By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The top-seeded Tennessee Volunteers scored three runs in the first inning Wednesday afternoon and cruised past the No. 8 Florida State Seminoles 7-2 and into the finals at the Men’s College World Series.

Blake Burke had two RBI and three of Tennessee’s 10 hits, including a solo homer, to back Tennessee pitchers Zach Secrist, Kirby Connell and Nate Snead, who blanked the hard-hitting Seminoles in eight of nine innings

Daniel Cantu and Alex Lodise homered back to back in the sixth inning for Florida State’s only runs.

Tennessee entered the MCWS as one of the nation’s most potent offenses, but the pitching has also come on strong.

The Vols have allowed only three runs on 12 hits in their last two games. Florida State, which needed two wins in the semifinals to advance, represented a threat to Tennessee’s dominance because of its own potent attack.

But the Seminoles, who lost to the Vols 12-11 last Friday night, could never put anything together.

Records

Tennessee: 58-12 overall, 8-1 in the NCAA tournament, 3-0 in the MCWS
Florida State: 49-17, 7-2 in the NCAA tournament, 2-2 in the MCWS

MCWS recap

Tennessee defeated Florida State, 12-11; defeated North Carolina, 6-1; defeated Florida State, 7-2.

Florida State lost to Tennessee, 12-11; defeated Virginia, 7-3; defeated North Carolina, 9-5, lost to Tennessee, 7-2

Coming up

Tennessee advances to the best-of-three MCWS title round, set for Saturday, Sunday and Monday if necessary, against either Texas A&M or Florida.