Vols blast Bellamine, 20-5

An easy midweek win

Tennessee made easy work of Bellarmine Tuesday night, as Blake Burke led the way with four RBIs and the bats put together four innings of one or more runs in the 20-5 victory.

Neither team scored in the first, but the Vols threw up seven runs in the bottom half of the second when Reese Chapman hit a two-run blast and Burke hit a grand slam. This was the first home run of what ended up a two-homer outing for the sophomore outfielder.

All four of Burke’s RBIs came with this swing of the bat, after a Dalton Bargo walk, an Ariel Antigua double and a four-pitch walk to Cannon Peebles. The ball traveled 406 feet and had a 113 exit velocity.

Kavares Tears added another run to the inning with his 11th home run of the season.

Bellamine answered with four runs in the top of the third when Austin Hunley gave up a three-run home run and then Dylan Loy surrendered a solo shot to the next batter. Tennessee used eight pitchers in the game, with Hunley and Loy being two of the three arms who gave up a run in the contest.

UT loaded the bases in the home half of the frame but only managed to scratch across one run on a two-out, Billy Amick walk that forced a run across home. Kavares Tears grounded out to end the inning with the Vols still ahead 8-4.

Chapman’s second home run came in the bottom of the fourth after Loy struck out two of three in the top half of the frame.

Chapman’s dinger went 380 feet over the fence in left and was the only run for the offense in the fourth.

Tennessee put up three runs on three hits in the sixth when Bargo knocked home two of those three after Dean Curley singled and Chapman drew a walk. The next batter, Antigua, singled another run home for his fourth RBI of the year. The freshman also had another highlight-reel worthy play in the field earlier in the game — this time playing second base instead of shortstop:

The bats brought in eight more runs before the game was over, with Charlie Taylor hitting his first home run of the season on this three-run blast in the seventh:

Colby Backus hit his third home run of the year to lead off the eighth inning:

Backus’ homer was Tennessee’s sixth of the game and put the team at 101 for the season. The offense had overtaken the national lead from Georgia over the weekend after the series with LSU put them at 95 and UGA at 94.

Altogether, the Vols scored 20 runs on 20 hits, despite the 13 men left stranded on base. Freshman Matthew Dallas got his first win of the year in his 1.1 IP. He allowed one hit and struck out one. Hunley and freshman Derek Schaefer were the only two UT pitchers who didn’t K at least one hitter in their performances during the game.

UT begins its weekend series against Kentucky, which has just one conference loss, this Friday at 6:30 PM in Lexington.