WATCH: Jorel Ortega saves score with laser to home plate

At the bottom of the fifth inning, the No. 1 seeded Tennessee Volunteers were down 4-2 to Georgia Tech. With two runners on base and two outs, Yellow Jacket OF Stephen Reid laced one towards the outfield to try to put his team in scoring position.

After a fumble from Cortland Lawson, Jorel Ortega fired one to home plate to save the score and end the inning.

DENIED 🚫

💻 ESPN+#RoadToOmaha x @Vol_Baseball pic.twitter.com/1e1l3ytAs3

— NCAA Baseball (@NCAABaseball) June 6, 2022

Ortega’s laser beat Andrew Jenkins to the plate to keep the Volunteer deficit at two.

With a double-elimination format, Georgia Tech would need to win this game to force a winner-take-all for the Knoxville Regional against the top-seeded Vols. If Tennessee can complete a comeback, they’ll advance to the Super Regionals.

Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello comments on Evan Russell, ESPN controversy

Tennessee baseball was without starting catcher Evan Russell on Friday against Alabama State in the Volunteers first game of the Knoxville Regional. While Tennessee went on to win 10-0 to stay in the winners bracket, the game was not without controversy and speculation, most of which surrounded Russell.

Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello said after the win over Alabama State that Russell was out due to an illness. Prior to Saturday’s matchup against Campbell, Russell was cleared and more information arose on his situation. According to Russell’s dad, he was dealing with anxiety and stress, which resulted in his absence on Friday.

Following Tennessee’s win over Campbell on Saturday, Vitello again elaborated on Russell’s situation. Russell had one at-bat against Campbell, and he had a single and a stolen base despite not being in the starting lineup.

“First, you guys have a job to do, so I understand the persistence, but we kept coming back to the same topic last night,” Vitello started. “At the time, it was all I knew, but this morning, we knew more this morning about clearing Evan Russell. The school and program is going to do what every school and program should do and probably does, and that is protect the privacy when it comes to one of our player’s health.

“Obviously tonight, a situation arose where we were able to use Evan. Regardless, having him back around is going to make an impact on these guys. He’s going to help our team win. At the end of the day, that is kind of my philosophy; I’m just looking for good teammates in this program. That’s all I have on that topic.”