Tennessee Baseball sets single-game postseason home run record in win over Evansville
Tennessee Baseball has a new postseason single-game home run record. And it couldn’t have come at a better or more opportune time for the Vols.
No. 1 Tennessee launched seven home runs Sunday in a 12-1 win over Evansville to win the Knoxville Super Regional and advance to the College World Series in Omaha.
The Vols hit six home runs the last time they clinched a College World Series trip on their home field, when they beat LSU 15-6 on June 3, 2021.
Next Up: No. 1 Tennessee vs. No. 8 Florida State, College World Series
Evansville, after rallying to upset Tennessee 10-8 on Saturday and force the decisive Game 3, had jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning Sunday, but the Vols answered immediately.
Christian Moore hit a solo home run in the bottom of the first, in Tennessee’s first at-bat, to tie the game. A four-run second inning started with solo home runs from Dean Curley and Carlton Bargo, before Blake Burke added an RBI double and Billy Amick brought a runner home on an RBI groundout.
Bargo, Moore and Amick hit home runs in a four-run fourth inning to get the lead to 9-1. The second home run of the night for Moore extended his Tennessee single-season record to 32 home runs on the year. For Margot it was two home runs in his first two at-bats of the Super Regional. Amick’s total for the season went to 18 with his Game 3 home run.
Cal Stark hit a three-run home run in the fifth to set the new record.
Seven games in a home run isn’t anything new for Tennessee, especially during the Tony Vitello era. It has happened six times in regular-season games: March 20, 2023 vs. Morehead State; May 19, 2022 at Mississippi State; March 9, 2022 vs. James Madison; April 9, 2019 vs. Lipscomb; March 7, 1980 vs. Tennessee Tech.
Tennessee has hit a program-record 173 home runs this season
With the seven home runs Sunday, Tennessee is up to 173 on the season, including 26 in six NCAA Tournament games. The NCAA record for home runs by a team in a season LSU’s 188 in 1997.
Tennessee’s 2022 team set the program’s previous single-season record with 158.
Moore set the new Tennessee single-season home run record when he hit his 25th on May 16 and has since extended the record with seven more home runs.
The Vols entered Sunday’s game with seven players with 11 or more home runs this season, five players with 18 or more and three players with 20 or more.
