Drew Beam describes how much his role in helping Tennessee reach Omaha means to him

Tennessee right-handed pitcher Drew Beam had a fantastic freshman season in 2022. But the 2022 SEC Freshman of the Year didn’t contribute much come the postseason.

He pitched in one game during their run last season, which ended prematurely in the Super Regional round. But with the season on the line Monday in Game 3 of the Hattiesburg Super Regional versus Southern Miss, Beam was given the ball — and he shined.

Beam pitched six shutout innings, allowing only seven hits and one walk while striking out seven batters. A Zane Denton three-run homer lead the offensive charge as the Volunteers claimed a 5-0 victory and a spot in the College World Series.

“I wanted the ball in my hands but I had some struggles at the end of the last year,” Beam said after the game. “Didn’t take care of my body the way I needed to. We emphasized that this year. (Tennessee director of baseball sports performance Quentin Eberhardt) helped me out with that a lot. This year when I had the ball in my hand, had the chance to throw, I was gonna go take it as I could and gave my all.”

Beam finished the 2022 season — which he was named to the 2022 SEC All-Freshman team and was named a consensus freshman All-American — with a 2.72 ERA and 8-1 record in 16 games with 15 starts.

However, he struggled during the final month of the year. In his final four games, he didn’t pitch more than 3.1 innings in any of them. His one postseason start came against Georgia Tech in the Knoxville Regional, pitching 3.1 innings while allowing four runs, two of which were earned. He did not pitch against Notre Dame in the Super Regional.

This year has been different. Beam has pitched twice in the postseason so far and both have been excellent starts. His first pitched at the Clemson Regional against Charlotte in a win-and-advance game for Tennessee.

The right-hander went six innings, striking out 10 and allowing only two runs as the Volunteers won 9-2 to advance to the Super Regional.

Beam was just as clutch Monday to advance his team one round further again.

“I wish we could have done this in Knoxville in front of our fans. They’ve meant a lot to us. But it’s a challenge to win in the postseason,” head coach Tony Vitello said. “We had to go do it on the road. No one wants to hear it but there’s a lot of difficult circumstances that this group has overcome. And I’m proud of it.”