Tennessee baseball is sitting in the driver’s seat of the Knoxville Regional after its 12-6 win over Indiana. The win set up the Vols to be one win away from earning a spot in the Super Regionals. Tennessee would host the winner out of the Greenville bracket for a spot in Omaha. 

The Hoosiers struggled to slow down the Vols at the plate. They didn’t sit the Vols down 1-2-3 until the seventh inning. Tennessee’s bats totaled 12 runs on 13 hits, with five home runs throughout the game. 

Drew Beam and the pitching staff struggled to keep Indiana at bay for moments throughout the game. A Devin Taylor three-run home run in the third inning gave the Hoosiers some life, followed by a run scored off a base hit in the fourth inning and two runs scored in the eighth. 

Andrew Behnke took over for Beam in the fourth and carried the Vols throughout the heart of the game, getting the Vols to the eighth inning with an eight-run lead. The bullpen struggled to finish off Indiana in the game’s final two innings. 

In the eighth inning, Marcus Phillips came in relief but didn’t last long. Dylan Loy became the second Tennessee pitcher to take the mound in the eighth inning after Phillips gave up an earned run and only recorded one out. 

Loy couldn’t slow down the Hoosiers either, giving up another run on nine pitches without recording an out before being pulled. The third pitcher of the eighth inning was Tennessee’s leverage pitcher, Aaron Combs, who came into the eighth with one out and runners on first and second base. 

Combs wasted no time retiring the next two Indiana batters, getting the Vols out of the jam, and putting them three outs away from advancing through the winner’s bracket. Combs remained in the game for the ninth inning but faced trouble shutting down the fighting Hoosiers. 

He ultimately got the job done after allowing two hits, saving another arm for the Vols ahead of Championship Sunday and sending the Vols to the final round of regionals. Tennessee’s pitching staff totaled ten strikeouts while allowing six runs on 11 hits throughout the night. 

After a stressful final two innings, the Combs and the Vols shut the door on Indiana. The offense carried the Vols to the win, posting double-digit runs and 21 total runs over the first two games of the NCAA Tournament. 

With Indiana’s loss, they will face Southern Miss on Sunday at 12:00 PM ET. The winner of that game will face Tennessee in a win-or-go-home game at 6:00 PM ET. Tennessee will have some wiggle room on Sunday and would need to lose twice to be eliminated, with the second game taking place on Monday if necessary.

Despite leading by six runs with one-out in the eighth inning, Tennessee inserted star reliever Aaron Combs to record the final five outs of the Vols’ 12-6 victory over Indiana in the pivotal fourth game of the Knoxville Regional.

Indiana was threatening with two on and had already scored two runs in the inning. After a dominant relief outing from Andrew Behnke, both Marcus Phillips and Dylan Loy combined for just the one out while allowing three hits and a walk. That’s when Vitello made the move to Combs instead of having him go into Sunday’s Knoxville Regional completely fresh.

But according to the Vols’ seventh-year head coach, Tennessee always planned on using Combs at some point.

“There’s nothing to save and today was a big day for anyone that was in the winner’s bracket because you want to get into a position where you can watch the game tomorrow,” Vitello said. “He was down there in the fourth inning, so it was a matter of kind of measuring it the way we wanted to and Behnke kind of flipped the script on us.”

Behnke entered with two outs in the fourth inning after a short Drew Beam outing. But he pitched a career-high 3.1 innings which pushed back Tennessee’s timeline on when it would use Combs.

More From RTI: Everything Tony Vitello Said After Tennessee Defeated Indiana In Knoxville Regional

“Aaron (Combs) always wants the ball,” Vitello said. “The fact he was out there to close it, I think made it a cleaner ending than it could have been and I think he’ll still be available for, again, whatever lies ahead.”

Combs did what he’s done the last two months, shutting down Indiana to end the game. He threw 28 pitches in the final two innings. Its unclear whether Combs could throw tomorrow but if the regional extends to Monday than the right-handed pitcher could eat more innings.

What does Tennessee’s pitching staff have left entering the regional final against either Indiana or Southern Miss?

Zander Sechrist will almost certainly start and is coming off back-to-back appearances where he’s combined to allow two runs in 12 innings pitched. Star reliever Nate Snead hasn’t thrown yet this weekend and has thrown up to 75 pitches in a number of outings in the last month.

Kirby Connell (34 pitches) and Chris Stamos (16 pitches) will both be available after pitching in Tennessee’s Friday night win over Northern Kentucky. Vitello also said that both Phillips and Loy will be available again on Sunday night.

First pitch for the Vols’ matchup against either Indiana or Southern Miss is at 6 p.m. ET at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

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The University of Tennessee is adding another international freestyle specialist next season in 18-year-old Australian Koby Bujak-Upton.

Bujak-Upton is coming off a successful Australian Age Championships in April that saw him set lifetime bests in the 50 free (23.20), 100 free (50.26), 200 free (1:49.65), and 400 free (3:56.50). He placed 2nd in the 100 free behind Flynn Southam and 3rd in the 200 free behind Anders McAlpine and Southam, both of whom medaled in the event at last year’s World Junior Championships.

The Knox Pymble Swim Club standout announced his verbal commitment to the Volunteers last month.

“I am excited and proud to announce my verbal commitment to the University of Tennesse (sic),” Bujak-Upton wrote on Instagram. “I am looking forward to pursuing and excelling in my academic and athletic endeavours. I am very grateful for everything my coaches, family, and teammates have done to help me through my career so far. GO VOLS🍊🍊”

Best LCM Times (Converted from SCY)

• 50 free – 23.20 (20.18)
• 100 free – 50.26 (43.83)
• 200 free – 1:49.65 (1:35.90)
• 400 free – 3:56.50 (4:24.98)

Bujak-Upton’s best converted times wouldn’t score at the SEC Championships quite yet, but he’s just half a second shy of C-final range in the 200 free. At last season’s SEC Championships, Cayman Islands star Jordan Crooks placed 3rd in the 200 free, Trinidad and Tobago freshman Nikoli Blackman made the B-final, and Peruvian junior Joaquin Vargas made the C-final. Tennessee’s freestyle group also includes Brazilian sprinter Gui Caribe.

The Volunteer men placed 5th at the SEC Championships in February before finishing 6th at the NCAA Championships in March. Head coach Matt Kredich has been at the helm of the program since 2005. The SEC should get even more competitive next season with Texas joining the conference from the Big 12 this summer.

One interesting wrinkle is that Bujak-Upton is signed to an Australian modeling agency. He could risk losing his F-1 student visa if he does name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals on U.S. soil, but a loophole exists that allows international college athletes to profit off their publicity rights outside the country.

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