Blake Burke makes program history in Vols’ commanding win over Auburn 12-2

It was as close to a perfect day for the Tennessee Volunteers down on the plains as they could have hoped for.

The Vols swatted 6 home runs, Drew Beam was dominant on the mound for 7 innings, and Tennessee downed Auburn 12-2 in a shortened game (mercy rule) to even the series heading into Sunday.

The Vols got on the scoreboard in an emphatic way in the second inning. Dalton Bargo kicked off the scoring with a home run to left. The Vols would get three of their next four hitters on base before Christian Moore unloaded them with a grand slam over the wall in right center for a commanding 5-0 lead.

That would be more than enough for Beam, who allowed 2 runs over 7 innings with 8 strikeouts in a much-needed dominating performance.

But it was in the fifth inning when something particularly noteworthy happened. First baseman Blake Burke hit a towering blast to left center for a solo home run and a 9-0 lead. The home run marked Burke’s 41st career home run, passing Luc Lipcius for the program record for most all time.

An incredible accomplishment for the big lefty, who has plenty of time left this season to continue to extend that mark. However, the rest of the season should be a particularly interesting race, as Christian Moore is making a bid himself to set the mark. Moore is just two home runs back of Burke.

Saturday was just a microcosm of the power that Tennessee has put forth this year at the plate. Coming into Saturday, the Vols were tops in all of division 1 baseball in OPS (1.073), second in home runs (77) and doubles (82), third in runs per game (10.1), and sixth in batting average (.330). Hard to do much better than that.

And with six home runs on Saturday, those numbers should continue to rise. Bargo hit two, Dylan Dreiling hit two, and Burke and Moore each added one. Oh, and Moore knocked in six of Tennessee’s runs for the game.

All in all, it was a big get-right game for the Vols after falling 9-5 on Friday night. We’ll see if they can take advantage tomorrow and claim their third straight SEC series.