Drew Beam knows how to take a hit.

Being a quarterback in Tennessee's highest prep football classification taught him that.

Beam was a two-sport star at Blackman High School in Murfreesboro, splitting time between the Blaze's football and baseball teams before ultimately signing with Tennessee as a pitcher in the Vols' 2021 signing class, but his experiences on the gridiron have served him well on the mound.

He displayed as much on Sunday against Dayton when he took a line drive to the leg and fell to the turf. Beam sat there for a few seconds, conjuring up unpleasant memories of when Tennessee ace Chase Dollander was pegged with a ball in the upper arm against Alabama last April.

To the relief of everyone involved in the program, the sophomore right-hander hopped up on his own, returned to the mound and retired the next eight batters he faced, leading the Vols to a 6-0 series-sweeping win with four strikeouts in 5.1 innings of work.

"He's just a tough kid," Tennessee associate head coach Josh Elander said. "That football background I think helped him out a little bit there. Kind of ugly flashbacks to the Dollander thing last year. Luckily it got him right in the thigh. Which, I don't know if that's the best spot or the worst spot, but it didn't get him in the knee cap. Tough kid.

"He was going to stay in there and do his thing. I just thought he was really good against them today."

It certainly didn't feel good. The hits never do. But even Beam had to chalk up his ability to bounce back quickly to his football playing days.

"It helps that I've been hit before," Beam said. "It's not a new feeling. It doesn't always feel good but it's just something that you've got to live with. It's part of the game."

While there may not have been as much of an adjustment needed as far the difference between getting hit by a TSSAA Class 6A linebacker and a baseball, Beam did spend the offseason adjusting to a new pitch.

He added a cutter to his already dangerous pitching assortment.

"This offseason, we just wanted to add another pitch to the arsenal," Beam said. "Help me get some more swing and misses. Having a fourth pitch is elite and helps you out in certain counts and certain batters. Having that pitch so I can get swing and misses to righties is really the key behind that.

"That was just the mindset going into the offseason. Seeing if we could work with it and it's come to fruition I guess."

It wasn't an easy throw for Beam at first.

It took time for him get a handle on it but he leaned on his experience as a former quarterback, making his release more natural. It has paid off in his 2-0 start, which has included 10 strikeouts and just four hits allowed in 11.1 innings.

"At first it wasn't really natural," Beam said. "It didn't feel good at first. It didn't come out of the hand well. Didn't really understand how to throw it and, honestly, heard the term 'throw it like a football.' Coming back to football, that's kind of how it came into feeling good.

"Just think like I'm throwing a football and keeping it close to the ear and honestly that just helped me get through with it."

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