Christian Moore homers twice in Tennessee baseball win over South Carolina

Christian Moore homered in his first two at-bats, breaking a record on the first and putting Tennessee in the lead for good on the second against South Carolina on Thursday.

The program's career home run leader, Moore added another to the record books in the first inning, setting the single-season record for home runs with his 25th of the season to open the way for a 9-3 Vols' victory over the Gamecocks at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

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Tennessee (44-10, 20-8) totaled nine hits and Kavares Tears and Dylan Dreiling added home runs in the third and seventh, respectively, while Blake Burke and Billy Amick accounted for an RBI each.

Right-handed relieving pitcher A.J. Causey (10-3) tossed eight strikeouts while allowing just six hits and two runs in 5.1 innings of work to earn his tenth win.

Tennessee

1. Christian Moore (R) - 2B

2. Blake Burke (L) - 1B

3. Billy Amick (R) - 3B

4. Dylan Dreiling (L) - LF

5. Hunter Ensley (R) - CF

6. Kavares Tears (L) - RF

7. Dean Curley (R) - SS

8. Colby Backus (R) - DH

9. Cal Stark (R) - C

LHP Chris Stamos

South Carolina

1. Austin Brinling (L) - CF

2. Ethan Petry (R) - 1B

3. Blake Jackson (L) - RF

4. Cole Messina (R) - C

5. Parker Noland (L) - 2B

6. Kennedy Jones (R) - LF

7. Dalton Reeves (L) - DH

8. Talmadge LeCroy (R) - SS

9. Gavan Casas (L) - 3B

RHP Ty Good

Ethan Petry opened the scoring in the top of the first with a one-out home run to left field and Chris Stamos gave up back-to-back walks to get a pair of South Carolina runners on with two down.

Stamos got out of it with his second strikeout to limit the damage to just one run and Christian Moore drew Tennessee even in the bottom half with a lead off home run over the batter's eye in center to set the program's single-season home run record at 25.

A.J. Causey, who took over for Stamos in the third, gave up a runner on a hit-by-pitch but struck out the next three batters he faced to keep score tied heading into the bottom frame.

Moore put the Vols in front for the first time at 2-1 with his second home run in as many at-bats, sending another Ty Good pitch to deep center. Dylan Dreiling and Hunter Ensley drew a couple of two-out walks before Kavares Tears mashed Tennessee's third home run to open up a 5-1 lead.

The Vols found other ways to score in the fourth. After Cal Stark worked a two-out walk, Blake Burke doubled off the wall in left-center to give Tennessee a 6-1 advantage.

After four scoreless frames, Cole Messina notched just the Gamecocks' third hit with a solo home run to lead off the sixth and trim their deficit to 6-2, but that was all Causey allowed in the inning, tossing his seventh strikeout to end the inning.

Tennessee added three more runs in the seventh off of a Billy Amick double down the line in left that scored Moore from second and Dylan Dreiling's two-run shot into right-center to go up 9-2 with one out.

Causey ran into some trouble in the eighth, giving up two-straight singles to start the inning. Kirby Connell inherited both runners out of the bullpen and gave up an RBI single from Dalton Reeves to cut Tennessee's lead to 9-3, though Connell managed to get out of the inning with just the one run scored.

1. Christian Moore breaks single season home run record in first inning.

2. Moore homers for the second time to put Tennessee in front in the third.

3. Kavares Tears stretches Tennessee's lead with three-run home run in the third.

Tennessee will look to win its ninth-straight series in Game 2 against South Carolina on Friday.

Right-handed pitcher Drew Beam (7-2, 3.75 ERA) will start for the Vols on the mound.

First pitch is slated for 6:30 p.m. ET on SEC Network+ with Game 3 following on Saturday at 1 p.m.

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