Looking back at Tennessee Baseball's 12 straight wins in NCAA Tournament regional games

Tennessee Baseball’s 12-3 win over Southern Miss on Sunday at Lindsey Nelson Stadium not only punched a ticket to the Super Regional round, but also extended a program record with a 12th-straight win in regional play. 

It just so happened the win came five years to the day since Tennessee last lost a regional game in the NCAA Baseball Tournament. 

The Vols have advanced to four straight Super Regionals and are a perfect 12-0 along the way, last losing a regional game on June 2, 2019 — 1,829 days and two trips to the College World Series ago, to be exact — when the Vols were eliminated by host North Carolina in the Chapel Hill Regional in a 5-2 loss.

The Vols lost to Liberty 6-1 in the first regional game under Tony Vitello, before bouncing back with a 10-3 win over UNC Wilmington and a 6-5 win in the rematch with Liberty. 

Here’s a look back at the 12-for-12 regional run before the attention fully turns to the Knoxville Super Regional this weekend:

2024

Tennessee 9, Northern Kentucky 3: Northern Kentucky hit a solo home run in the first at bat of the game but it was all Tennessee form there. Billy Amick hit a three-run home run in the fourth and Hunter Ensley and Dylan Dreiling homered in the seventh and eighth innings, respectively.

Tennessee 12, Indiana 6: Dean Curley and Christian Moore both hit two-run home runs in the second inning and Billy Amick added a grand slam in the third to give Andrew Behnke a 9-0 lead. Behnke got the win after a career-high 3.1 innings pitched out of the bullpen.

Tennessee 12, Southern Miss 3: Cal Stark hit a go-ahead home run in the fifth and a three-run home run in the ninth as the Vols advanced to their fourth straight Super Regional. Kavaris Tears, Dylan Dreiling and Dean Curley added home runs of their own as Nate Snead got the win in relief. 

2023

Tennessee 8, Charlotte 1: Christian Moore had a two-run double in the first inning and a solo home run in the third as the Vols were on their way to building an 8-0 lead after four innings to start the Clemson Regional. 

Tennessee 6, Clemson 5 (14 innings): Tennessee was down to its final strike in the ninth innings when Zane Denton hit a go-ahead three-run home run, giving the Vols a 5-4 lead. Clemson answered with a run in the bottom of the ninth and the teams traded punches until the 14th, when Hunter Ensley put Tennessee up for good with an RBI double.

Tennessee 9, Charlotte 2: Christian Moore homered in the first and Zane Denton homered in the fourth as Tennessee built a 4-0 lead after four innings. It was 6-2 in the sixth when Moore homered again, this time a two-run shot as the Vols were on their way to advancing out of the Clemson Regional. 

Super Regional: Southern Miss advanced out of the Auburn Regional, taking down No. 3 Auburn, and was given the host site for the Super Regional against Tennessee. The Vols lost 5-3 in Game 1, but fought off elimination with an 8-4 win in Game 2 and advanced to the College World Series with a 5-0 win in Game 3. 

College World Series: LSU beat Tennessee 6-3 in the first game in Omaha, but the Vols two days later came back from down four runs to beat Stanford 6-4, their first win in a College World Series game since 2001. LSU stood in the way the next day, though, ending Tennessee’s season with a 5-0 win.

2022

Tennessee 10, Alabama State 0: Tennessee led 3-0 through five innings and broke the game open with a five-run sixth, which was capped by a two-run home run from Jordan Beck and a solo home run from Drew Gilbert. Blake Burke homered in the seventh and Beck went deep again in the eighth. 

Tennessee 12, Campbell 7: Campbell jumped out to a 4-0 lead after a four-run third, but Tennessee answered with seven runs over the next two innings. The Vols were clinging to an 8-7 lead to start the ninth, before a Christian Moore RBI single and a three-run Cortland Lawson home run. 

Tennessee 9, Georgia Tech 6: For the second straight day, Tennessee got down 4-0. The Vols responded again, this time with two runs in the fifth and another in the seventh. They were still trailing 4-3 to start the ninth before erupting for six runs. Jordan Beck tied it with an RBI double and Trey Lipscomb was hit by a pitch to score Luc Lipcius for the go-ahead run. 

Super Regional: After losing just three games at home all season, Tennessee was upset 8-6 in Game 1 against Notre Dame. The Vols answered with a 12-4 win in Game 2, but lost 7-3 in Game 3 after the Irish scored three runs in the seventh and three in the eighth to take down the No. 1 overall seed.

2021

Tennessee 9, Wright State 8: Tennessee trailed Wright State 8-5 to start the ninth inning, but the Vols weren’t done. Drew Gilbert launched a walk-off grand slam well over the right-field fence and the celebration was on at a raucous Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

Tennessee 9, Liberty 3: Tennessee hit five home runs over the first three innings and led Liberty 7-0, more than enough cushion to coast to the win.

Tennessee 3, Liberty 1: The Vols beat Liberty for a second straight day, this time thanks to a Jake Rucker RBI single in the third inning and a two-run home run from Drew Gilbert in the fifth. 

Super Regional: Tennessee beat LSU, the No. 14 national seed, 4-2 in Game 1 and completed the sweep with a 15-6 romp in Game 2 to go back to the College World Series for the first time since 2005.

College World Series: The success didn’t follow the Vols to Omaha. They lost 6-0 to No. 8 Virginia and saw their season end in an 8-4 loss to No. 2 Texas.