By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Dylan Dreiling laced a two-out, game-winning RBI single to left-center field Friday night, capping a four-run rally in the bottom of the ninth inning, as the top-seeded Tennessee Volunteers stunned the Florida State Seminoles 12-11 on opening night in the Men’s College World Series.

Trailing 9-4 after the fourth inning and 11-7 after the seventh, the Volunteers didn’t quit. They scored one run in the eighth and four runs on five hits in the ninth to hand the eighth-seeded Seminoles their first loss in six NCAA tournament games.

In one of the school’s greatest nights in Omaha, Tennessee leadoff man Christian Moore made history with only the second cycle in CWS history. Moore went five for six and scored four runs. He tripled in the first inning, doubled in the second, singled in the fourth, homered in the sixth and doubled again in the ninth.

Sixty eight years have passed since the last time it happened, when Minnesota’s Jerry Kindall hit for the cycle in 1956 against Mississippi.

Oddly, Tennessee trailed most of the night when it produced 18 hits. That was mostly because of Florida State’s potent attack with 13 hits and also because of Tennessee pitching’s nine walks and the defense’s three errors. Through it all, the Vols were able to overcome it as Dreiling had four hits and Blake Burke three.

Controversy emerged in the ninth with with two out and Burke at the plate on a two-strike count. On a check swing, he was deemed to have held up, giving him another opportunity. If the umpire’s decision had gone the other way, the game would have been over and Florida State would have won, 11-9.

Instead, Burke took advantage of the situation, singling up the middle and bringing in two runs to tie the game.

Records

Florida State 47-16
Tennessee 56-12

Coming up

Saturday: Kentucky vs North Carolina State, 1 p.m. Texas A&M vs. Florida, 6 p.m.
Sunday: Virginia vs. Florida State in an elimination game at 1 p.m. Tennessee vs. North Carolina in the winners bracket at 6 p.m.