We're only four games into the college baseball season, and Tennessee baseball might have already proven to have one of the best offenses in the country, if not the best.
The BaseVols beat Hofstra a combined 46-2 over their three-game series. Tennessee followed the dominant performance with a Tony Vitello-era record-tying game on Tuesday.
Tennessee beat UNC Asheville 29-4 in an offensive explosion. The game finished after seven innings based on the NCAA's run-rule policy, and Tennessee tied the program record for most runs scored in a game in the Vitello era.
It wasn't as easy a win as any of the Hofstra games, though. The Bulldogs took the lead in the second inning after scoring three runs, forcing Tennessee to play from behind for the first time this year.
Tennessee responded by scoring nine runs in the bottom of the second, putting the game out of reach and well on its way to scoring almost 30 runs. Vitello talked about responding to trailing in the second inning on a day multiple top-25 teams lost to unranked teams in their midweek matchup.
"I think in that moment, you've got to respond the right way," Vitello said postgame. "Nine innings is a long time if you're going to have a back-and-forth game like we had early on there, nine innings is a long time. You got to be ready to stay the course and respond the right way when things don't go well. Our guys did that immediately."
All of Tennessee's starters got a hit and scored a run in Tuesday's win, which is another talking point for Tennessee's new and revamped offense being as good or better than last year's national championship offense.
"That means, I think we are closer to putting that little feather in our cap that … we do have a well-balanced attack, but I think the bigger thing was the walks accumulated, and I'm sure on their side, they want their pitchers to throw more strikes, but it takes two to tango, and little more early in the game is what I'm getting at.
"We had some guys really lay off important pitches or battle their way. Dean (Curley) did it once into a base on balls. So knowing the strike zone and competing when you maybe get down in the count to get back to even or just to fight your way on base, to me, was the biggest thing that stuck out."
Now, Tennessee turns to its second weekend series of the year. The Vols host Samford this weekend, starting with a Friday night matchup with Liam Doyle taking the mound in game one, hoping to repeat his performance against Hofstra, going five innings, no runs, one hit, and 11 strikeouts.