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WATCH: Evan Russell breaks career home run record, Tennessee extends lead in fifth inning

Barkley-Truaxby:Barkley Truax•06/11/22•

BarkleyTruax

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Bob Levey via Getty Images.

Have an inning, Tennessee. With their season on the line against Notre Dame in game two of the Knoxville Super Regional, three different Volunteer superstars went yard in the fifth inning, scoring eight runs to add to their lead.

The biggest headline from the fifth inning isn’t that Tennessee padded their lead more than comfortably, but instead, Evan Russell’s home run was good for the 39th of his career – breaking the school record for home runs in a career.

Russell’s moonshot was the second for the team that inning. The first came by Luc Lipcius, which doubled the lead and kept the Vols ahead by a respectable two runs.

Before the inning was over, Lipcius was already back to the plate and miraculously hit another home run – this time a three-run shot.

But why stop there? Jordan Beck hit a three-run homer of his own as well – a no-doubt shot that cleared the trees of Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

When Tennessee hits at least three home runs in a single game, they’re 25-1 on the season, and they’re poised to not only keep that streak alive, but their season as well.

If head coach Tony Vitello’s Volunteers can keep the Irish at bay, they’ll force a winner-take-all game three Sunday with the winner advancing to the College World Series next week to face the winner of the Texas-East Carolina series.

You can see the remainder of Tennessee’s matchup against Notre Dame live on ESPN.

Tony Vitello addresses pressure of being one seed amid recent trend of no. 1 seed upsets

When your team wins 50 games before the NCAA Tournament and are considered the best team in college baseball – there’s a massive target on your back. Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello says his team is aware of the immense expectations on his team’s back, but they’ve been taking well to the pressure that comes with being under a national microscope. 

That national spotlight has seemed too bright for other nationally ranked seeds, though. Miami (6), Oklahoma State (7), Florida (13), Maryland (15) and Georgia Southern (16) were all upset in their respective regional tournaments by unseeded opponents. 

“They haven’t given me much to worry about [in terms of outside expectations] this year,” Vitello said about his team handling pressure. “I mean, maybe a couple different things that we’ve talked about as a team and they’re probably in the intangible category, but as far as focusing on outside noise, or extra pressure or anything like that, I think they’ve had the season that they’ve had at this point because … I haven’t seen them get too high or too low.”

Still, that doesn’t mean the Vols are immune to defeat. Tennessee dropped game one of their Super Regional series against Notre Dame 8-6 and marking only the eighth time this season Vitello’s squad has lost a game this season.