Arkansas Infielder Jabs Tennessee Baseball | Rocky Top Insider

The College of Tennessee and College of Arkansas are separated by 574 miles however it hasn’t stopped the pair from growing one of many quickest rising rivalries within the nation.

It was on show this weekend when Arkansas second baseman Robert Moore introduced the Vols up unprovoked in his postgame press convention following the Razorbacks’ weekend sweep of LSU.

“It’s straightforward to say you’re assured after sweeping LSU,” Moore said. “However we’re fairly assured. I feel we’re going to go into the (SEC) event and shake quite a lot of heads too with a group that’s on the high of the East.”

The group on the high of the East is Tennessee. The highest-ranked Vols sit at 14-1 in SEC play on the midway level of the convention season and Arkansas is the one group standing in the way in which of Tennessee’s first SEC Common Season Championship since 1995.

By way of 5 sequence, Tennessee sits on the high of the SEC East with a 14-1 document and Arkansas sit on the high of the SEC West with an 11-4 document.

Georgia (9-6) and Alabama/Auburn/Texas A&M (8-7) maintain the following greatest information within the SEC. That is actually a two-team race for the common season title.

Sadly, Tennessee and Arkansas don’t meet on the diamond within the common season main Moore to reference making noise towards the Vols within the SEC Match.

Tennessee and Arkansas’ budding baseball feud technically started in 2017 when Tony Vitello left his function as a Razorbacks’ assistant coach to grow to be Tennessee’s head coach.

Nonetheless, the feud didn’t actually take type till final season when the Vols burst onto the faculty baseball scene. Arkansas was the nation’s No. 1 group for almost all of the season and got here to Knoxville in mid-Might for a high 5 sequence.

Arkansas defended its No. 1 rating however the sequence wasn’t with out drama. Max Ferguson’s stroll off homer in sport two gave Tennessee its lone win of the weekend and Vitello and his former boss Dave Van Horn got here face-to-face in an impassioned dialog following the ending of the sequence.

The Razorbacks would greatest the Vols once more two weeks later in Hoover, defeating Tennessee within the SEC Match Championship. Nonetheless, Arkansas’ season met its unanticipated conclusion within the Tremendous Regional whereas Tennessee returned to the School World Sequence for the primary time since 2005.

The roles have reversed this season, nevertheless, as Tennessee has been the nation’s No. 1 group for 4 weeks and Arkansas has been a high 5 group— simply not as dominant as they had been final season.

It’s a disgrace these two groups don’t meet within the common season, however a SEC Match matchup can be a robust comfort.