Tennessee has joined an exclusive club in the SEC. The No. 1 Volunteers are now 10-0 in conference play to start the 2022 baseball season. Tony Vitello’s 2022 team joins the 1994 Florida squad as the only SEC teams to start 10-0 in league play since the conference expanded in 1992.

Tennessee notched its 10th conference win Friday night with an 8-3 home victory over Missouri. Though the Vols won by a comfortable margin, they actually trailed Mizzou 3-2 in the 7th inning.

UT’s bats woke up in the bottom of the 7th when the Vols took a 4-3 lead. Tennessee added 4 insurance runs in the 8th inning, including a 3-run home run from Evan Russell.

On the mound, Tennessee took an all-hands-on-deck approach, using 8 pitchers. Vol hurlers combined for 16 strikeouts, with Chase Burns’ 5 Ks over 2.2 innings leading the way. Mark McLaughlin picked up the win, his first of the 2022 season.

Tennessee will look to make it 11-0 and get the series win Saturday night. Game 2 of the series is set for 7 p.m. ET at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. The game will be airing on the SEC Network.

UT’s 3 SEC series wins in 2022, all sweeps, have come against South Carolina, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt.