The “Daddy Hat” became a household name during the Tennessee baseball season last year.
After each Tennessee home run, the batter would head back into the dugout and be crowned with the sweaty, beloved, light pink Daddy Hat. The NCAA even ran a feature video on the celebration after it became a story of its own in 2021.
So heading into 2022, the Vols didn’t change the celebration because, hey, why change what isn’t broken? But they did add to it to take it to new heights.
After Trey Lipscomb’s two-run home-run in the bottom of the fourth inning, the Vols were able to break out the new addition for the first time: a leopard print fur coat.
The Vols didn’t just break out the new celebration in the fourth inning with Lipscomb, though. Tennessee had four total home runs on the evening in the Vols’ 2022 season-opener against Georgia Southern in Knoxville.
As previously mentioned, Lipscomb led off the festivities with a moon shot to left-center field to score Logan Chambers. Lipscomb’s ball cleared the new deck in the outfield as it raced out of the park. Then, one inning later in the bottom of the fifth, JUCO transfer Seth Stephenson launched a home-run to left field himself and brought home Jorel Ortega to score.
The Vols weren’t satisfied with just two though, which led to Ortega’s three-run shot in the sixth inning to bring around Luc Lipscius and Lipscomb.
And finally, to cap off the Vols’ long-bombs for the night, pinch-hitter Christian Scott knocked out a solo home-run to right-center in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Tennessee had a dominant win on Friday night in Lindsey Nelson Stadium and did the celebration in style while they were at it.
The Vols took down Georgia Southern by a score of 9-0 in the season-opener .
Started the season off with a bang.#GBO // #OTH // #VolsWin // #HelloWinColumn pic.twitter.com/9dRagZJjQH
— Tennessee Baseball (@Vol_Baseball) February 19, 2022
