hoisted the College World Series trophy after beating Texas A&M 6–5 at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska, on June 24, 2024.
BRIANNA PACIORKA / KNOX NEWS
From dirt to tears
UT’s first national championship in baseball was ‘a beautiful day’
BY MIKE WILSON
OMAHA, Neb. — Tony Vitello emptied his hand.
The Tennessee coach chucked a handful of dirt into the third-base dugout at Charles Schwab Field. His father, Greg, walked up the steps through the discarded dirt and filled his waiting arms.
Vitello held tightly, cradling him in the most precious seconds of his finest night in the profession he learned from watching his dad.
On a steamy summer night, the Vols perched on a pinnacle that seemed unattainable seven years ago, unavoidable two years ago, and utterly unmatched on this championship Monday. They are the national champions, the final team standing in the College World Series for the first time in program history and the culmination of a rapid restoration under Tony Vitello’s tutelage.
“It is a beautiful day to be here,” said Vols superstar Christian Moore, who had long lost track of the number of times he started crying.
Tennessee beat Texas A&M 6–5 in a thrilling Game 3 of the College World Series finals that appeared secure after a middle-inning thump from the Vols, but wasn’t settled until an Aaron Combs breaking ball eluded the bat of Texas A&M’s Ted Burton and found the glove of catcher Cal Stark.
The Vols flooded the field, rolling into the outfield and spurning the signature dogpile of national champions. Why do what everyone else does? The Vitello-led Vols built it their own way and they celebrated it their own way.
Blake Burke picked up Vitello by third base. Moore joined in and the trio hopped around together, two of the staples of Tennessee’s unparalleled three-year run reveling with their unrelenting leader.
“He has so much passion for us that it makes us want to play hard,” said pitcher Drew Beam, another threeyear staple of the Vols. “Other teams and other fans can say what they want but when a coach is willing to fight a war for you, it makes you play that much harder and want it that much more.”
me to not come out here and play these last three games,” Ensley said. That slide capped the seventh-inning stretch that most encapsulated the title-clinching win. It began when a grounder bounded over Burke and was destined for right field. But Burke didn’t hear cheers suggesting it got to the outfield. Moore saved the day, dashing behind Burke and lifting the Vols with an imperative 4–3 putout.
Dylan Dreiling, as he did all College World Series, let his bat do the talking. He whacked a two-run homer in the seventh for the third time in the finals.
Ensley slid into Vols history two batters later, launching his helmet in delight, and Peyton Manning got tears in his eyes that lingered hours later on the field. He was among the Tennessee royalty on hand, along with Rick Barnes and Josh Heupel. Moore darted through the crowds hollering, “Where’s Morgan Wallen at?”
Moore had another question. How many days ago did he yell into the Tennessee dugout to inspire a ninth-inning rally against Florida State in the CWS opener? It was 10 days prior when he hollered, “Let’s fight!”
Take the seminal moment as the definitive example. Hobbled outfielder Hunter Ensley pushed his ailing hamstring to its maximum power, bearing down on third base without any thought of slowing. He eyed shortstop Dean Curley signaling where to slide and
reacted, contorting his body around the tag and to the plate for the eventual winning run.
Moore labeled it a football play on a baseball diamond. Ensley labeled it necessary.
“You would almost have to chop my damn leg off for
It was two days prior that Beam stepped into his leadership role again. He penned a four-word message to his teammates in a GroupMe named “Do It Loose” after the Vols lost Game 1 in the CWS finals.
“Just one more day,” Beam wrote before everyone went to sleep.
Vols pitcher Aaron Combs (right) got the final three outs to secure Tennessee’s national title, setting off the on-field celebration at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska, on June 24, 2024. BRIANNA PACIORKA / KNOX NEWS
Tennessee players celebrate with their trophy after Game 3 of the College World Series finals between Tennessee and Texas A&M at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska, on June 24, 2024.
BRIANNA PACIORKA / KNOX NEWS
A couple of teammates playfully told him to shut up. But no one questioned the meaning. The Vols didn’t lose again, playing one more day, then one more day again as pitcher Zander Sechrist cemented his legacy in what he labeled the biggest game in Tennessee history.
Sechrist and Kirby Connell — the darling duo of the team — doused Vitello with a Gatorade bath. Curley put his arm around his mom on the edge of the infield and stared at the scoreboard.
