Southern Miss entered the sixth inning with momentum. Kavares Tears snatched it back with one swing.

Trailing for the first time after an error-filled fifth, Dylan Dreiling led off the frame with a walk. It was followed by a double from Hunter Ensley. Then Tears' drilled his first hit of the night to deep right-center. Even Golden Eagles' outfielders knew trying to run it down was a futile gesture.

The three-run shot put the No. 1 Tennessee back in front and paved the way for a 12-3 Knoxville Regional final victory that sent the Vols to a Super Regional on Sunday at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

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The Vols' (53-11) faced little drama in their path to the regional finale before Southern Miss (43-20) overcame an early deficit to take its first lead in the bottom of the fifth.

Tennessee responded with four runs in the sixth to reclaim a lead it never relinquished again, breaking the program single-season home run record in the process on Cal Stark's second homer in the ninth. It was the Vols' fifth of the game and 159th of the season.

Dylan Dreiling paced the Vols at the plate, going 3-of-4 with a home run in the seventh while Dean Curley also homered in the seventh.

Left-handed pitcher Zander Sechrist gave the Vols a quality start, allowing four hits and striking out three before running into trouble in the fifth. Nate Snead put up 4.1 scoreless innings with three strikeouts in a winning relief effort.

Tennessee

1. Christian Moore (R) - 2B

2. Blake Burke (L) - 1B

3. Billy Amick (R) - 3B

4. Dylan Dreiling (L) - LF

5. Hunter Ensley (R) - CF

6. Kavares Tears (L) - RF

7. Dean Curley (R) - SS

8. Dalton Bargo (L) - DH

9. Cal Stark (R) - C

LHP Zander Sechrist

Southern Miss

1. Dalton McIntyre (L) - CF

2. Ozzie Pratt (L) - SS

3. Slade Wilks (L) - RF

4. Davis Gillespie (R) - LF

5. Nick Monistere (R) - 2B

6. Matthew Russo (L) - 1B

7. Braden Luke (L) - DH

8. Lawson Odom (R) - C

9. Gabe Broadus (R) - 3B

RHP J.B. Middleton

A double play ended Tennessee's inning in the top of the first and Christian Moore returned the favor by going high and snagging a would-be Southern Miss hit to end in the bottom half scoreless.

The Vols started the second inning with back-to-back hits, first a Dylan Dreiling double down the left field line and then a Hunter Ensley single up the middle that scored Dreiling and gave Tennessee a 1-0 lead.

Mistakes with runners on base plagued the Vols in the third. Tennessee looked close to getting out of trouble on a ground ball to first, but a throwing error from Blake Burke allowed a run to score and even it up at 1-1.

Zander Sechrist, who retired six-straight batters to start the game, managed to get out of the inning with limited damage, though.

Sechrist took a line drive off of his left leg in the fourth, leading to an infield single but followed it up with a strikeout and a double play, then Cal Stark extended Tennessee's lead to 2-1 in the top of the fifth with a solo home run to left-center.

Southern Miss' lineup got to Sechrist in the bottom half. Helped by a Billy Amick fielding error at third, the Golden Eagles put two on base after a walk and Ozzie Pratt put them in front for the first time at 3-2 with a two-RBI double to the gap in right-center with two outs.

The Southern Miss lead was short-lived, though. Tears made sure of it.

In an inning that quickly got away from the Golden Eagles, Dreiling led off with a walk and Ensley doubled into left to set up Kavares Tears' go-ahead home run to pull the Vols ahead 5-3.

Moore drove in another run with a ground out RBI that stretched the lead to 6-3 before Southern Miss was able to get out of the frame.

Dreiling mashed a home run to lead off the seventh and Dean Curley added another that added two more runs to open up a 9-3 Tennessee lead.

The Golden Eagles put a pair of runners on in the eighth, looking to chip away at their deficit, but Tennessee turned a double play for the second time to hold them scoreless for the third-straight inning.

Stark provided the exclamation point in the ninth, hitting his second home run to up the Vols' advantage to 12-3.

1. Hunter Ensley singles up the middle to give Tennessee the lead in the second inning.

2. Cal Stark leads off the fourth with a solo home run to left-center.

3. Kavares Tears puts Tennessee back in front with a three-run homer in the sixth.

Tennessee is two wins away from its third College World Series berth in four seasons.

The Vols, who have reached Super Regionals for four-straight seasons under seventh-year head coach Tony Vitello, draw the winner of the Greenville Regional between East Carolina and Evansville.

The Knoxville Super Regional will open Friday. Start times and TV assignments have not been announced.

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