Join hundreds of other Tennessee fans in our game thread where you can follow along for live play-by-play updates and commentary as the 5th-ranked Vols go for the series win over No. 1 Ole Miss.
Tennessee won 12-1 on Friday night behind 11 Chase Burns strikeouts and five home runs to take the series opener.
First pitch: 8 p.m. ET
Watch: SEC Network
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Live Stats: Click here
Starting Lineup
Here’s four quick takeaways from Tennessee’s win over No. 1 Ole Miss on Saturday night to clinch the series:
Rounding 1st — Not so fast…
Ole Miss freshman pitcher Dylan DeLucia made quite the statement following Tennessee’s 12-1 series-opening win over the Rebels on Friday night.
“We took them lightly,” DeLucia said. “It won't happen again. We will win tomorrow. I'll tell you that. It's one of those things where they play in a small field. We have a bigger field, so we thought we could throw it in to them. It didn't work out. We missed some spots and that's why they ended up hitting the homers.
“Tomorrow will be a lot better."
Well, tomorrow wasn’t better for the Rebels as the Vols won 10-3 to clinch a series win. Tennessee has outscored Ole Miss 22-4 through two games.
Rounding 2nd — Dollander shines
Chase Dollander was a big reason why Saturday wasn’t much different for Ole Miss than Friday. 24 hours after Chase Burns shined on the bump, Dollander did as well.
Dollander improved to 4-0 on the season and lowered his ERA from 3.38 to 2.67. He struck out 10 Rebels, gave up just one walk, allowed three hits and didn’t allow a run on 100 pitches, 80 of which were strikes.
Rounding 3rd — Didn’t need the homer
The talk from those outside of Knoxville is that Tennessee scores so many runs because of the home runs it hits in such a small stadium at Lindsey Nelson. But on Saturday, the offense proved once again that it is elite and that it can dominate pitchers without the home run ball.
Tennessee’s offense produced 10 runs on 17 hits in the win, and didn’t hit a single home run. The Vols hit .467 with two outs, .423 with runners on base, .444 with runners in scoring position, led off the inning with a hit in five of nine innings, hit .464 in advancement opportunities and were .353 against lefties.
Headed for Home — For the first time…
For the first time in program history, Tennessee will be ranked No. 1 in the country after taking the series from No. 1 Ole Miss. The Vols may become the top-ranked team in the country coming off a sweep.
Tennessee will look to break out the brooms at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday afternoon in the series finale. Freshman RHP Drew Beam (4-0, 1.09 ERA) is the projected starter for the Vols, while RHP Derek Diamond (3-1, 5.32 ERA) is expected to start for Ole Miss.
Key Plays
T-1st: Tennessee 2 (+2), Ole Miss 0
The Vols jumped on Ole Miss early for a second straight night. In the top of the first, Tennessee pushed two across courtesy of a pair of two-out hits.
Seth Stephenson was hit by a pitch with two outs. He then stole second and was able to take third when the throw down to second got away from the second baseman. Drew Gilbert then lined a double down the right field line to score Stephenson.
A batter later, Trey Lipscomb hit an RBI single to left that scored Gilbert from second.
B-1st: Tennessee 2, Ole Miss 0
Making his sixth start of the season, Chase Dollander struck out the side quickly in the bottom of the first. Dollander touched 99 on the radar gun.
T-2nd: Tennessee 3 (+1), Ole Miss 0
Luc Lipcius and Evan Russell led off the second with back-to-back singles to get the Vols in business. Cortland Lawson then laid down a beautiful bunt to advance Lipcius and Russell to third and second, and set up Jared Dickey to hit a sac fly to make it 3-0.
B-3rd: Tennessee 3, Ole Miss 0
Self-inflicted wounds put Tennessee in trouble to begin the bottom of the fourth. Back to-back errors from Luc Lipcius and Cortland Lawson put runners on first and second to start the inning, and after a fly ball to right for the first out, Ole Miss had runners on the corners with one out.
Dollander then worked out of the jam to prevent any damage with a pop up to third and a strikeout.
T-4th: Tennessee 6 (+3), Ole Miss 0
The Vols scored three runs on four hits in the fourth to break open the game.
After Jorel Ortega doubled to lead off the inning, Evan Russell drove him in on an RBI single. Jared Dickey then singled to set up Seth Stephenson to hit a two-run double with two outs that scored Russell and Dickey and make it 6-0.
B-4th: Tennessee 6, Ole Miss 0
Ole Miss' first hit of the game led off the inning, but Dollander didn't care about the double. He proceeded record back-to-back strikeouts and get a fly ball to left to end the inning and strand the runner.
T-5th: Tennessee 8 (+2), Ole Miss 0
Tennessee added two runs in the fifth after Drew Gilbert led off the inning with a single. Trey Lipscomb then doubled Gilbert home before Jorel Ortega scored Lipscomb on a single to make it 8-0.
T-8th: Tennessee 10 (+2), Ole Miss 0
Drew Gilbert hit an RBI double and then scored on a wild pitch to push two runs across for the Vols in the eighth inning and make it 10-0.
B-8th: Tennessee 10, Ole Miss 2 (+2)
Ole Miss first baseman Tim Elko hit a late-inning home run off for the second night in a row in the eighth. This one was a two-run homer that cut the Tennessee lead to 10-2.
B-9th: Tennessee 10, Ole Miss 3 (+1)
Ole Miss designated hitter Kemp Alderman hit a solo home run in the ninth.
Final Box Score
Postgame Media Availability
Where Tennessee is ranked this week:
Perfect Game: No. 1 (+4)
Collegiate Baseball: No. 2 (-)
NCBWA: No. 3 (+4)
USA Today Coaches Poll: No. 5 (-)
D1Baseball: No. 5 (+2)
Baseball America: No. 7 (+2)
This Week's Schedule
Tuesday, March 22
Midweek game – Butler (3) vs. No. 5 Tennessee (13)
Friday, March 25
Game 1 – No. 5 Tennessee (12) vs. No. 1 Ole Miss (1)
Saturday, March 26
Game 2 – No. 5 Tennessee vs. No. 1 Ole Miss -- 8:00 p.m. ET
Sunday, March 27
Game 3 – No. 5 Tennessee vs. No. 1 Ole Miss -- 2:30 p.m. ET
