Notre Dame blasts four home runs, upsets No. 1 Tennessee in NCAA baseball super regional opener

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Carter Putz hit a two-run home run in the first inning, Notre Dame matched its season-high with four home runs, and the Fighting Irish beat No. 1 seed Tennessee 8-6 on Friday night in the opener of the Knoxville Super Regional.

This super regional pitted college baseball's winningest programs since the start of the 2020 season by winning percentage with the Vols first and Notre Dame second.

Notre Dame moved a win away from advancing to the College World Series by scoring every run off a homer against the nation's best home-run hitting team. The Irish ranked 78th nationally with 68 home runs.

Jared Miller made it 3-0 with a home run in the second in his first at-bat this postseason after playing only defense during the regional.

Jack Zyska put Notre Dame up 5-0 with a two-run homer in the third as Tennessee pitcher Blade Tidwell matched the three home runs he allowed through 36 innings this season. Notre Dame kept slugging, and Jack Brannigan's three-run homer gave the Irish an 8-1 lead for the biggest deficit Tennessee has faced this season.

This was the Vols' first loss in seven games in the super regionals and first in Knoxville after 12 straight NCAA postseason wins.

Earlier on Friday, No. 8 national seed East Carolina moved within one win of reaching the College World Series for the first time with a 13-7 win over Texas. East Carolina, playing a super regional on its Greenville, North Carolina, campus for the first time, broke open the game with a five-run eighth inning.

East Carolina has never made the College World Series in 31 previous NCAA tournament appearances. No team has fallen short so many times in the tournament.

The Pirates won for the 22nd time in 23 games. But coach Cliff Godwin