Meghan Anderson, a support staffer with the baseball program, stood on the infield grass amid it all. She is an Omaha native, and her late mother, Marcia, sent Vitello a wooden baseball placard with the number of miles between Knoxville and Omaha painted on it. It still stands in Vitello’s office.
It likely will be joined soon by another keepsake from Omaha.
Vitello walked to the dirt behind home plate, bent over and scooped up another handful from among the confetti. He lost track of the grass he kept from a high school state championship.
He wasn’t letting the dirt go.
Dylan Dreiling (center) hit .542 with three homers and 11 RBIs to earn the College World Series Most Outstanding Player award. He homered in all three games against Texas A&M in the CWS finals.
BRIANNA PACIORKA / KNOX NEWS
TENNESSEE 2024 SCHEDULE
AND RESULTS
✦ FEB 16: Tennessee 6, Texas Tech 2
✦ FEB 17: Oklahoma 5, Tennessee 1
✦ FEB 18: Tennessee 11, Baylor 5
✦ FEB 20: Tennessee 3, UNC Asheville 2
✦ FEB 21: Tennessee 16, ETSU 0
✦ FEB 23: Tennessee 8, UAlbany 5
✦ FEB 24: Tennessee 21, UAlbany 6
✦ FEB 25: Tennessee 12, UAlbany 0
✦ FEB 27: Tennessee 7, High Point 4
✦ MARCH 1: Tennessee 11, Bowling Green 1
✦ MARCH 2: Tennessee 12, Bowling Green 1
✦ MARCH 3: Tennessee 16, Bowling Green 6
✦ MARCH 5: Tennessee 15, Kansas State 5
✦ MARCH 6: Tennessee 2, Southern Indiana 1
✦ MARCH 8: Tennessee 6, Illinois 3
✦ MARCH 9: Tennessee 24, Illinois 1
✦ MARCH 10: Tennessee 8, Illinois 3
✦ MARCH 12: Tennessee 17, Eastern Kentucky 2
✦ MARCH 15: Tennessee 11, Alabama 3
✦ MARCH 16: Alabama 6, Tennessee 3
✦ MARCH 17: Alabama 7, Tennessee 6
✦ MARCH 19: Tennessee 10, Xavier 2
✦ MARCH 22: Tennessee 15, Ole Miss 3
✦ MARCH 23: Ole Miss 8, Tennessee 5
✦ MARCH 24: Tennessee 15, Ole Miss 4
✦ MARCH 26: Tennessee 11, Tennessee Tech 1
✦ MARCH 29: Georgia 16, Tennessee 2
✦ MARCH 30: Tennessee 16, Georgia 11
✦ MARCH 31: Tennessee 7, Georgia 0
✦ APRIL 5: Auburn 9, Tennessee 5
✦ APRIL 6: Tennessee 12, Auburn 2
✦ APRIL 7: Tennessee 19, Auburn 5
✦ APRIL 9: Tennessee 20, Alabama A&M 2
✦ APRIL 12: Tennessee 6, LSU 3
✦ APRIL 13: Tennessee 3, LSU 1
✦ APRIL 14: Tennessee 8, LSU 4
✦ APRIL 16: Tennessee 20, Bellarmine 5
✦ APRIL 19: Kentucky 5, Tennessee 3
✦ APRIL 20: Tennessee 9, Kentucky 4
✦ APRIL 21: Tennessee 13, Kentucky 11
✦ APRIL 23: Tennessee 12, Western Carolina 4
✦ APRIL 25: Tennessee 10, Missouri 1
✦ APRIL 26: Tennessee 3, Missouri 2
✦ APRIL 27: Tennessee 3, Missouri 2
✦ APRIL 30: Lipscomb 9, Tennessee 6
✦ MAY 3: Tennessee 6, Florida 2
✦ MAY 3: Florida 4, Tennessee 3
✦ MAY 4: Tennessee 16, Florida 3
✦ MAY 7: Tennessee 6, Queens 3
✦ MAY 10: Tennessee 8, Vanderbilt 4
✦ MAY 11: Tennessee 7, Vanderbilt 6
✦ MAY 12: Vanderbilt 3, Tennessee 0
✦ MAY 14: Tennessee 10, Belmont 0
✦ MAY 16: Tennessee 9, South Carolina 3
✦ MAY 17: Tennessee 8, South Carolina 3
✦ MAY 18: Tennessee 4, South Carolina 1
✦ MAY 22: Vanderbilt 13, Tennessee 4 (SEC Tournament)
✦ MAY 23: Tennessee 7, Texas A&M 4 (SEC Tournament)
✦ MAY 24: Tennessee 6, Mississippi State 5 (SEC Tournament)
✦ MAY 25: Tennessee 6, Vanderbilt 4 (SEC Tournament)
✦ MAY 26: Tennessee 4, LSU 3 (SEC Tournament)
✦ MAY 31: Tennessee 9, Northern Kentucky 3 (NCAA regional)
✦ JUNE 1: Tennessee 12, Indiana 6 (NCAA regional)
✦ JUNE 2: Tennessee 12, Southern Miss 3 (NCAA regional)
✦ JUNE 7: Tennessee 11, Evansville 6 (NCAA super regional)
✦ JUNE 8: Evansville 10, Tennessee 8 (NCAA super regional)
✦ JUNE 9: Tennessee 12, Evansville 1 (NCAA super regional)
✦ JUNE 14: Tennessee 12, Florida State 11 (College World Series)
