KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – In almost a carbon copy of Friday’s series opener, No. 7/8 Tennessee started fast and never slowed down in a 15-4 run-rule victory over No. 17 Ole Miss in front of a record crowd of 5,677 on Sunday afternoon at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
The Big Orange finished Sunday’s rubber game with the same number of runs, hits (13) and home runs (five) as they did on Friday night and got contributions up and down the lineup with four players registering multi-hit efforts and five players finishing with multiple RBIs on the day.
Kavares Tears hammered a 2-0 pitch way over the wall in right center for a two-run homer to get UT off to a fast start in the bottom of the first. After the Rebels scored a run in the second to cut the lead in half, the Vols started their offensive onslaught with a five-run third inning that featured a two-run homer by Christian Moore and a three-run blast by Dylan Dreiling to make it 7-1.
Tennessee scored two more runs in the fourth inning and really put the game away with a six-run fifth inning that was punctuated by a Billy Amick grand slam. After a relatively quiet first two games of the series, Amick had a pair of hits and tied a career high with five RBIs on Sunday.
Tears and Dean Curley led the team with three hits apiece and combined for five runs scored and five RBIs. Blake Burke also added a pair of hits, including his SEC-leading 14th double of the year, to extend his hitting streak to 15 games and his on-base streak to 23 games.
On the mound, sophomore righthander Nate Snead was nails out of the bullpen as he set a career high with six strikeouts and did not allow a walk over 4.2 innings of work to earn the win and improve to 5-1 on the year. Senior lefty Zander Sechrist served as an opener of sorts for the Vols and struck out three over 2.1 innings in his first-career SEC start to give the team some early confidence.
Ole Miss starting pitcher Grayson Saunier was tagged for seven runs on six hits in 2.2 innings and fell to 3-3 on the year. Ethan Lege, Luke Hill and Reagan Burford all had two hits each for the Rebels, who had 11 total hits but left seven runners on base for the game.
UP NEXT: The Vols (21-4, 3-3 SEC) square off against Tennessee Tech on Tuesday night at 6 p.m. before another SEC home series next weekend against Georgia.
STAT OF THE GAME: With Sunday’s victory, Tennessee secured another SEC home opening series win and has now won all six of its home opening conference series under head coach Tony Vitello and has posted a 16-2 overall record in those series.
