Tennessee baseball becomes first team in NCAA history to have 5 players with 20 or more home runs in a single season

Tennessee rewrote college baseball history on Wednesday by becoming the first team to have five players hitting at least 20 home runs in a single season. Blake Burke smashed his 20th homer at the top of the ninth inning to increase the Volunteers' lead to five, 7-2.

Burke's moonshot helped them break the tie with the 1997 Alabama Crimson Tide, who had four players recording at least 20 homers in a season. Before Burke's solo homer, Christian Moore, Billy Amick, Dylan Dreiling and Kavares Tears were the four Tennessee players who scored at least 20 HRs this season.

Moore is the team's top home run hitter with 33, followed by Amick with 23. Dreiling, Tears and Burke have 20 homers for the Volunteers, who barged into the College World Series final by beating Florida State in Wednesday's semifinals.

The five players combine for 116 of the Volunteers' nation-leading 177 home runs. Dean Curley (12) and Hunter Ensley (11) were the other Tennessee players who recorded at least 10 home runs in a season.

Tennesseee's HR mark ranks them second in the single-season home runs scored list behind the 1997 Louisiana State University team that hit 188. The Volunteers' previous homer record was 158 in 2022.

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Offense-minded Tennessee faces defense-first Texas A&M in best-of-three CWS final

Christian Moore leads Tennessee in home runs this season with 33 round-trippers. Billy Amick is far second with 23 HRs.

Tennessee will need to make the most of its offensive might to stand a chance of winning the 2024 College World Series finals against defense-minded Texas A&M. It's likely to be a battle of opposing styles, as the Volunteers are an offense-minded team that scored 642 runs this season.

Meanwhile, the Aggies will try to use their defensive skills to limit the Volunteers from scoring big homers during the series. They have held off their opponents this season by an average of 4.2 runs per game.

However, Texas A&M is expected to have their hands full against Tennesee, who has averaged 9.1 runs scored per game. Expect the Volunteers to continue hitting and scoring at will like their previous games. On the other hand, the Aggies need to score more and execute their pitches to have a good chance of winning the event.

The best-of-three series begins on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET at the Charles Schwab Field Omaha in Nebraska. ESPN will feature the game on live television, while Fubo will provide livestream content for Internet subscribers.

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Will Tennessee use their high-powered offense to beat Texas A&M in Game 1 of the College World Series Finals? Let us know your views in the comments section.