Top-ranked Tennessee baseball takes series-opening win over South Carolina

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) – Christian Moore continued his record-breaking season with another stellar performance in No. 1/1 Tennessee’s 9-3 series-opening victory over No. 24 South Carolina on Thursday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

The junior slugger claimed sole possession of the Volunteers’ single-season home run record after hitting a pair of mammoth blasts in his first two at-bats of the game, giving him 26 for the season, surpassing Sonny Cortez’s previous record of 24 set back in 1998.

With Moore’s two-homer night, Tennessee has had 15 multi-home run games from eight players this season. Moore leads the way with four, followed closely by Amick and Dreiling, who have three apiece.

Moore finished with a game-high three hits and three runs scored to pace the Big Orange to their 20th SEC victory of the year, marking the third time in the past four seasons that UT has reached the 20-win plateau in conference play.

Kavares Tears and Dylan Dreiling also homered in the win as Tennessee recorded its 18th game this season with four or more long balls.

Tears’ three-run shot in the third inning gave the Vols some breathing room, extending their lead to 5-1, while Dreiling’s two-run blast in the seventh capped the scoring for the Big Orange (44-10, 20-8 SEC).

The Vols and Gamecocks square off again on Friday at 6:30 p.m. on the SEC Network+ and ESPN app.

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