Tennessee vs North Carolina Baseball Starting Lineup Tonight: Who's starting for the Volunteers, Tar Heels?
Tennessee and North Carolina are looking to continue rolling in their second game of the College World Series on Sunday afternoon. The Volunteers defeated the Florida State Seminoles 12-11, and the Tar Heels overcame the Virginia Cavaliers 3-2 on Friday encounters. Both schools are looking for their first CWS in program history.
The game is set to be a close affair, with both schools being the regular season champions of their conferences (Southeastern Conference for Tennessee and Atlantic Coast Conference for North Carolina). Tony Vitello, the head coach of the Vols, knows no game is easy at this stage. He told the press a day before the start of the CWS:
“So the seeding to me kind of evaporates. It’s valuable in the first round because if you line up those four teams, the 1 seed is normally going to get the team that maybe is not as potent as the others. But once you get here, there aren’t really any underdogs or anything like that.”
Tennessee is the No. 1 overall seed of this NCAA Baseball Tournament, while North Carolina is the No. 4. The Tar Heels are the highest ACC school in the tournament.
There are only SEC and ACC schools in this CWS.
Tennessee vs. North Carolina pitching matchup
Neither school has revealed its starting pitcher yet, but at this point in the season, we have a pretty good idea of who they might pick. Tennessee will probably roll with Drew Beam, who has been a consistent member of the rotation throughout the year. He has a 4.44 ERA in 17 starts this season with an 8-2 record.
North Carolina's likely pick will be Shea Sprague, a left-handed pitcher with a 4.0 ERA in 14 starts this season.
Potential lineups for Tennessee vs. North Carolina
Tennessee
- C: Cal Stark
- 1B: Blake Burke
- 2B: Christian Moore
- SS: Dean Curley
- 3B: Billy Amick
- RF: Kavares Tears
- CF: Hunter Ensley
- LF: Dylan Dreiling
- P: Drew Beam
North Carolina
- C: Luke Stevenson
- 1B: Parks Harber
- 2B: Alex Madera
- SS: Colby Wilkerson
- 3B: Gavin Gallaher
- RF: Anthony Donofrio
- CF: Vance Honeycutt
- LF: Casey Cook
- P: Shea Sprague
The game will start at 7 p.m. ET and will air on ESPN.