Blake Burke destroys three-run shot in Hattiesburg Super Regional vs. Southern Miss

Tennessee slugger Blake Burke absolutely obliterated a home run on Sunday afternoon in Game 2 of the Hattiebsurg Super Regional vs. Southern Miss. The pivotal three-run shot happened in the top of the fourth inning. Burke sent the ball into the stratosphere, a 479-foot bomb that landed in the parking lot outside the stadium. The deep shot cut the Southern Miss lead to 4-3 in the top of the fourth inning.

Check it out below.

😱 479 FT 😱#RoadToOmaha x 🎥 ESPN / @Vol_Baseball pic.twitter.com/eCslZW6ctt

— NCAA Baseball (@NCAABaseball) June 11, 2023

It was the sophomore slugger’s 16th home run of the year.

Burke also doubled off the wall in center field to put two runners in scoring position in the fifth inning.

Hitting clutch home runs is nothing new for Burke. In 2022, he blasted his 14th long ball of the season during the team’s Regional matchup with Campbell, tying the Volunteers’ freshman home run record.

All of a sudden, the Tennessee Volunteers had new life on Sunday. They had the bases loaded with two outs in the top of the fourth inning. And were threatening once again. The Golden Eagles were leading 4-0 in the fourth inning, but Burke’s seemed to change the momentum of the contest and in turn, save the Vols season for one more game.

Luckily for Volunteer fans, Burke’s three-run blast proved to be the just the spark their offense needed in the most important moment of the season.

Tennessee rattled off eight consecutive runs to rally back and pull off an 8-4 victory in Sunday’s must-win version of Game 2 of the Hattiesburg Regional. The trio of Griffin Merritt, Blake Burke, and Jared Dickey were all critical in providing big hits for Tennessee.

Vols’ starting pitcher Chase Dollander also settled down after a rough third inning on Sunday. He allowed all four of his runs on four consecutive hits. After the Golden Eagles blasted a three-run homer to make the score 4-0, he started to settle in. Dollander then went on to retire 18 of the 19 next batters. He even retired 12 straight batters on Sunday.

The Volunteers lost Game 1 of the Hattiesburg Super Regional 5-3 on Saturday. Tennessee and Southern Miss will face off in a winner-take-all matchup on Monday. The winner of that one will punch their tickets to Omaha to the 2023 College World Series.

Tennessee now sits at 42-20 overall on the 2023 college baseball campaign. With the loss, the Southern Miss Golden Eagles dropped to 46-19 overall. Whoever gets to punch their ticket to Omaha will be joining an absolutely stacked field in the 2023 College World Series.