Tennessee baseball has a new outright home run king.
Blake Burke hit his 41st career home run in the fourth inning of Tennessee baseball’s Saturday matchup against Auburn. Burke’s 41st long ball moves him one home run ahead of his former teammate Luc Lipcius for Tennessee’s new home run record.
Lipcius hit 40 career home runs in 625 at-bats. Burke reached 41 career home runs in an extremely impressive 450 at-bats.
Burke has been on pace to break the record for quite some time now after starting his career by flashing incredible power in his freshman season. The Brentwood, California native hit 14 home runs in a partial starting role as a freshman, 16 home runs in his sophomore year and his record clinching home run against Auburn was his 11th of the season.
While Burke is currently Tennessee’s home run champion, he’ll have to keep his foot on the gas to retain that mark and outlast his own teammate Christian Moore. Tennessee’s starting second baseman split the starting designated hitter spot with Burke as a freshman and is currently at 39 home runs over the course of his career and 11 home runs this season.
Moore remains in striking distance but believes his infield teammate will outlast him to win the honor over the course of the season.
“To me, honestly, I think he’s going to win it,” Moore said about he and Burke approaching the record on Friday. “I think he will hit a little more than I will based on his swing and how strong he is. We haven’t really talked about it honestly and we don’t want to pay it too much attention. We got to win ballgames. Whoever wins it- wins it. Cool.”
With Burke and Moore leading the way, Tennessee baseball has one of the nation’s best offense including four players with double digit home runs and another two with eight-plus homers.
The Vols currently lead Auburn 9-0 in the fourth inning.. Follow along with live updates here.
