Final Score: 12-11 | Tennessee (1-0), Florida State (0-1)
Tennessee entered their opening game at the College World Series against the Florida State Seminoles. With two powerhouse offenses featuring multiple 2024 first round draft prospects, the score was expected to be high. A late rally from the Volunteers led by Christian Moore’s cycle, gave the Volunteers an opening round walkoff win.
Coming into this matchup there had only been one cycle ever recorded in the history of the College World Series. Tennessee’s second baseman Christian Moore would add his name into the history books with the second ever cycle in the College World Series, with a five hit performance to propel the Volunteers to a win in their opener.
Moore opened the bottom of the first up for the Vols with the hardest part of the cycle: a triple to right center. He’d get halfway through the cycle in the first two innings of the game as he doubled to left field. Less than halfway through the game, Moore would single to have three quarters of the cycle done in the first four innings.
At this point in the game Florida State had a fairly decent lead over the Volunteers, and before Moore came up in the sixth, led by three runs. It was in this at bat that Moore would make history and complete the cycle with a home run to keep the Vols in the game.
Moore and the Vols wouldn’t be done just yet. After going down 11-7, they came all the way back in the final two innings to take a thrilling walk-off victory. In a huge four run ninth inning rally, Moore would double for the second time in the game, and later Dylan Dreiling would drive in the winning run with a walkoff single.
An offensive thriller to cap off the first night in Omaha, Tony Vitello’s group showed grit and the perseverance needed to win a national championship. Taking down a Florida State offense that put up 20+ runs in a Super Regional game is one of the toughest challenges in college baseball right now, and this Volunteers squad certainly shows signs of being able to win it all.
