KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Riding 16 strikeouts from its pitching staff and timely late hitting, the top-ranked Tennessee baseball team defeated Missouri, 8-3, in the series opener Friday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
Tennessee (29-1, 10-0 SEC) collected its 10th consecutive victory to start SEC play, the longest conference win streak to open the year since Florida had 10 in 1994. The Volunteers also notched their 21st overall victory in a row, extending a program record.
It was an all hands on deck effort from the pitching staff as eight different Vols toed the rubber with no one throwing longer than 2.2 innings. UT’s pitchers punched out 16 Mizzou batters, led by Chase Burns (5), Will Mabrey (3), Ben Joyce (3) and Blade Tidwell (3). Mark McLaughlin tallied the win, his first this season and fourth of his career.
Seven Big Orange starters got a hit in the game and six drove in a run, highlighted by a 3-for-4 game from Christian Scott who started Tennessee’s rally in the seventh. Evan Russell provided the big blast, sending a three-run shot over the wall in left field for UT’s 73rd homer this season.
Missouri (18-9, 3-7 SEC) struck first, hitting a 2-run homer in the top of the first off the top of the scoreboard. Trevor Austin walked before Luke Mann’s big fly drove him in to put the Tigers up 2-0 early.
Tennessee’s offense got on the board in the home half of the fifth when Trey Lipscomb cranked his 12th home run of the season over the fence in left, a solo blast to cut the deficit to one run.
The Tigers added to their lead with three consecutive two-out hits in the top of the sixth, but the Vols quickly struck back in the bottom half as Luc Lipcius scored on an RBI groundout from Drew Gilbert after singling to jumpstart the UT offense.
Tennessee got a pair of runs in the seventh to take its first lead of the game. It all started when Scott legged out a hustle-double on a looper to left center. Jorel Ortega followed it up with a double laced down the left-field line, then Cortland Lawson collected the third hit in a row, an RBI single to left to score the go-ahead run. The Vols would not concede the 4-3 advantage after that, and added some insurance runs in the eighth inning, highlighted by a three-run shot from Russell that curled around the foul pole in left field.
NOTABLE
HAVE A DAY, C. SCOTT:
Christian Scott’s three hits tied his career high. He last did it on Feb. 19, 2019 against Northern Kentucky, his first collegiate game.
DOUBLE-DIGIT HITS x18:
For the 18th time this season, Tennessee finished with double-digit hits. It took until May 1 for the Vols to have 18 10-plus hit games in 2021.
SITTIN’ ‘EM DOWN:
Tennessee finished the night with 16 strikeouts, it’s second-highest total in a game this season (18 vs. UNC Asheville). It was its most against an SEC opponent since striking out 16 batters against LSU on June 12, 2021 in the NCAA Super Regionals. It was also the most in a regular-season game against a conference foe since striking 17 vs. LSU in 11 innings on March 27, 2021.