Courtesy / UT Athletics
ARLINGTON, Texas – The runs came early and often for No. 5/9 Tennessee in Sunday’s 11-5 victory over Baylor to close out the Shriners Children’s College Showdown at Globe Life Field.
After a frustrating night at the plate in Saturday’s extra-innings loss to Oklahoma, the Volunteers’ bats came to life in Sunday’s nightcap as the Big Orange cranked out 12 hits to improve to 2-1 on the year.
Kavares Tears and Billy Amick both homered, finished with multiple hits and three RBIs apiece on a night where eight different Vols had at least one base knock. Christian Moore also had another impressive all-around night at the dish, reaching base four times with a pair of doubles, two walks, two RBIs and two runs scored.
After falling into an early 2-0 hole in the first inning, Tennessee jumped in front with one swing of the bat in the top of the second as Tears hit a 387-foot opposite field blast to put the Vols ahead 3-2.
The Bears (0-3) briefly tied things back up with a run in the second, but UT answered right back with another three-spot in the top of the third after an Amick two-run triple and a Cannon Peebles sacrifice fly to take the lead for good.
Despite a shaky first inning in relief of starter Zander Sechrist, sophomore Nate Snead settled in nicely to give UT a solid performance out of the bullpen. The hard-throwing right hander struck out four in five innings of work while giving up two runs on four hits to pick up his first win as a Vol in his Tennessee debut.
Cal transfer Chris Stamos took over for Snead to start the eighth inning and pitched two scoreless frames with four strikeouts to close out the victory.
With four teams having finished this weekend’s tournament with a 2-1 record, the Vols were tabbed as the 2024 Shriners Children’s College Showdown Champions after having the best run differential of the four clubs (Tennessee – +6, Oklahoma – +3, Texas Tech – +3, Oregon – +1).
UP NEXT: The Vols return to Knoxville to kick off a 15-game homestand with their 2024 home opener on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. against UNC Asheville. UT will also host ETSU on Wednesday at the same time before welcoming Albany to Lindsey Nelson Stadium for a weekend series starting on Friday.
STAT OF THE GAME: After being held off the board in the first inning, Tennessee scored at least one run in each of the next six frames to build an 11-5 advantage heading into the eighth inning.
