Christian Moore blasts three home runs to defeat No. 3 Kentucky
Christian Moore had himself a day. In No. 4 Tennessee’s 13-11 victory over No. 3 Kentucky on Sunday, the junior infielder tallied three home runs on only five at-bats. Moore also recorded a double in the win.
With the three home runs, Moore now owns sole possession of Tennessee’s career home run record. Moore now has 46 career HRs, surpassing teammate Blake Burke’s previous mark of 44. Moore boasts 19 home runs this season alone.
Christian Moore is now in contention for Tennessee’s single-season home run record, as well. The record is currently held by Sonny Cortez, who blasted 24 home runs for Tennessee in 1998.
With the triumph over the Wildcats, Tennessee improved to 37-7 this season, with an 11-6 mark in conference play. The win also gave Tennessee the series. It is the first time this season Kentucky has lost a series against an SEC foe.
Moore played with USA Baseball this past summer and was a four-time preseason All-American entering the 2024 campaign. He was recently named to the Midseason Golden Spikes Award Watch List.
Meanwhile, Burke belted 14 home runs in 2022 as a true freshman. He accomplished the feat in his first collegiate season in only 95 at-bats as a part-time player. As a sophomore in 2023, Burke launched 16 home runs and now sits at 10 home runs thus far into the 2024 campaign.
He has been named a Perfect Game Freshman All-American (2022), Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American (2022) and to the SEC All-Freshman Team (2022). The first baseman was also named a Preseason All-American (2nd Team) by Baseball America ahead of the 2024 campaign.
Tony Vitello weighs in on Tennessee’s composure in win
After Tennessee’s win over Kentucky on Saturday, Volunteers head coach Tony Vitello revealed how the pair’s leadership boosts the team.
“I think it requires leadership to come back from a loss that has a lot of emotion to it,” Vitello said. “It’s a grudge match back and forth. Kudos to the opponent, they certainly did what they needed to win the game, but we certainly made some mistakes that contributed to the whole deal.
“When you wrap that into one package what you need is a little bit of leadership and some guys to calm the storm in the dugout for you. Eventually you have to play ball, too. Guys got to do things and those two guys do about as much as anybody on a day-to-day basis or definitely on the season for the whole.”