OMAHA, Nebraska — Tennessee right fielder Kavares Tears has been a menace to other teams in the College World Series so far.
In two games, he has hit two home runs, a triple and a double, which has resulted in six runs brought in.
His parents couldn't be any more proud he's living out his dream.
"As a youngster, you always want to play college ball and play on the big stage, play in big games, do big things," his mother Alicia Tears said. "I'm just happy for him and proud he is able to do that. It's very exciting,"
His dad agreed.
"For him to stay focused and be there when his team needs him the most has been really, really, really fun to watch," Rodrick Tears said. "We've got more of it, we've got more of it."
Tears grew up playing football, soccer and baseball. It didn't take long for his youth coaches to say he shows a lot of promise with baseball. His mom asked him if he wanted to take travel ball seriously and baseball as well.
Tears told his mom he was going to take baseball seriously and it wasn't long before Tennessee noticed his talent.
At a summer camp in Knoxville when Tears was in eighth grade, Kavares' younger brother Kendrick found out some valuable news he relayed to his parents.
"He said 'I think Tennessee is going to talk to Kavares," Rodrick recalled. "We said, 'Boy get out of here. What are you talking about."
Lo and behold Tennessee volunteer assistant coach/camp coordinator Ross Kivett came up and talked to the Tears family about Kavares potentially playing at UT.
"We looked at him [Kendrick] and we go, 'You were serious?' He said, 'I told y'all."
When Kavares Tears was still an eighth grader, Rodrick found himself in head coach Tony Vitello's office on an unofficial visit. On Vitello's dry-erase board, Kavares Tears was listed as the fifth top recruit UT wanted in the Class of 2021.
It was at that moment, the Tears family and Kavares knew how big of an asset Vitello believed Kavares could be. Despite chatter as to why Kavares wouldn't eventually commit to a school like Vanderbilt, Tears' parents said Kavares really liked Vitello and what he was building.
Now he is on the big stage at the College World Series producing at a very high level.
The Vols and his family hope to see Kavares continue to perform at a high level. He will get his next opportunity on Wednesday when UT plays North Carolina or Florida State.
