The Final Four is Set
Tennessee baseball completed its weekend sweep of No. 1 Ole Miss on Sunday, withholding a late Rebels push to win, 4-3.
The Vols led 4-0 in the eighth inning before a three-run Hayden Dunhurst home run pulled Ole Miss within one-run.
Ole Miss’ leadoff man reached base in the ninth inning and a two-out error moved him to scoring position before LHP Redmond Walsh shut the door on the Rebels’ with his third strikeout of the inning.
“Tremendous presence and a lot of determination,” Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello said of Walsh. “You could see kind of on the infielder’s faces they’re waiting for him to come in and it’s kind of like we have to batten down the hatches here, or however you want to phrase everything that was going on out there. As soon as he got out there he’s smiling and I forgot what he said at the moment but he just kind of calmed everyone down. That’s the calming influence we have gotten out of all of our starters as of late so it’s nice to know it’s at the back end of the game too.”
The Vols’ offense had their least success of the weekend tallying just four runs in the series finale win. Drew Gilbert continued his strong weekend with a two-RBI triple and another walk.
Gilbert scored on a Trey Lipscomb groundout following his triple and Lic Lipcius’ two-out RBI double in the sixth inning proved massive.
Still, like the rest of the weekend, Tennessee’s starting pitching carried the day. Freshman Drew Beam followed up his phenomenal effort last week with another elite outing.
The Murfreesboro native allowed just three hits and one earned run while striking out six batters in 7.1 innings.
“He kind of picked up where he was last week but them was really good,” Vitello said of Burns. “When you’re originally recruiting a kid you don’t know quite what you’re going to get with anybody, I don’t care what you say in scouting. You did kind of see a three-pitch mix was going to be there for sure and today … I thought the mix was outstanding on both sides of the plate, so it was really a full arsenal he was throwing at their guys and I think that was able to keep those guys off balance.”
The win moves Tennessee to 6-0 in SEC play and has them a game up in the SEC standings and two-games up in the SEC East standings. It marks Tennessee’s first 6-0 start in conference play since 1966.
Vitello also discussed the strong starting pitching the whole weekend, his offense having success without home runs and more.