✦ JUNE 16: Tennessee 6, North Carolina 1 (College World Series)
✦ JUNE 19: Tennessee 7, Florida State 2 (College World Series)
✦ JUNE 22: Texas A&M 9, Tennessee 5 (College World Series)
✦ JUNE 23: Tennessee 4, Texas A&M 1 (College World Series)
✦ JUNE 24: Tennessee 6, Texas A&M 5 (College World Series)
Tennessee players and coaches celebrate with their trophy after Game 3 of the College World Series finals between Tennessee and Texas A&M at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska, on June 24, 2024. BRIANNA PACIORKA / KNOX NEWS
RANDY SARTIN / SPECIAL TO THE NEWS SENTINEL
Swinging for history
Inside Burke and Moore’s homer-bashing, record-trading chase
BY MIKE WILSON • APRIL 25, 2024
The sound splintered Christian Moore’s post-homer revelry.
The Tennessee junior has heard Blake Burke hit enough balls to know the sound of a Burke home run when he hears it. Moore’s eyes tracked the ball soaring toward right field at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. It smacked the wall, feet shy of the homer Moore was certain he’d see. Moore and Burke were tied: The two Vols sluggers had 42 career homers each, deadlocked atop the record book in Tennessee history. The tie lasted two days. It was tied and untied within two pitches four days later. It flipped again another day later. That’s the chase Burke and Moore locked in early in the season amid a historic home run season for the Vols.
“Who wouldn’t want to be the home run king?” Moore said. “You work so hard to get yourself in a situation to be a great player but you don’t really think about that. I never thought I could be the home run king at Tennessee.”
One of them will be. Possibly both. Burke and Moore are swinging in uncharted territory: They are
record-breakers looking to be record-setters. They are competing together and against each other with the chance of leaving Tennessee with an unbreakable home run record.
The path to Tennessee home run record started in 2022
Moore smiled and said he was scared.
Burke broke the program record when he hit his 41st homer at Auburn on April 6. He hit No. 42 on April 14 against LSU. Then Moore hit two homers against the Tigers to equal Burke. Moore figured Burke would pull ahead two days later against Bellarmine. He did with a grand slam.
“How crazy that all of the years of Tennessee baseball that these two are here at the exact same time?” Vols hitting coach Josh Elander said.
Call it a sprinkle of luck and a surplus of good, hard recruiting.
Moore earned his reputation throwing 90 mph as a
Tennessee hit a program-record 184 homers in 2024, the second-most in a season in NCAA history. Cal Stark (10), Cannon Peebles (5) and Christian Moore (1) scored on a Blake Burke grand slam against South Carolina on May 17, 2024.
RANDY SARTIN / SPECIAL TO THE NEWS SENTINEL
2024 TENNESSEE INDIVIDUAL HOME RUNS
freshman in high school. The Brooklyn native was a five-star athlete with what the Vols call “crazy pop” in his swing. Burke caught Elander’s eye with a lovely lefty swing. The Bay Area basher turned around a 92 mph fastball and sent a laser down the left-field line as a freshman with Elander in attendance.
“It is such a beautiful swing that if my wife went recruiting, she would be like, ‘Oh that guy should play for Tennessee, right?’ She has seen a lot of baseball, too,” Elander said.
The Vols got both to campus despite legitimate pro possibilities for the pair in the 2021 MLB Draft. They each hit double-digit homers as part-time starters on Tennessee’s legendary 2022 team. Burke tied the UT freshman record with 14. Moore hit 10.
