Tennessee baseball loses 2-day Game 1 to Southern Miss in super regional, faces elimination

HATTIESBURG, Miss. − Tennessee baseball and Southern Miss are back in action Sunday after two weather delays Saturday.

The Vols (41-19) face Southern Miss (45-18) in the Hattiesburg Super Regional in a best-of-three series for a spot in the College World Series. The opener is resuming at noon ET (ESPNU) Sunday after a second weather delay forced the game to be suspended. UT will be at the plate with a runner on first with one out and a 1-1 count on Christian Scott.

Tennessee reached the super regional by winning the Clemson Regional in three games. Southern Miss escaped the Auburn Regional in five games after losing its opener to Samford. The Golden Eagles won four straight games to win the regional.

Southern Miss was selected as the host over UT after the teams won their respective regionals.

The Vols have been to five super regionals in program history.

UT went to the College World Series in 2021 for the first time since 2005.

Tennessee baseball vs. Southern Miss Super Regionals: Game 1 score, live updates

Ninth inning

Tennessee 9th: Scott grounds out to short. 1 out.

Stark is HBP. That's a fortunate moment for the Vols.

Ahuna strikes out swinging on a 3-2 pitch that would have been ball four. 2 out.

Hunter Ensley grounds out to third. Game over.

FINAL: Southern Miss 5, Tennessee 3

INSTANT ANALYSIS: Tennessee baseball plunged to brink of elimination with loss to Southern Miss in opener

Southern Miss 9th: Couple nice plays from Maui Ahuna on some spinning grounders to help retire USM in order.

Scott, Cal Stark (or a pinch hitter) and Ahuna due up.

Eighth inning

Tennessee 8th: Justin Storm retires UT in order. Storm at 67 pitches, so he is likely unavailable for Game 2 later today. But after that inning, he's likely to return for the 9th. Southern Miss 5, Tennessee 3.

Southern Miss 8th: Halvorsen again retires USM in order.

Seventh inning

Tennessee 7th: An E4 with two out brings Griffin Merritt to the plate with two on, but he grounds out to third.

Southern Miss 7th: Quick 1-2-3 inning.

Sixth inning

Tennessee 6th: Christian Moore leadoff walk. He's thrown out trying to reach second on a ball in the dirt. Not a smart play.

Southern Miss 6th: Seth Halvorsen is the new Tennessee pitcher. Tate Parker lines to left field over Zane Denton's head for a leadoff double.

After a walk, Carson Paetow legs out a possible double play grounder to score Parker. Southern Miss 5, Tennessee 3.

Fifth inning

Tennessee 5th: Zane Denton singles with one out. And then....another lightning delay. 6:06 p.m. ET for the start of this delay.

Southern Miss leads 4-0.

UPDATE: The game will resume at Noon ET Sunday. TV is ESPNU.

12 PM SUNDAY UPDATE: Hello, and welcome back to the Hattiesburg Super Regional. It's sunny at Pete Taylor Park. Will Armistead, one of the Golden Eagles' top relievers, will pitch for USM to start this off.

Christian Scott legs out a possible double play, and Cal Stark gets hit by a pitch. Ahuna walks, and UT has the bases loaded with two out.

Hunter Ensley gets plunked to drive in a run, and Will Armistead's time on the mound may be short. Southern Miss 4, Tennessee 1.

Justin Storm, USM's lefthanded closer, is in the game now to pitch. If USM has its way, he and Tanner Hall in Game 2 will be the only pitchers the Vols see the rest of the super regional. But he has a big jam to get out of against Jared Dickey.

Dickey line drive into center scores two. Southern Miss 4, Tennessee 3.

Griffin Merritt strikes out looking on an iffy 3-2 pitch to end the inning. Vols dugout not happy.

Southern Miss 5th: Camden Sewell is in the game at pitcher. It was not Andrew Lindsey's best performance -- 4 innings, 6 hits, 4 runs, 1 walk and 5 strikeouts on 78 pitches.

Dustin Dickerson doubles down the right field line with one out. But Sewell gets out of the inning unscathed.

Fourth inning

Tennessee 4th: Hunter Ensley singles to left field for the Vols' first hit of the game.

And with two on and two out, a weather delay for lightning. Sky looks gloomy.

Back to play at 5:50 p.m. ET, and Christian Moore strikes out. Oldham remained as USM pitcher after about a 90-minute delay.

Southern Miss 4th: Nick Monistere hits a solo home run off the scoreboard. Southern Miss 4, Tennessee 0.

Third inning

Tennessee 3rd: The Vols have no hits through three innings.

Southern Miss 3rd: Dustin Dickerson hits one to the trees in left field. Southern Miss 3, Tennessee 0.

Second inning

Tennessee 2nd: Vols are 6 up and 6 down so far against Oldham.

Southern Miss 2nd: Lindsey retires USM in order. Up to 51 pitches in two innings.

First inning

Tennessee 1st: USM starter Billy Oldham retires the Vols hitters in order, with Maui Ahuna and Jared Dickey striking out.

Southern Miss 1st: Vols are the home team today, so the Golden Eagles up to bat first against Tennessee starter Andrew Lindsey.

Lindsey allows a leadoff single to Matthew Etzel but eventually picks him off at first. A walk and an infield hit put runners on the corners, and Tate Parker doubles to center with two out. Hunter Ensley dove for the slicing ball, but it got away from the Tennessee CF. It's ruled a 2 RBI triple. Lindsey with a very stressful first. Southern Miss 2, Tennessee 0.

Lindsey threw 35 pitches in the first inning.

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Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on Twitter @ByMikeWilson. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee baseball super regional score vs. Southern Miss: Live updates from NCAA Tournament