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LOOK: Tennessee baseball unveils new home run celebration prop

Barkley-Truaxby:Barkley Truax•02/20/22•

BarkleyTruax

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If you’re hitting dingers for the Volunteers this season in Knoxville, you’ll be rewarded with a cheetah-printed fur coat.

“That is another Evan Russell creation,” third baseman Trey Lipscomb said of the coat. “He has the cheetah print pimp coat. We like it. Just put it on your shoulders or whatever.” Russell, a super senior catcher for the Vols and preseason All-American, knows a thing or two about home runs being the only player in Tennessee baseball history to hit three homers in a single game twice.

Tennessee debut the new-look celebration coat Friday during their season-opening 9-0 win over Georgia Southern, a performance that saw the Volunteers hit four total home runs. Lipscomb hit the first over the fence for two runs to get Tennessee on the board, while Seth Stephenson hit the second, Jorel Ortega hit a three-run homer to left-center and Christian Scott hit a solo shot to cap off a strong showing at the plate in Knoxville.

Speaking of Georgia Southern, the Vols landed Chase Dollander was a transfer from the Eagles, a Freshmen All-American last season. On top of that, Tennessee finished the offseason recruiting cycle with a top-25 recruiting class for this season, according to PerfectGame.org’s rankings. Going down the list, Chase Burns was a top-25 national recruit from Beech High School in Tennessee. Tennessee was just thrilled that he made it to campus — they were initially afraid he would go the professional route, but after he didn’t get taken in the first two rounds of the MLB Draft, he decided a college career in Knoxville was his best interest.

“He’s been remarkably impressive when I’ve watched him,” Rocky Top Insider‘s Ryan Schumpert told On3’s Simon Gibbs. “Like I said, I think he was going to be a weekend starter before the injuries. With the injuries, it’s a no doubt he’s going to be a weekend starter for Tennessee. I think he’s going to be the Blade Tidwell of this year’s team, where the talent is going to be evident right away. He probably will go through some rough patches, especially at first half of SEC play, adjusting to the life at just a completely different level. But when the second half of SEC play rolls around, when we get into April, when we get into May, he has as much talent if not more talent than any player on this Tennessee team. I think he’s going to be hitting a stride then, and I think he’s going to be really effective for the Vols.”

Tennessee will take the field against Georgia Southern looking to sweep the Eagles 3-0 in the series. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. ET on SECN+.