More of Moore
What we learned about UT star second baseman before CWS
BY MIKE WILSON • JUNE 21, 2024
OMAHA, Neb. — Christian Moore might be crazy.
The Tennessee second baseman has pondered the possibility before. He leans forward in a tall green leather chair on the second floor of the Omaha Marriott Downtown and puts his forearms on the table. He is pondering it again.
“I don’t know if it’s because I play for Tony Vitello and he’s embedded that in my head or if it’s God’s gift or I’m just that competitive and I’m a lunatic,” Moore said. “But I just hate being mediocre.”
Crazy or not, everything Moore is has brought him to this stage in the College World Series. His unstoppable quest for greatness — and to be the greatest — has culminated with the best offensive single-season in Tennessee history and the cusp of the program’s first national championship.
In the span of a 20-minute conversation with Knox News, Moore’s craziness is clear. But it’s not insanity. It’s exceptionality.
How Christian Moore has fostered a desire for greatness
Moore’s mind is a bustling factory of plans to be great. He is shut off to the idea of being anything less than the best.
“In this sport, I don’t ever want to be average,” Moore said. “I want to be the best there ever was at all points.
I have been that way since I was a kid. I just hate being mediocre.”
Moore has long possessed a craving to be great. He learned a distaste for losing by competing against his brother, C.J., who is seven years his elder. He learned to rein in his intensity as a freshman at Tennessee under the watchful tutelage of Trey Lipscomb, whose internal pace is markedly slower but his performance in 2022 might have been the best offensive season at Tennessee prior to Moore’s.
Moore unlocked new levels to his play by listening and adjusting to ensure his strengths are strengths and do not work against him. He analyzes situations in a manner that teammates likened to Andre Lipcius, Vitello’s first superstar who utilized his engineering mind to mentally outmaneuver opponents. He funneled his natural tenacity into positive channels.
He allowed it to shape him into less of an athlete and more of a warrior spearheading Tennessee’s powerful lineup.
“It turned me into a person that I didn’t think I could become,” Moore said. “Now, I am. And I love it.”
Moore’s success this season is generational. He has smashed a program-record 33 homers, giving him a program-best 60 in his career. He is the third player in SEC history to win the SEC triple crown, powering Tennessee to the second-most homers in NCAA history. He has performed best when it counts and relishes
what that has meant to the Vols this season.
Moore wants to feel the crowd against him and the opponent wishing he’d botch a moment. The second a dugout chirps at him or a pitcher looks him in the eyes, he morphs into a different force.
“The minute you start talking to me is when I get locked in and the dog just goes,” Moore said. “You really want to see me fail. All right, I’m not.”
Moore cannot imagine failing in those moments. He can’t explain what happened when he hit for the cycle against Florida State in the College World Series opener. He felt his body take over like it did when he had a three-homer game against Kentucky in early May.
Tennessee loses those games if not for Moore’s brilliance. It won because of the internal burning in his heart to be great.
“The drive of being great just turned me into someone,” Moore said.
What Christian Moore wants his Tennessee legacy to be
Moore brooded on Tennessee’s flight from Omaha to Knoxville in June 2023. He wracked his brain thinking about how the past two seasons ended.
The 2022 season halted with the pain of not advancing to the College World Series. The 2023 campaign ended abruptly after three games in Omaha. He had one more year to feel something different.
Christian Moore became the highest-drafted player in the Tony Vitello era when he was picked No. 8 overall by the Los Angeles Angels in the 2024 MLB Draft. The Vols have had five first-round draft picks under Vitello.
BRIANNA PACIORKA / KNOX NEWS
Billy Amick hit 23 homers in his only season with Tennessee before he was drafted No. 60 overall by the Minnesota Twins in the 2024 MLB Draft. Amick anchored the lineup in the three-hole, including against Florida State in the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, on June 19, 2024.
BRIANNA PACIORKA / KNOX NEWS
Stroke of genius
How Amick chose a 1981 hit as his walk-up
song
and why it caught on
BY MIKE WILSON • JUNE 7, 2024
Billy Amick could picture the scene at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
The Tennessee third baseman and outfielder Robin Villeneuve talked about it in January when Amick selected his walk-up song.
“How cool it would be if the whole stands were clapping to it?” they said.
