Game Recap: Baseball | May 11, 2024
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – No. 1/1 Tennessee battled throughout the afternoon and eventually came out on top to earn a gritty 7-6 victory at No. 25/NR Vanderbilt on Saturday at Hawkins Field, securing its eighth straight series win in the process.
After falling behind 3-2 in the bottom of the fourth, the Volunteers struck for four runs in the top of the sixth and added what proved to be another important run in the seventh before fending off a Commodores’ rally in the ninth and holding on for their ninth consecutive victory over their in-state rival.
Christian Moore continued his incredible 2024 campaign with another dazzling performance for the Big Orange, driving in five of the team’s seven runs on three hits, including a three-run homer to the opposite field on a 102-mph fastball from Vandy relief pitcher Greysen Carter in UT’s decisive four-run sixth inning.
The New York native also drove in Tennessee’s first run of the day with an infield single in the top of the third inning and had what turned out to be the game-winning hit with another RBI single with two outs in the top of the seventh.
While he didn’t have any RBIs, Blake Burke also had a productive afternoon at the plate, finishing with three hits and a run scored after being held without a hit in Friday’s series opener.
Cal Stark had the only other RBI of the day for UT, driving in Dylan Dreiling with a bases-loaded bloop single into left-center field in the top of the fourth inning. The senior backstop also had a triple to finish the game with a pair of hits.
Drew Beam got the win to improve to 7-2 on the year despite giving up five runs on six hits. The junior righthander battled throughout his outing and finished with six strikeouts in a workmanlike performance.
Relievers Aaron Combs and Nate Snead where able to lock things down over the final 3.1 innings, holding the Dores to just one run on one hit in that span. Combs tossed 2.2 innings before handing the ball off the Snead with one out and the tying run on second in the bottom of the ninth.
The sophomore flamethrower got Colin Barczi to fly out to right field before inducing a groundout from Camden Kozeal to end the game and strand the tying run at second, earning his fourth save of the season in the process.
Kozeal led the Vandy attack with a pair of hits, including a two-run homer that put the Commodores ahead 3-2 in the fourth inning. Carter suffered the loss for VU after allowing four runs on three hits while recording just one out.
STAT OF THE GAME: With his sixth inning blast, Moore became the first Vol to reach the 50-homer mark for his career and also moved into sole possession of second place on UT’s single-season home runs list with 23, just one shy of Sonny Cortez’s program record of 24 set in 1998.
UP NEXT: The Vols (42-9, 19-7 SEC) will attempt to secure their third series sweep in a row over the Commodores (33-18, 11-15 SEC) when the two teams square off at 3 p.m. ET Sunday on ESPN2.
