Preview: Tennessee takes on Southern Miss in NCAA Tournament Regional Final

No.1 Tennessee takes on Southern Miss in the Knoxville regional final tonight at 6 p.m ET.

Tennessee's Aaron Combs (28) and Tennessee's Cal Stark (10) celebrate after winning a NCAA Baseball Tournament Knoxville Regional game at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on Saturday, June 1, 2024 in Knoxville, Tenn. / Angelina Alcantar/News Sentinel / USA

No.1 Tennessee takes on Southern Miss in the Knoxville Regional final tonight at 6 p.m ET.

The first stretch of the NCAA Tournament approaches its end as No. 1 Tennessee faces off against Southern Miss in the Knoxville Regional Championship. The Vols cruised past the first two rounds of the Knoxville regional, beating Northern Kentucky 9-3 followed by a dominant 12-6 victory against Indiana. Now all that stands in the Volunteer's way of moving on to the NCAA Tournament Super Regionals is Southern Miss.

The Golden Eagles solidified their spot in tonight's championship matchup after a massive 15-3 blowout victory earlier today against Indiana. Despite a strong tournament run Southern Miss hasn't gone unscathed. The Golden Eagles lost to Indiana in the opening round by a score of 10-4. Being that the Regional Tournament is double elimination the Vols will have two opportunities to beat Southern Miss to move on to next week's super regional.

Tennessee will once again have all of Rocky Top cheering them on as they attempt to move on into the next round of the NCAA Tournament. Head Coach Tony Vitello spoke on the home crowd effect after last night's win against Indiana.

"it just takes on different feels to it with a second deck of the porch, third deck of the porch and then it felt like I was a football coach for a minute with the offense couldn't hear— the quarterback couldn't hear the play coming in there. This technology we use is whatever, but it was pretty cool to see the crowd interfering with the PitchCom and then getting excited and then certainly kind of putting pressure on the pitcher." Vitello went on to say "I think they got kind of a John Stockton assist there from the crowd."

• Follow Evan Crowell on Twitter: @EvanVCrowell
  
• Follow Blake Schowalter on Twitter: @BlakeSchowalte1
  

You can follow us for future coverage by clicking "Follow" on the top right-hand corner of the page. Also, be sure to like us on Facebook @VolunteerCountry & follow us on Twitter at @VCountryFN.