The title of this piece is my passive-aggressive complaint at an idiotic rule in this tournament where a team who hosts doesn’t get to be the home team in their own building. Because Wake Forest hadn’t been the “home” team as much, they were the home team on Sunday night against the Tennessee Volunteers.
And as a result, Wake walked off the Vols 7-6 with a bases loaded walk by Nate Snead with nobody out. Wake got two on to start the bottom of the ninth, then a sacrifice bunt yielded a throw to third where the runner was safe to load the bases. Four pitches later, it was over.
Dylan Loy drew the start for Tennessee and he went just 1.1 with an earned run allowed before giving way to Brandon Arvidson. The tall lefty took Tennessee into the seventh, going 105 pitches. While he allowed 5 earned runs, he also struck out 12.
Tennessee was down 6-2, but they caught back up to even with 2-run shots in the fifth and sixth innings. Andrew Fischer put one over the wall in right center in the fifth to draw to 6-4, and Levi Clark hit one into the bullpen to tie the game in the sixth.
Unfortunately, the Vols couldn’t take advantage of a crucial opportunity in the seventh. They had runners on first and second with one out, but Dalton Bargo popped out. Then, with the bases loaded, Reese Chapman struck out.
The Vols and Demon Deacons will meet on Monday at 6:00 pm ET in a winner-take-all game for the regional and what appears to be a trip to Fayetteville to take on Arkansas in the Super Regionals.