KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Jordan Beck continued to tear the cover off the ball as No. 15 Tennessee opened its series against Indiana State with a 4-3 win on Friday at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

The sophomore slugger hit his team-leading third home run of the year and also drove in the game-winning run with a two-out single in the sixth inning. Beck finished the day 2-for-3 with a run and two RBI.

The tandem of Chad Dallas and Sean Hunley had another successful day on the mound. Dallas got the start and set a new career high with nine strikeouts in just five innings of work. He allowed three runs on nine hits but was able to escape some jams early on to keep the Vols ­­(6-0) from falling behind.

Hunley took over for Dallas after a leadoff single in the sixth and did not allow anyone to reach base the rest of the way, retiring all 11 batters he faced. The Mount Juliet, Tennessee, native finished with three strikeouts and picked up the win to improve his record to 2-0 on the year.

Junior third baseman Jake Rucker had another solid day at the plate, as well, picking up two more hits while driving in a run with a single in the fourth. Drew Gilbert and Liam Spence joined Beck and Rucker as Vols with two hit-performances.

Max Wright led Indiana State (1-3) with two hits and an RBI while Diego Gines added a solo home run in the second inning.

The Vols and Sycamores are slated to play a doubleheader tomorrow afternoon with first pitch for Game 1 scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Game 2 will begin approximately 30-45 minutes following the conclusion of Game 1. Both contests will be streamed live on WatchESPN.com and the ESPN app.

NOTABLE

BECK CONTINUES TO MASH: Sophomore outfielder Jordan Beck has been UT’s breakout star early on this season. The Alabama native is batting .368 and leads the team with three homers, 10 RBI, 20 total bases and a 1.053 slugging percentage.

CHEESE SETS CAREER HIGH IN Ks: Junior right hander Chad Dallas posted another quality start despite not having his best day in Friday’s win. The Orange, Texas, native battled to work his way out of a couple of sticky situations and finished the game with a career-best nine strikeouts.

HUNLEY UNHITTABLE: Sean Hunley proved once again why he’s one of the top relievers in the SEC with his performance on Friday. The senior right hander pitched four shutout innings without allowing a single baserunner. Hunley had three strikeouts and earned the win to improve to 2-0 this season.

Box Score (PDF) | DOWNLOAD: Vitello, Beck & Hunley Postgame Video |

-UT Athletics

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Senior Rennia Davis scored all 26 of her points in the second half, including 20 in the fourth-quarter, leading No. 20/21 Tennessee to a 78-73 win over Missouri at Mizzou Arena on Thursday night.

Junior Rae Burrell was also a factor for UT (14-6, 8-4 SEC), notching 23 points and eight rebounds. Redshirt junior Jordan Walker was UT’s top rebounder, pulling down 10 boards on the night.

Missouri (8-10, 4-9 SEC) was led by Haley Troup and Aijha Blackwell with 16 points each. Shannon Dufficy and Shug Dickson were also in double figures with 10 points apiece.

Burrell came out with the hot hand, putting in seven points in the first three minutes to propel the Lady Vols to a 9-2 lead. Troup rallied Mizzou with five-straight points to pull UM back within two points two minutes later, and back-to-back treys by Lauren Hansen and Troup would put the Tigers up by four with 3:36 to go in the first. Tamari Key ended the 11-0 Missouri run with a layup, but Dufficy countered with another MU 3-pointer to put Mizzou up by five. Jordan Horston and Key combined for two buckets to close out the quarter with UT trailing, 18-17.

Hansen hit a three 20 seconds into the second frame to put the Tigers back up by four, but Burrell cut their lead to two with a jumper 20 seconds later. Blackwell followed it up with a trey before Horston set off a 14-2 run that put Tennessee up 31-26 by the 5:48 mark. Troup ended the UM drought with back-to-back baskets, but Burrell hit a 3-pointer to score her 18th point of the first half and put the Lady Vols up 34-30 with 3:21 left in the quarter. Blackwell answered with three to pull UM within one, and Dickson hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to put the Tigers up 36-34 at halftime.

