Christian Moore stayed on a heater at the plate and AJ Causey turned in another stout relief appearance as Tennessee baseball took the series opener over South Carolina 9-3 at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on Thursday night.
Here’s everything to know about the matchup.
Christian Moore Is Otherworldly
Tennessee trailed 1-0 by the time its lineup came to the plate in the bottom half of the third inning. Christian Moore made sure that the deficit didn’t last long.
The Vols’ starting second baseman took Ty Good’s third pitch of the game deep to center field for a 432 foot home run that sailed over the batter’s eye.
The game remained tied until the top of the third inning when Moore came to the plate again. It took Moore just one pitch this time, launching a hanging breaking ball 426 feet over the batter’s eye again.
Moore hit a home run in his final at-bat of the Belmont game making it three straight plate appearances that he went deep. And oh yeah, the first home run marked Moore’s 25th home run of the season making him Tennessee’s new single season home run king.
The star second baseman finished his night three-of-four with a single off the wall, a hit-by pitch and a line out that was 105 mph off the bat.
Moore has been truly exceptional in SEC play this season and is now hitting .424 with 19 home runs, six doubles and 38 RBIs. All in just 28 games.
Another Strong AJ Causey Outing
AJ Causey turning in an effective long relief outing is becoming a given for Tennessee baseball in each series opener at this point.
There was nothing different on Thursday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium when he allowed just six hits, one walk, hit two batters and struck out eight in 5.1 innings pitched.
Causey gave up a Cole Messina homer to leadoff the sixth inning and responded by promptly sitting down the next three Gamecock batters. He left the game in the eighth inning with two runners on base and one came home to make it a two earned run performance.
The right-handed pitcher improved upon his team-best strikeout number this season in the win. It marked his sixth straight appearance with six-plus strikeouts and his third straight appearance with seven-plus strikeouts.
Chris Stamos didn’t have one of his better outings but did pitch two innings allowing just two runs as the Vols’ series opening pitching stack continued to roll.
More From RTI: Christian Moore Is Tennessee Baseball’s Single Season Home Run King
The Weather Is Heating Up And With It The Long Ball
Lindsey Nelson Stadium is characterized as a very small, hitter friendly ballpark. For a large part of the year, it is a somewhat unfair judgement.
For much of the season the wind blows in off the river from right field and the cool weather makes it a relatively normal ballpark.
But as the season progresses and the weather warms up, the characterization become a fair one. Especially on a night like Thursday when the wind was non existent.
With those exterior factors and two strong hitting teams we got a home run barrage. There were six different home runs in the game with nine of the 12 runs in the game coming from long balls.
Tennessee hit four home runs in the game with Kavares Tears hitting the three-run homer that gave the Vols some breathing distance and Dylan Dreiling hit the two-run homer that proved the dagger.
Box Score
Up Next
Tennessee and South Carolina resume their weekend series at 6:30 p.m. ET on Friday night. SEC Network+ is streaming the game.
