BREAKING: Tennessee Vols Facing Southern Miss In Knoxville Regional Final

The Tennessee Volunteers will face Southern Miss in the Knoxville Regional Final after the Golden Eagles defeated the Indiana Hoosiers earlier on Sunday.

Southern Miss' Nick Monistere (8) hits the ball during a NCAA Baseball Tournament Knoxville Regional game at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on Sunday, June 2, 2024 in Knoxville, Tenn. / Angelina Alcantar/News Sentinel / USA

The Tennessee Volunteers will face Southern Miss in the Knoxville Regional Final after the Golden Eagles defeated the Indiana Hoosiers earlier on Sunday.

The Tennessee Volunteers play for the Knoxville Regional title later this evening, and they knew that from last night. However, they didn't know who they would face; the Southern Miss Golden Eagles and the Indiana Hoosiers squared off in an early afternoon contest to determine who would advance to face the Vols on their home turf.

Tennessee defeated Indiana 12-6 on Saturday night in a massive offensive output that saw the Vols homer four times early, including a grand slam from first baseman Billy Amick. While Tennessee likely would have welcomed another shot at the Hoosiers, they will face the Golden Eagles at 6:00 PM EST.

Southern Miss routed Indiana from the opening pitch, going up 15-0 by the fourth inning. The Golden Eagles did this without a homerun, stringing together extra-base hits and walks without wasting time putting things on the Hoosiers early. Tennessee and Southern Miss have high-powered offensive attacks, and it will be an exciting matchup this evening in front of a packed stadium.

Head coach Tony Vitello told the media that the home crowd has been a major advantage for Tennessee this weekend, as the team has built momentum off the crowd's energy and continued to build large leads early in games. He also noted their consistency since his arrival when asked if Saturday's contest was a reflection of what he expected when he first accepted the opening at the University of Tennessee.

"I think so, but I think we've had it. It's weird around here," Vitello explained. "Good baseball guy here is watching the regional and the stadium has changed every time he's been here and it's like, well it changes every time for us too. So it's always kind of been what you're describing, but 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. Again, Foley's got literally big league stuff and our guys made it tough on him, but I think they got kind of a John Stockton assist there from the crowd."

Other Tennessee News:

• Travis Smith Jr Sets Commitment Date
• George MacIntyre Accepts Invitation To Elite 11
• Josh Heupel Details Importance of 2022 Alabama Victory

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