No. 1 Tennessee presents power-packed challenge for Florida State in Game 1 of CWS

Link Jarrett is plenty familiar with Florida State’s first opponent in the College World Series.

His Notre Dame team went into Knoxville in June of 2022 and stunned the No. 1 Tennessee Volunteers in the Super Regionals to advance to the College World Series.

Two years later, Jarrett has another team back in Omaha. And once again, he is matched up with the No. 1 Volunteers, who beat Evansville two out of three games last weekend to advance to the College World Series.

Florida State takes on Tennessee in a prime-time showdown on Friday night. And it just so happens to be a matchup of two of the premier power-hitting teams in the country.

The Seminoles have hit 123 home runs this season (three of which were memorably hit by James Tibbs in Game 2 of their Super Regional win over UConn this past weekend). That’s seventh most in the country.

Which puts what Tennessee has done this season into some real perspective. That’s because the Volunteers have hit a whopping 173 homers so far in 2024 — 50 more than Florida State and 22 more than the next closest team. The Vols are slugging .613 overall, the second-best mark in the nation, and they are No. 1 in the country in runs scored.

Most College World Series teams have good offenses. Obviously. But the 2024 Volunteers are putting up some historic numbers.

They are led by probable first-round pick Christian Moore, a hard-hitting second baseman who has 32 homers on the season. But, of course, when you’re putting up the types of numbers Tennessee has this year, it’s far from a one-man offense.

Junior Billy Amick has 23 homers and is also considered a potential first-round pick. Dylan Dreiling has 20, and leading hitter Blake Burke has 19 to go along with his 28 doubles and team-best .376 batting average. Both Dreiling and Burke are ranked as two of the top 80 draft prospects by both Baseball America and MLB.com.

All told, Florida State will face a Tennessee lineup has features eight players with double-digit home runs this year.

Which is a pretty big reason why the Volunteers have racked up 55 wins and are the No. 1 overall seed in the country.

But it’s not the only one.

Even though they’re a bit unorthodox with their staff, the Volunteers can also really pitch. They are No. 3 in the country in team ERA at 3.83.

They basically pitch by committee. Tennessee has two pitchers who have started 17 games this season, but both — Zander Sechrist and Drew Beam — are unlikely to go deep into a game. Sechrist is averaging less than four innings per outing and Beam, who is ranked by Baseball America as the No. 41 overall draft prospect, has had a bit of an up-and-down season and is typically counted to go five innings at most.

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But what the Volunteers might lack in prototypical starters they make up for with an array of effective arms out of the bullpen. They have 11 different relievers who have appeared in at least 19 games this season, and A.J. Causey leads the country in wins (with 13) despite being mostly used in relief.

Nate Snead is 9-2 with five saves, and Aaron Combs also has five saves to go along with 54 strikeouts in 37 innings.

Quite obviously, the Seminoles are going to have their hands full when they take the field in Omaha on Friday night.

Link Jarrett has faced a supremely talented Tennessee team in the postseason before and won.

Now, with a different team, and on a different stage, he’ll get to see if he can do it again.

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