Blackwell struck first in the second half, stretching Mizzou’s lead to four before Burrell knocked down her third trey of the game to pull UT within one 34 seconds in. Hayley Frank and Blackwell teamed up for five points to put UM back on top 37-33 with 7:07 to go in the third, but Burrell and Key scrapped back for UT, making the score 43-41 just over 30 seconds later. The Tigers built their lead back up to six by the 5:26 mark, but a Horston layup set off a 7-2 UT run that saw the Lady Vols creep within one with just over four minutes left in the quarter. The teams traded buckets through the 1:40 mark before Missouri closed out the period with four-straight points to take a 60-55 lead into the fourth.

Davis hit two treys in the opening minutes of the fourth to fuel an 8-0 UT run that gave the Lady Vols their first lead of the second half at 63-60. Frank tied it back up with a 3-pointer on the other end, but back-to-back buckets by Davis put Tennessee on top 67-63 a minute and a half later. Davis grew her fourth-quarter point total to 14 off a pair of free throws, stretching UT’s lead to 71-66 with 4:36 to play. Blackwell rallied the Tigers with a layup on the other end, setting off a 5-0 run that tied the game up by the 2:44 mark, but Davis scored seven points in the closing minutes to drive a 9-2 UT run and lead Tennessee to a 78-73 victory in Columbia.

Up Next: The Lady Vols will close out the regular season at home, hosting Auburn on Senior Day in a 2 p.m. ET matchup on the SEC Network.

Davis’ High-Powered Offense: With 26 points against Missouri, Rennia Davis logged the 20th game of her career (seventh this season) with 20+ points, tying Meighan Simmons for sixth all-time at Tennessee.

Burrell Drops 20 Again: Rae Burrell produced her sixth 20+ point game this season and the ninth of her career, firing in 23 vs. the Tigers. She had 18 at the half.

Key Swattin’: Over the last six games, sophomore Tamari Key is averaging 4.9 bpg. Her career total of 142 is good enough to rank eighth all-time among Lady Vols, situated behind seventh-place Nicky Anosike (161).

Cleaning The Glass: The Lady Vols outrebounded Missouri 46-25. They have now outrworked 19 of 20 opponents on the glass this season and have done so by an average of 45.9 rpg. to 32.8 rpg. The only team they did not win the battle of the boards with was against No. 2/3 South Carolina as the teams tied with 40 rebounds each.

Box Score (PDF) ​| Highlights ​| Harper Presser ​| Davis Presser

-UT Athletics

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – No. 15 Tennessee continues its 10-game homestand this weekend as Indiana State visits Lindsey Nelson Stadium for a four-game series.

The Vols and Sycamores open the series on Friday and will play a doubleheader on Saturday before concluding the series on Sunday afternoon. UT is off to a 5-0 start after an opening weekend sweep at Georgia Southern and a pair of midweek wins over Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

GAMEDAY INFORMATION

Relying on the expertise of public health authorities, the state of Tennessee, appropriate university and government agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), we are implementing a number of new initiatives at Tennessee Baseball gamedays this spring. The well-being of our student-athletes, fans and staff are our top priorities and guide our decisions. Exposure to COVID-19 is an inherent risk in any public location where people are present; we cannot guarantee you will not be exposed during your visit.

The Southeastern Conference in August released several conference-wide fan health and safety guidelines for all member institutions this fall. The Tennessee-specific measures outlined on this page are in line with, and in addition to, the SEC’s guidelines.

Parking
Baseball parking is located primarily in Lots GF1, G16, and C1.

Additional on-street parking is located in C10 along Todd Helton Dr. and Chamique Holdsclaw Dr. and along West Volunteer Blvd.

Handicap parking is located in marked handicap spaces on Pat Head Summitt St. and in the G16 Volunteer Blvd. garage.

The 2021 parking map can be seen HERE (PDF).

For more information and gameday info, visit the Tennessee Baseball Gameday Information page by clicking HERE.

Ticket Information
Season tickets for this season are sold out. There are limited seating options still available for select games in the Porch and Deck areas. Fans should contact Maggie Coates at 865-974-9579 or [email protected] for more information.

There are no single-game general admission tickets being sold at the stadium this season. Single-game tickets can be purchased via Vivid Seats by clicking HERE.

BROADCAST INFO

All four of this weekend’s contests are slated to be streamed on Watch ESPN and the ESPN app.

Fans can also listen to the games on UTSports.com and the UT Gameday app, as John Wilkerson and Vince Ferrara call the action.

