By Ron Wynn
NASHVILLE, TN — The Tennessee Volunteers fell behind early, but staged a dramatic late inning rally to defeat Georgia Tech 9-6 Sunday, winning the Knoxville Regional and advancing to the Super Regional. But it was far from easy for a Tennessee team that many of its supporters continue to prematurely tout as the greatest college team ever despite the fact they’ve yet to win anything except the SEC regular season and tournament titles.
But they did prove their mettle by overcoming an early four-run deficit against a Georgia Tech team that seemed determined to force a second game Monday. They began the comeback in the fifth when they cut the deficit in half to 4-2. They added one more to make it 4-3 in the seventh, then they exploded for six runs in the ninth, then held off Tech to take a 9-6 victory. It was only Tennessee’s second win all season when they trailed entering the ninth inning.
But instead they will now move on and face Notre Dame in the Super Regionals. Tennessee took all three games of the regional, beating Campbell 12-7- in the game prior to Georgia Tech. Tennessee will host a Super Regional for the first time, though they’ve certainly played in them before.