Nothing is guaranteed in sports. But the odds are good that someone on the third-ranked University of Tennessee baseball team will hit a home run during any game.
The Vols have continued to hit balls out of the park with regularity this season. They tied a season-high with six home runs in the series-opening win over Missouri last weekend. Tennessee has hit six home runs in a game five different times this season.
UT entered the week with an SEC-leading 121 home runs this season. The program single-season record for home runs is 158 in 2022. Four of the top five home runs seasons in UT history have come in the past four years (the Vols hit 126 in 2023). Before 2022, UT hit 107 or more home runs in a season just once in program history.
The homers, combined with solid pitching, have resulted in a 37-7, 15-6 record going into Tuesday night’s game against Lipscomb. The Vols have won each of their last six SEC series.
Leading the long-ball barrage are juniors Christian Moore and Blake Burke.
Moore is posting SEC Player of the Year numbers, batting .384 with 20 home runs and 46 RBI. Moore is five away from breaking the program’s single-season home run record, which was set in 1998 by Sonny Cortez.
Moore is first place on UT’s career home run list with 47, passing Burke (44) two weeks ago with a monstrous series against then-No. 3 Kentucky. Moore was 8 for 11 with four home runs and eight RBIs in the final two games. He hit three home runs in the final game.
“It’s pretty cool. I think Burke’s going to catch me, and we’re going to go back-and-forth the whole season, and that’ll be pretty cool,” Moore says. “But for right now, I’m the champion, and I’ll try to ride with it as long as I can.”
Moore has tried to keep his approach the same and not to get too caught up in the numbers or distracted by the extra media attention.
“Trying to stay humble and even-keeled. Staying with my work that I do every day and try not to change as much, and just try to see good pitches up there,” Moore says. “On defense, do the same thing. Keep the ball in front and make plays.”
Burke is batting .386 with 14 homers. Burke and Moore are two of six regular starters with an OPS (On-base Plus Slugging) of 1.162 or higher
Well-rounded team still key
The impact of Moore and Burke in UT history will go beyond their individual offensive milestones, Vitello says.
“In about 17 years, no one is going to remember each of those (records and accolades) because they might get broken, whatever the record or accolades are,” Vitello says. “There is no way that anyone who wears orange is going to forget what those guys have done in terms of competing, thrilling the fans and also just helping out programs win games.”
Although the Vols can produce runs in bunches and lead the SEC in most offensive statistical categories, including batting average (.325), slugging percentage (.649), runs scored (443), hits (480) and RBIs (412), they can win games other ways if needed.
Against Missouri last weekend, the Vols won the final two games 3-2. Their pitching staff and bullpen didn’t flinch without as much run support as usual.
Having made deep postseason runs the last few years, Vitello knows how essential having a well-rounded team is to success.
“Crucial, because of what’s coming ahead as things kind of progress and maybe the stakes get a little bit higher,” Vitello says. “You get to Hoover, which we’ve punched our ticket, and now fans really want to win and SEC fans are talking trash and all that. What can happen is it can kind of turn into a Little League game where parents are yelling like crazy and you can see guys’ forearms when they’re holding the bat or the ball and tension can really arise. The best way to combat that is to take a deep breath and trust what got you there. But an even better way is to kind of have a recipe that you’ve already formulated.”