For the second straight game, Missouri tallied a pair of runs in the first inning to take an early lead over Tennessee. The Vols answered the bell again, hitting four home runs on their way to an, 11-4, series clinching win over the Tigers.
The victory gives Tennessee (30-1, 11-0 SEC) the best start in SEC history since the conference expanded to 12 teams in 1992. It ties Alabama (1940), Ole Miss (1964) and LSU (1991) for the best start in SEC history.
“We’ll see where that’s at at the end of the year and buy the guys a t-shirt or something,” Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello said of the start. “It’s kind of a group that is all about what’s the next day got going on for me? I’ve kind of molded myself into their personality and that’s really all that matters. We have a game tomorrow that is equal to — no less or no more — than today’s game.”
The story of the night was Tennessee’s power bats, but starter Chase Dollander powering through a shaky outing was as important as anything for the Vols to earn their 22nd straight win.
Missouri made an abundance of hard contact on Dollander in the game’s first few innings, jumping out to a 4-3 lead in the process. Chase Burns’ short outing Friday night forced Tennessee to use seven bullpen pitchers in the series opener. Even with elite pitching depth, the Vols couldn’t afford another short outing from a starter.
Dollander pitched through his miscues before eventually finding a groove and retiring the final 10 Missouri batters he faced in a 6.2 inning outing. The sophomore tallied 10 strikeouts — pretty impressive for one of his worst outings of the season.
“Some grit, for sure,” Vitello said of what he saw from Dollander. “He kind of got punched in the mouth and he was kind of laughing it off out there. I know there’s some big UFC fights tonight. Usually when a guy kinda laughs or shrugs it off like it didn’t bother them it kind of did. No one wants to give up a lead early or get hit hard, but it does happen in particular in this league and these guys have done it to us two nights in a row. You gotta respond appropriately and I think he gradually did. … That’ll be one of his better outings in the coach’s vote because he kind of grinded or gritted that deal out and not only helped us tonight but helped us tomorrow.”
Offensively, it was the long ball that carried the load for Tennessee. Trey Lipscomb, Jorel Ortega and Evan Russell hit back-to-back-to-back home runs to give Tennessee its first lead of the day in the second inning.
It was the first time Tennessee has hit home runs on three consecutive at-bats since doing so three years ago, today against Lipscomb.
The offense stayed quiet for a handful of innings and after Missouri reclaimed the lead in the third inning Dollander found his groove.
Tennessee got to Missouri’s bullpen in the fifth inning but didn’t break through until the seventh. Austin Cheeley walked the bases loaded in three at-bats and Jordan Beck reclaimed the lead with a no doubt grand slam.
“I was just glad that I got a pitch to do some damage on,” Beck said. “I’m just happy it worked out how it did. It was good for the team and good energy throughout the rest of the game.”
The Vols added four more runs in the game’s final innings off of Missouri’s poor bullpen. Tennessee has dominated the Tigers’ bullpen this weekend, scoring 14 runs in 9.2 innings.
Tennessee goes for the series sweep of Missouri Sunday. First pitch is at 12:30 p.m. ET and will be streamed on SEC Network+.
