Volunteers Come Back To Beat Georgia Tech, Advance To Super Regionals

/in , /by

Jorel Ortega. Photo: by Andrew Ferguson/Tennessee Athletics

Tennessee baseball scored six runs in the ninth inning on Sunday night (June 5) to pull-off a 9-6 comeback win against Georgia Tech and punch their ticket to their second-straight NCAA Super Regional.

The Volunteers swept the Knoxville Regional with wins against Alabama State, Campbell and Tech.

“I think the regional was what it was supposed to be,” said Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello. “It was a bunch of teams that have really good offenses.”

For the second straight game, UT had to erase a four-run deficit after falling behind in the early going. The Yellow Jackets (36-24) struck first with a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the third inning due a two-out throwing.

Junior lefty Will Mabrey was able to keep the Vols in the game with 3.2 brilliant, shutout innings of relief, striking out five batters while scattering five hits.

Five Vols drove in runs in an eventful ninth inning as the first eight batters of the inning reached base. Jordan Beck tied the game with an RBI double before Trey Lipscomb, Christian Moore, Evan Russell and Cortland Lawson all followed with at-bats the produced runs to give the Big Orange a 9-4 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth.

Tennessee had four players make the NCAA Knoxville All-Regional Team, led by Jorel Ortega, who was also named the regional’s Most Outstanding Player after leading the team in batting average (.500) and total bases (14), while scoring four runs and totaling five RBIs. Lipscomb, Drew Gilbert, and Blade Tidwell were also named to the Knoxville All-Regional Team.

Next up, the Vols will play Notre Dame in a best of three series starting on Friday (June 10) in Knoxville. If Tennessee can win the series, they will be headed to Omaha for the College World Series.

Steven Boero
Latest posts by Steven Boero (see all)