Tennessee third baseman Trey Lipscomb spent his first three years in Knoxville sitting behind All-SEC infielders Andre Lipcius and Jake Rucker.
In his first three seasons in Knoxville, Lipscomb played in 37 total games and earned just 69 at-bats. This season, Lipscomb has started all 36 games and is putting together a season more statistically impressive than either of his star predecessors.
The Frederick, Maryland native is hitting .370 with a staggering 1.258 OPS, 15 home runs and 57 RBIs.
Let’s take a look at where Lipscomb stands in the single season all-time Tennessee record books halfway through the SEC schedule.
Through 36 games of the 56 game regular season, Lipscomb is already tied for the ninth most home runs in a single season in program history. If he continues at the rate he’s at, Lipscomb will enter the postseason with 23 home runs. That would be good for the second most home runs in a single season and Lipscomb would need just one postseason home run to tie Sonny Cortez (1998) for the record and two to claim the record outright.
It’s hard to project how many games Tennessee will play in the SEC and NCAA Tournament but the Vols played 12 postseason games a season ago (five in the SEC Tournament and seven in the NCAA Tournament).
This is where a naysayer might suggest Lipscomb can’t keep up the pace that he is at.
No one can guarantee future success, but Lipscomb has been nearly as impressive against SEC competition as he has against lesser— non conference opponents.
In 15 SEC games, Lipscomb is hitting .356 with seven home runs and 21 RBIs. In 21 out of conference games, the senior third baseman is hitting .381 with eight home runs and 36 RBIs.
Let’s move on to the other stats and where Lipscomb projects to be in the all-time record books by the end of the regular season.
The 6-foot-1 third baseman is on pace for 88 RBIs in the regular season. That would put him in second place and four RBIs behind Todd Helton (1995) program record.
Lipscomb’s 111 total bases in 36 games has him on pace for 172 total bases in the regular season — the fourth most in program history.
Lipscomb’s .822 slugging percentage would be the third-best ever in a single season.
