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Tennessee bats explode in 15-run effort over Alabama in Hoover

On3 imageby:Eric Cain•05/21/25•

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Dalton Bargo and Hunter Ensley. Credit: Tennessee Athletics/Kate Luffman
Dalton Bargo and Hunter Ensley. Credit: Tennessee Athletics/Kate Luffman

We know about Tennessee’s struggles to end the regular season. The final 15 games in conference play weren’t pretty. The series-losses were stacking up and the noise as getting loud.

There were several reasons for the tough stretch and one was the inability to score runs and hit with men in scoring position. The at-bats were becoming noticeably better in the Vanderbilt series-loss and were pretty good for much of the weekend in Fayetteville to end the regular season.

That carried over on Wednesday in Hoover with Tennessee pounding out a season-high 20 hits in the 15-10 Southeastern Conference second round victory over Alabama at the Hoover Met.     

“That offense was firing on all cylinders today. They didn’t make mistakes,” Alabama coach Rob Vaughn said postgame of Tennessee. “They capitalized on stuff. At the end of the day, just couldn’t slow them down.”

UT hit for a .488 average in the ballgame, going 6-for-11 (.545) with two outs and 14-for-29 (.483) with runners on base. Vitello’s club registered a 9-for-20 (.450) clip with runners in scoring position and were 5-for-8 (.625) leading off innings. The bottom-third of the order (Levi Clark, Cannon Peebles & Manny Marin) went 8-for-13 in the ballgame.   

“To me, it all started at the beginning of the day. You could sense that a little bit,” Tony Vitello said of the offense. “And I’ll be honest, we’ve had days like that where if you mic’d up our coaches’ locker room, it’s like, man, don’t say it too loud, but this is a good deal.”

Every player in the starting lineup for Tennessee registered at least one hit. Levi Clark, Andrew Fischer  and Cannon Peebles each had three hits while Gavin Kilen, Hunter Ensley, Dean Curley and Reese Chapman each tallied two. Chapman drove in four in the game while Kilen added three RBI.

The Vols plated five runs in the sixth inning after falling behind 6-5 after Alabama scored five runs in the fifth inning with four unearned runs stemming from a two-out throwing error at second base. Tennessee also plated three runs in the fourth and four more in the eighth.

“I think it’s important for our guys to have a little confidence boost and a feel good after this,” Vitello continued. “But it’s also important that they kind of learn the lesson that you just move on and keep playing ball.”

With the win, Tennessee (42-15) moves on to the quarterfinals to take on No. 1 seed Texas on Thursday afternoon at 4 o’clock ET. Alabama (41-16) is eliminated from the field of play in Hoover and will await the NCAA Selection Show on Monday to see its postseason fate.

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