OMAHA, Nebraska — Kavares Tears and Reese Chapman homered, Drew Beam held North Carolina to one hit in five scoreless innings and Tennessee took control of its Men's College World Series bracket with a 6-1 victory on Sunday night.
The Volunteers (57-12), who are trying to become the first No. 1 national seed since 1999 to win the championship, will advance to the best-of-three finals if they can beat Florida State (48-16) or North Carolina ( 48-15) on Wednesday. Those teams will meet on Tuesday in an elimination match.
The Vols, 2-0 in an MCWS for the first time, would have to lose twice to be denied their first finals appearance, meaning the streets of downtown Omaha will be filled with orange-clad fans most of the time. in the next week. They are the sixth No. 1 national seed to start 2-0 in Omaha.
“I'm happy we put ourselves in this spot,” Beam said. “It's been amazing to see the amount of fans that have come from Knoxville, all over the country, wearing the color orange. This is a very special place for us, and so it's amazing that fans can come enjoy it and watch us play our game.”
Beam (9-2) limited North Carolina to three runners in five innings, and his team was up 4-0 when he came out in the sixth.
Tar Heels starter Shea Sprague (3-2) retired nine of the first 10 batters he faced before allowing a single and walking in the fourth. Tears then drove a fly ball off the back wall of the right field bullpen, next to the North Carolina logo, becoming the fourth Vols player with 20 home runs this season, the second team in Division I history to have done it.
Chapman, 1 for his last 15 when he came to bat, hit his seventh to start the bottom of the fifth to chase Sprague.
Vance Honeycutt broke through against Beam with his 27th home run of the season leading off the sixth, and Casey Cook and Parks Harber singled to bring in Kirby Connell.
Connell, he of the handlebar mustache, held the Tar Heels scoreless for two innings and turned things over to Nate Snead to start the eighth.
“It's lucky to win,” Vols coach Tony Vitello said, “because every team in that league [ACC] “It's good, but North Carolina has been as successful as anyone, and it's been kind of a force of nature and is still capable of being that.”
The Tar Heels have totaled just six runs in their last three games, and their lone run against Tennessee was their fewest since a 2-1 loss to South Carolina on April 9.
North Carolina coach Scott Forbes said he's not worried about being without pitchers even though his team must win three straight games in three days to reach the finals.
“We lost,” he said, “but we're not done. We'll bounce back and be ready to go on Tuesday.”
The teams' first meeting since 2019 began with each making excellent defensive plays.
Carolina shortstop Colby Wilkerson threw to first from his knees to catch Moore. Tennessee's Hunter Ensley took off at full speed and stretched out his left arm to catch Anthony Donofrio's deep fly ball to center just before crashing into the wall and leaving a black eye on the padding. Although he showed no immediate signs of injury and batted twice, he was replaced by Colby Backus in center to start the fifth. Ensley was taken out as a precaution.
“He hit the wall hard, so I wanted to make sure he was okay,” Beam said. “I was shocked. It was a crazy catch.”
Home plate umpire Kellen Levy was replaced at the fifth by Scott Cline, who had been working second base. Levy was hit in the facemask by a foul ball the previous inning and began to feel unwell. An NCAA spokesperson said Levy was being monitored for concussion symptoms. The game was delayed 16 minutes while Cline was in the referees' locker room putting on protective gear.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