Amick got the response he dreamed of with the 1981 hit “The Stroke” by Billy Squier as his walk-up song. Vols fans have taken to clapping their hands over their heads to the booming beat every time Amick walks to the plate, a trend that has only grown throughout the season.
“I love it,” Amick said. “Every time I look up and see them clapping, it is awesome. The atmosphere at Lindsey Nelson in general has been awesome and I have enjoyed every minute of it.”
How the Savannah Bananas played into Billy Amick’s walk-up song
Amick is not taking any credit for starting the clapping routine that accompanies his walk-up song. He had heard it at ballparks before and seen it across
college baseball previously, including a video at Georgia earlier this season.
The most notable place he saw it was through the Savannah Bananas, the exhibition team that blends entertainment with baseball. Bananas catcher Bill LeRoy used “The Stroke” as his walk-up song and clapped his hands over his head as he walked from the batter’s box to the plate.
It brought the crowd into the game and Amick envisioned a similar setting.
“I really just did it more for the crowd,” Amick said. “It is not really anything for me. … I just wanted to have a song the crowd could get into. That is really all there is to it.”
Vols coach Tony Vitello enjoys the scene when Amick goes to the plate. It also reminds him of the scene in the comedy “Blades of Glory” when Will Ferrell’s character skates onto the ice doing the same overhead clapping routine to the Squier song. Both get the people going.
“That scene might be just as good as a Billy at-bat,” Vitello said.
Why Billy Amick chose ‘The Stroke’ as his walk-up song
Amick isn’t sure exactly how the clapping started at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. Maybe it was the dugout because typically half of the bench seems to get into the routine.
It grew to be a stadium-wide trend before Amick’s at-bats as soon as Squier belts “now everybody” at the start of the song. Amick’s intuition it could work at Lindsey Nelson Stadium was accurate.
“I am glad it has caught on the way it has,” said Amick, who transferred from Clemson before this season. Amick, who is hitting .310 with 21 homers and 60 RBIs, said he kind of notices the clapping and the response when he walks to the plate. He’s more aware of what is going on during the game than the stadium responding but it’s hard to ignore.
He didn’t know if it would work out like it has, but he’s glad it did.
“I think it is awesome the fans get into it and they enjoy it,” Amick said. “That is enjoyable to see not just for me but our whole team for the fans to be so engaged with us.”
Drew Beam struck out seven in five innings of one-run baseball to pitch Tennessee to a 6–1 win against North Carolina at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska, on June 16, 2024.
STEVEN BRANSCOMBE / USA TODAY SPORTS
Tennessee
6, North Carolina 1
Powerful performance
North Carolina is no match for ‘vintage’ Beam as Vols move step closer to CWS finals
BY MIKE WILSON
OMAHA, Neb. — Hunter Ensley turned to Blake Burke in their hotel room at the Omaha Marriott Downtown.
The Tennessee center fielder hadn’t seen Drew Beam throw a pitch yet. But he could sense what was coming.
“We’ve got a big day coming out of Beam,” Ensley prophetically said to Burke.
Ensley admired Beam from center field at Charles Schwab Field as his words came to be against North Carolina.
Beam supplied exactly the type of start the Vols have long expected from him. The reliable junior pounded through the powerful Tar Heels lineup to pitch Tennessee to a 6–1 win and within a game of the College World Series finals.
“That was vintage Drew Beam,” catcher Cal Stark said.
How Drew Beam dominated North Carolina in College World Series
Beam shook off Stark on the second pitch of the
game. He pumped a 95 mph fastball past UNC star Vance Honeycutt, then did it again with a 96 mph fastball to strike out the leadoff hitter.
“He dotted three fastballs on him,” Stark said. “Pretty much right then I was like, ‘OK, he is going to be on today.’”
Beam was unrelenting. He had seven strikeouts in five-plus innings, allowing one run on four hits with two walks.
“I really had a feel for everything from the get-go,” Beam said.
Beam threw 25 of his first 27 pitches for strikes. He set down the first 11 Tar Heels in order with a helping hand from Ensley hurtling full speed into the centerfield wall to catch an Anthony Donofrio fly ball leading off the second.
Stark believed Beam had all of his pitches working, but everyone agreed that success started with his fastball location. He was placing it directly into Stark’s glove at will. He built off the fastball and sprinkled in curveballs and cutters to the dismay of the Tar Heels.