SERIES HISTORY

Overall: First Ever Meeting
In Knoxville: N/A
In Terre Haute: N/A
Neutral Sites: N/A
Last Meeting: N/A

This weekend’s series will be the first time the Vols and Sycamores have ever met on the diamond.

NOTABLE

Pitching Staff in Midseason Form
With veteran pitching coach Frank Anderson at the helm, UT has come to expect great pitching and this season has been no different. Through five games, the Vols’ pitching staff ranks among the top 25 nationally in strikeout-to-walk ratio (8th – 5.89),WHIP (19th – 0.94) and walks allowed per nine innings (5th – 1.69).

In two midweek wins against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, the Vols recorded 26 combined strikeouts, 16 on Tuesday and 10 on Wednesday. The Golden Lions had just four hits in Tuesday’s game with only two coming against Tennessee’s bullpen over the final seven innings.

Bats Starting to Heat Up
After a somewhat slow start in the team’s first three games, Tennessee’s bats broke out in a big way in two midweek wins over Arkansas-Pine Bluff. The Vols score 21 runs on 16 hits in Tuesday’s victory against the Golden Lions and followed that up with 14 more runs on 12 hits in Wednesday’s win.

The Big Orange enter this weekend’s series ranked sixth nationally with nine home runs. UT has hit at least one long ball in every game this season. The Vols also rank in the top 25 nationally in hits (10th – 50), runs (3rd – 52), runs per game (14th – 10.4), doubles (3rd – 15), triples (13th – 2), slugging percentage (20th – .522) and walks (6th – 31).

Vols in the Polls
Tennessee entered the 2021 season ranked in the Top 25 nationally in four of the six major polls. This year marked the first time that the Vols had been ranked in the preseason Top 25 since 2007, when UT was ranked as high as No. 11 to begin the season.

The Vols moved up in most of the polls this week, jumping five spots to No. 15 in the NCBWA rankings, two spots from No. 19 to No. 17 in the Baseball America Top 25 and one spot to No. 18 in D1Baseball.com’s poll. UT is just outside the Top 25 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper rankings, coming in at No. 27.

Current Top 25 Rankings
NCBWA                                #15
USA Today                          #16
Baseball America              #17
D1Baseball.com                 #18

Non-Conference Dominance
Tennessee has been extremely successful against non-conference competition since the start of the 2019 season, posting a 46-7 record in that time.

The Vols’ 26 victories against non-conference teams during the 2019 season were their most since winning 30 in 2000. UT was 15-2 in non-league games last season and is off to a 5-0 start this year.

OPPONENT SCOUT

Indiana State Sycamores

• 2021 Record: 1-2 (0-0 MVC)
• 2019 Postseason: NCAA Nashville Regional (Runner-Up)
• Head Coach: Mitch Hannahs (8th season) // Since taking over the program in 2013, Hannahs has led the Sycamores to over 200 wins, a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances and five top-3 finishes in the Missouri Valley Conference.
• The Sycamores were picked to finish fourth in the Missouri Valley Conference Preseason Poll and boast a pair of preseason all-conference selections in pitchers Tristan Weaver and Tyler Grauer.
• Grauer was also named to preseason All-America teams by the NCBWA (first team) and D1Baseball.com (third team). The redshirt senior reliever had five saves and a 1.59 ERA in 11.1 innings last season.
• Projected Friday starter Geremy Guerrero got the start in ISU’s season-opening win against Pittsburgh and earned the win after pitching 5.1 scoreless innings.
• Redshirt junior infielder Jordan Schaffer is the team leader in batting average (.462), hits (six) and runs (two) entering the weekend.
• The Sycamores won their season opener against Pittsburgh but lost the next two games to drop the series last weekend.
• Indiana State had one of its best seasons in program history in 2019, defeating Dallas Baptist to win the MVC Tournament. The Sycamores advanced to the NCAA Nashville Regional Championship game before falling to top-ranked Vanderbilt.

GAME PROMOTIONS

Upcoming promotions for all Tennessee athletics home events can be found on the UT Fan Experience page by clicking HERE.

Fans are encouraged to download the My All App for their phones and devices this season. The app is available on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store and will allow fans to participate in in-game trivia, the custom filter selfie cam and more throughout the year.

ON DECK

Following this weekend’s series, the Vols welcome Dayton to Rocky Top for a Wednesday midweek matchup on March 3. First pitch is slated for 6 p.m.

-UT Athletics