Tennessee baseball’s thrilling, 14-inning win over Clemson in the NCAA Regional was the most watched game of the NCAA 2023 Regionals, per ESPN PR’s Twitter account.
Saturday’s @Vol_Baseball vs @ClemsonBaseball matchup was the most-viewed game of the Regional round
⚾️ Averaged 736K viewers
⚾️ 2nd most-watched Regionals game on ESPN platforms on record#NCAABaseball pic.twitter.com/eaN9qG9661— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) June 7, 2023
The game was televised on ESPN2 in the primetime slot last Saturday night.
Additionally, Tennessee @ Clemson was the second most-watched Regionals game on record with a whopping 736,000 average viewers. The record not only goes for ESPN2 but for all ESPN platforms.
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Tennessee has now gotten the best of Clemson in baseball and football in the past six months, as the Vols beat the Tigers in the Orange Bowl last December. In those two contests combined, 9.4 million people watched Tennessee win the pair of games.
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It’s not difficult to see why the game was the most watched contest of the NCAA Regional. On paper, the game figured to be the most competitive contest of the day, and wound up being a must-watch from the ninth inning until the end.
A go-ahead Zane Denton three-run homer in the top of the ninth was followed by a game-tying Cam Cannarella RBI double in the bottom to send the game into extras, turning the match from good to epic in just one frame.
While only one run was scored in extras–Hunter Ensley’s go-ahead RBI double in T14–nearly each inning featured an exciting turn of events. Everyone inside Doug Kingsmore Stadium and watching at home thought Clemson got a walk-off fielder’s choice in the bottom of the 10th, but review showed Tennessee had made the double play to get out of a bases-loaded jam.
A similar situation occurred in the 13th inning for Tennessee, when Christian Scott grounded into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded.
Every twist and turn in extra innings kept both teams and everyone watching on their toes, making for an instant college baseball classic that won’t soon be forgotten by all college baseball fans.