“I think there was a real simple approach,” coach Tony Vitello said. “I’ve got good stuff. I’m a good athlete. I’m a good leader, I’m going to go do it. There didn’t seem to be any extra thoughts or trying to accomplish any bonus extra things.”
Drew Beam on Sundays? That has always been a good recipe
Ensley’s confidence in Beam was rooted in the fact Tennessee’s trusted starter had not been in vintage form yet in the postseason.
“A guy like that, if you have one bad outing, the odds are in his favor to have a good one in his next outing,” Ensley said. “That is a vet pitcher. We were behind him tonight and, man, did he show up on a big-time stage.”
Beam has often been that way. He delivered three tremendous postseason starts in 2023, including in the Omaha-clinching win in the Hattiesburg Super Regional and in the CWS against LSU.
He hadn’t been quite the same in his first two postseason starts this year. He was everything he has shown he can be in the massive win.
Tennessee 7, Florida State
2
Two plays
In a flash, Tennessee secured its spot to play for College World Series title
BY MIKE WILSON
OMAHA, Neb. — Zander Sechrist suddenly had a problem.
Florida State crushed back-to-back pitches, putting two runners in scoring position. The Tennessee pitcher stared down the best two hitters in the Seminoles lineup with no outs in the third inning. It was over two plays and six pitches later with Tennessee’s 4–0 lead intact.
“I don’t know if I have ever seen a series of plays like that,” Vols pitcher Drew Beam said.
In a flash, Tennessee showed what coach Tony Vitello has raved about for months. The Vols were at their most mature at an inflection point in the College World Series, proving they are who Vitello has said they are in a 7–2 win against Florida State at Charles Schwab Field. It’s why Tennessee will play for a national championship against Texas A&M — and it started and ended with a freshman shortstop.
How Dean Curley made a veteran play for Tennessee vs FSU
Sechrist jumped as high as he could to no avail. FSU star Cam Smith hit a chopper that cleared the
mound and bounded toward the middle of the infield. Shortstop Dean Curley charged with a decision to play. Option A was to throw home and try to throw out Jaxson West while Option B was take the out at first base.
“You always think Option A is protecting home plate,” Vitello said.
Curley glanced toward third, where he saw West hesitate while waiting to see if the ball would get over Sechrist. West bolted for home when it did. Curley judged he had plenty of time to make the play he wanted. He chose to throw home.
He gathered his body, squared his momentum to the plate and rifled the ball to catcher Cal Stark. West was out by 20 feet.
“That was an unreal play by Dean to even have the awareness to look home,” Burke said.
Vitello declared postgame he wasn’t even sure what happened on Curley’s play, but it was “such a good play.”
He likes to think that Curley is more of a sophomore than a freshman after 64 games. There’s still a few things that he’d classify in the freshman category with Curley, but they pale compared to a peculiar mental
maturity.
“It is tough to be out there as a freshman in Omaha with a lot of stuff going on,” star Vols infielder Christian Moore said.
It didn’t look tough for Curley when he threw home or on the following play.
The smarts of Blake Burke showed up for the Vols in the CWS
Blake Burke hopped off first base as Sechrist pitched to FSU outfielder James Tibbs III.
Tibbs smashed a chopper that took one hop straight to Burke, who sprung into action. He hopped back to first base with the ball in his glove for an out.
Burke was keenly aware FSU’s Max Williams was headed for home from third and the race was on to complete a double play before Williams touched home. He looked at Curley standing on second and had a clear throwing lane.
“Normally, when you are making that play, you have to touch a base and make a lane,” Burke said. “He was kind of out of my throwing lane so I had a throwing lane right when I touched the bag.”
Such plays have gone haywire on Burke this season. He has hit runners with such a throw to second by not clearing a lane. Smith ran toward right field enough that Burke didn’t have to step into the infield to make the throw.
Curley crouched to catch Burke’s throw and didn’t wait for Smith to arrive. He burst toward Smith to tag him out before Williams crossed home plate with a
split-second decision that prevented a Seminoles run.
“It was really cool to see just how guys got on and had some pressure and we stayed really composed and calm in the situation,” Beam said.
Burke turned toward the dugout the moment Curley caught his throw. He knew Tennessee had pulled off an impressive escape from a tenuous situation. Sechrist did, too, celebrating freely by the first-base line with
Tennessee powering into the CWS finals.
“It was almost a turning point in that game,” Beam said. “They almost had the meter turning back to them momentum-wise. That stalled them out and got it back going in our direction.”
It wasn’t such a problem after all.