The Tennessee Vols are heading to the championship round of the College World Series, and it's in no small part to pitchers Zander Sechrist and Kirby Connell.  

The duo combined for two runs across eight innings in Tennessee's 7-2 win over Florida State on Wednesday evening at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha.  

Sechrist was brilliant across six innings, allowing no runs and just three hits with one walk.  However, trouble struck in the seventh, as allowed back-to-back home runs with one out.  

Kirby Connell came in and did what he does – get key outs in key situations.  The mustachioed lefty got the next two batters out to escape the inning without further damage.  In the eighth, he deflected a liner with a runner on base that set up a tailor-made double play by Christian Moore on the way to a scoreless frame.  

But hey, that's what friends do, isn't it?  Help each other out.  And that's just what Connell and Sechrist are – very good friends.  That was evident in the postgame interview with the graduate and the senior. 

Click here to accept Marketing cookies and load this content

"I mean, I'm not going to say the bad things," Sechrist responded with a smile to a question about what Connell means to him.  "But we'll say the good things.  He's like a brother to me, to be honest.  I've said it once.  He'll be at my wedding, and hopefully he'll be at my funeral – unless I'm at your funeral first.  So, you know, he's just been a great friend, a great mentor ever since I got here on campus, and a great throwing partner."

"He's electric," Connell said of Sechrist.  "He came out and started us off really good.  Ended up getting to the seventh, which is really good to see out of him.  And it was awesome for him to be able to hand the ball off to me.

"He's like my second brother.  I've got two brothers sitting at home.  Just having him out here, having him beside me the whole time, I've got his back and he's got mine."

Chemistry is such an important part of any team.  It can take time for a group to gel sometimes.  There are players coming in and competing for starting jobs, and competition can sometimes result in hard feelings.  

But that certainly doesn't appear to be the case inside the Vols' locker room, at least from what they've shown on the field and in the dugout across the season.  And with Connell and Sechrist, you know you've got two friends about as close as can be backing each other. 

We'll see in the coming days if they can end their time together in Knoxville as national champions.  

Tennessee Vols’ Tony Vitello going viral for a very generous gesture to an opposing staff member

The Vols’ head coach got some recent attention for a memorable gift