Tennessee baseball extends win streak to longest in program history

For the first time in program history, Tennessee baseball has won 17 games in a row. The No. 1 Volunteers defeated No. 3 Vanderbilt 6-2 in Friday night’s rivalry series opener at Hawkins Field.

Jordan Beck and Luc Lipcius each had 2 RBIs for the Vols. An “illegal bat” call kept Beck from having 3 RBI. The Tennessee outfielder homered in the first inning, but umpires inspected his bat and ruled Beck out. UT skipper Tony Vitello indicated that the inspection sticker came off during batting practice. Video showed an apparent sticker on the bat, reportedly from the midweek game inspection.

Even with Beck’s 1st-inning homer taken off the board, UT took an early 2-0 lead in the 2nd inning. Vanderbilt cut it to 2-1 in the 3rd inning before the Vols scored 4 in the top of the 5th. The Commodores managed to get 1 run back in the bottom of the 5th, cutting it to 6-2, the game’s final score. UT starter Chase Burns went 5.1 innings, striking out 7 in the win.

UT improved its record to 25-1 overall and 7-0 in SEC play. With win No. 17 in a row, the Vols topped the 1994 team’s mark of 16 consecutive victories. Friday’s win was Tennessee’s first victory in a series opener in Nashville since May 14, 2009. The Vols went on to sweep that 2009 series, their last series win in the state capital.

The longest win streak in @Vol_Baseball history 🍊⚾️ pic.twitter.com/739irFc0DU

— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) April 2, 2022

Andrew Olson

Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.