LIVE Updates: Tennessee vs. Southern Miss

The Tennessee Volunteers take on Southern Miss this evening in the Knoxville Regional Final.

The No. 1-ranked Tennessee Volunteers have had their way in the Knoxville Regional tournament, besting Northern Kentucky by six runs on Friday night before doing the same to the Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday. The Vols play for the tournament title on Sunday evening in front of their home fans against the Southern Miss Golden Eagles.

Their well-rounded play has been highlighted throughout both games of the tournament. Tennessee's pitching staff has been able to weather the storm early and allow an array of talented hitters to build momentum inning after inning. Volunteer Country will have all the latest updates and information from this evening's contest, which will determine the regional winner.

Keynote from Saturday Night's win over Indiana: 1B, Billy Amick blasted a grand slam against the Indiana Hoosiers to put the Vols up 9-0. It was Tennessee's twelfth grand slam of the season, marking the most in a single season for a team in SEC history.

Tennessee LIVE Updates vs. Southern Miss

First Inning: One baserunner between both sides in the first frame (0-0)

Top - Blake Burke draws a walk as the No. 2 hitter after a strikeout, but Billy Amick grounds into a double play to end the inning for the Vols and send the Golden Eagles up to bat.

Bottom - Tennessee quickly retires the first two batters before second baseman Christian Moore lays out to make a spectacular diving catch. The first inning ends hitless for both sides, with the Vols having the only base runner.

Second Inning: Vols begin the scoring with an RBI single (1-0)

Top - Dylan Dreiling starts off the inning with a leadoff double, and Hunter Ensley follows behind him with a single that rolled through the infield to bring Dreiling home. Southern Miss threw Ensley out at second base and followed with two quick outs, but the Vols get on the board first.

Bottom - Tennessee pitcher Zander Zechrist quickly retires Southern Miss 1-2-3, not allowing a baserunner in his first two frames.

Third Inning: Southern Miss ties things up off an error (1-1)

Top - Tennessee gets a man on first base to start the inning, but Southern Miss pitcher JB Middleton has a strong close to the inning and retires the Vols to hold them to one run through three frames.

Bottom - Southern Miss gets two baseunners early in the inning, and Burke makes an error throwing to second trying to get a double play to end the inning. The throw hit off the back of a Golden Eagle runner and allowed the lead runner to come around to score and tie things up. Zechrist manages to get the final out to stop the bleeding and stand two runners.

Fourth Inning: Strong pitching forces a scoreless fourth (1-1)

Top - Tennessee gets two base runners on and forces Southern Miss to make a pitching change midway through the inning. However, the new pitcher quickly worked through the lineup and didn't allow the Vols to advance.

Bottom - Zechrist gets hit with a ball up the middle and goes down, but gets up and forces another roller up the middle that gets turned into a double play.

Fifth Inning: Offenses get hot, Southern Miss jumps on top (2-3)

Top - Knoxville native Cal Starks hits his second home run in two days to lead off the inning and put the Vols up by a run. Southern Miss limits the damage and ends the inning, but not before Tennessee takes the lead.

Botom - Southern Miss has two men on with two houts and hits fly ball into the gap to bring home both runners to put the Golden Eagles on top. Tennessee ends the inning after a pitching change, but not before Southern Miss takes the lead.

Sixth Inning: Tennessee gets their mojo back (6-3)

Top - Smart base-running by the Vols gets them two men in scoring position with zero outs, but Kavares Tears ensures their position doesn't matter as he launched three-run homer over the right field wall. Southern Miss makes another pitching change, and he quickly hits two batters to put runners in scoring position. A grounder back to the pitcher brings another run home for Tennessee, making it a four-run affair in the sixth for the Vols.

Bottom - Nate Sneed goes 1-2-3 to retire the Golden Eagles.

Seventh Inning: Tennessee stays scorching hot at the plate (9-3)

Top - Dreiling continues his hot day at the plate, basting a solo shot to the opposite field to extend Tennessee's lead. Dean Curley follows that up later in the frame with a two-run blast of his own, this one coming with one out.

Bottom - Southern Miss does manage to muster a walk, but Sneed continues an effective outing in relief and retires the side to send things back to Tennessee.

Eighth Inning: Runners stranded, Tennessee maintains lead (9-3)

Top - Tennessee gets two runners on, but Southern Miss closes the inning stong and leaves the runners stranded.

Bottom - Southern Miss gets their first two runners on, but after one out Moore makes a fantastic throw from second to turn a double play and send things to the ninth inning.

Ninth Inning: Tennessee wins (12-3)

Top - Cal Starks hits another home run, this time a three-run shot. The Vols now have broken their single-season home run record, and it came courtesy of the Knoxville native.

Bottom - Tennessee ends things and wins the Knoxville Regional tournament.

Other Tennessee News:

Join the Community:

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.