Tennessee sees season end after late Irish homers

Tennessee, the No. 1-ranked team in the nation and the top seed in the NCAA Tournament, saw its incredible season come to a disappointing end Sunday with a 7-3 loss to Notre Dame in Game 3 of a best-of-three Super Regional series on the Vols’ home field in Knoxville.

The victory enabled the Fighting Irish to win the series, 2-1, and advance to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.

Tennessee was leading, 3-1, with one out in the seventh inning and starting pitcher Chase Burns seemed to be cruising. But then Carter Putz drilled a ground-rule double — and after Jack Zyska popped up for the second out, David LaManna hit a two-run homer to tie it, 3-3. Jack Brannigan followed immediately with another homer, with the back-to-back blows making it 4-3 and driving Burns from the game.

Making matters suddenly worse for the Vols, Notre Dame added three more runs in the very next inning to put it out of reach. The big blows in that inning were a two-run double by Putz, who later scored on a single by Zyska. Both hits came with two outs.

Check back later for the full recap.