Tennessee baseball: Three takeaways from Vols’ sweep at Florida

Christian Moore drove in two runs with a single in the ninth inning Sunday, the second and third runs of the inning to tie the game up for Tennessee baseball after a 4-0 deficit at the Florida Gators. Moore then hit a two-run shot in the 11th to secure a 6-4 win and complete another sweep for the Vols in Tony Vitello’s return after a four-game suspension.

Chrsitian Scott robbed Jud Fabian of a home run in that final game to clinch the win with the final out. UT beat Florida 8-2 Friday thanks to seven runs in the second and 3-0 Saturday with Josh Elander as acting head coach. They never trailed in either of those games. Ranked No. 1 across most services, this improved the Vols to 17-1 in the SEC, the best start in league history.

Overall, Rocky Top is now 37-3 with a visit from the Xavier Musketeers set for Tuesday before a three-game home series against the Auburn Tigers this weekend. Florida falls to 23-17 and will host the Kentucky Wildcats for a three-game series next weekend. Here are three things we learned from another Tennessee baseball sweep.

1. Bullpen led another elite pitching weekend.

Don’t get it twisted. The starters were mostly elite too. Chase Burns allowed one earned run in over six innings on Friday, and Blade Tidwell pitched a shutout in nearly five innings Saturday. That’s the only way to explain allowing five hits the first two games. Only Drew Beam struggled, allowing three runs in four inning Sunday. however, the Vols’ bullpen was something special.

Ben Joyce, Redmond Walsh, Camden Sweell, Will Mabrey and Mark McLaughlin all saw action over the weekend, combining to allow 0 runs in 14 innings. Walsh got the win Sunday, closing it out with no runs in the final three innings. He allowed none in one inning Friday. Sewell pitched a shutout in over four innings Saturday.

2. Home runs continue to carry the offense.

The two-run shot from Moore Sunday was just part of the story. Tennessee baseball scored nine of its 17 runs over the weekend, including all three Saturday, off homers. Trey Lipscomb hit one Friday, Drew Gilbert and Luc Lipcius each hit one Saturday, and Jorel Ortega hit one along with Moore on Sunday.

Extra base hits also drove the offense, as Lipscomb, Cortland Lawson, Jordan Beck and Evan Russell all had doubles, and Gilbert had a triple. Still, it was the home runs that carried this team once again, and combined with power pitching, they continue to prove they are unstoppable.

3. Outfield defense was incredible.

Honestly, defense wasn’t great this weekend. UT had three errors, two from Lipscomb and one from Lipcius, and allowed two unearned runs. However, their .974 fielding percentage still wasn’t bad. The reason for that was the play of the outfield, which had no errors and 34 putouts over the weekend. It ended, as already mentioned, with Scott stealing this home run.

Of course, Florida helped with three errors of its own, but none of them would have made a difference. Tennessee baseball could have lost by one run thanks to an unearned run allowed Sunday, so it almost proved costly. Scott, Gilbert and Beck deserve tons of credit for what they were able to do, though.