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 takes on No. 1 Ole Miss in the opener of the three-game series.
First pitch: 7:30 p.m. ET
Watch: SECNetwork+
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Starting Lineup
Here’s four quick takeaways from Tennessee’s series-opening win over No. 1 Ole Miss on Friday night:
Rounding 1st — Chase Burns shines … again
Another game, another dominating performance from Tennessee true freshman Chase Burns. This time it came against one of the best lineups in the country.
Burns got the start to open the series and proceeded to strike out 10 Rebels over 7.0 innings of work. He didn’t allow a baserunner until the fifth inning and didn’t allow a run until the seventh.
The right-hander improved to 5-0 on the season after allowed just two hits and not giving up a walk. Burns threw a season-high 106 pitches, 72 of which were strikes.
Rounding 2nd — Dickey breaks out
Jared Dickey entered the weekend in a slump. The redshirt-freshman was 0-for-9 in his previous five games.
Still, Tony Vitello elected to start Dickey in left field. Dickey proceeded to go 2-for-4 with two home runs, three RBIs and two runs scored.
Dickey’s two-run homer in the second gave the Vols a 6-0 lead, while his solo shot in the sixth gave them an 11-1 run lead, respectively.
Rounding 3rd — Home Run Derby … again
The narrative outside of Knoxville has been that Tennessee only hits a lot of home runs because of how small Lindsey Nelson Stadium is. Well, in one of the premier ballparks in all of college baseball, the Vols proceeded to smash five homers.
In addition to Dickey’s homers, Luc Lipcius hit a solo homer in the fourth, Trey Lipscomb hit a three-run homer in the fifth and Blake Burke hit a solo homer in the ninth.
Headed for Home — Fresh Bullpen
Tennessee is set up quite well from a pitching standpoint to take the series over No. 1 Ole Miss this weekend. Thanks to the performance of Burns, the Vols used very little of its bullpen.
It stayed away from Camden Sewell and Ben Joyce, while Kirby Connell only threw seven pitches after Mark McLaughlin threw 20 pitches of his own, respectively.
The Vols will go for the series win tomorrow at 8 p.m. ET on the SEC Network. Sophomore RHP Chase Dollander (3-0, 3.38 ERA) is projected to start for Tennessee, while RHP Jack Dougherty (1-0, 4.26 ERA) is expected to start for Ole Miss.
Key Plays
T-2nd: Tennessee 6 (+6), Ole Miss 0
The Vols busted the game open early with a six-run second inning. Drew Gilbert and Trey Lipscomb got things going by drawing back-to-back walks to set up Evan Russell for an RBI single.
After Ole Miss starting LHP John Gaddis walked Christian Moore to load the bases, Cortland Lawson hit a one-out bases-clearing triple to give the Vols a 4-0 lead.
A batter later, Tennessee left fielder Jared Dickey hit a two-run homer to extend the lead to 6-0. It was Dickey's sixth homer of the year.
Ole Miss then elected to go to the bullpen with just one out in the second. Freshman RHP Dylan DeLucia (1-0, 6.17 ERA) took over on the mound for Gaddis.
Gaddis' final line: 1.1 IP, 6 ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 4 K, 47 pitches
T-4th: Tennessee 7 (+1), Ole Miss 0
Vols first baseman Luc Lipcius crushed his sixth home run of the season in the fourth to make it a 7-0 game. It was a solo shot to right field.
T-5th: Tennessee 10 (+3), Ole Miss 0
Tennessee third baseman Trey Lipscomb golfed a three-run homer into the Ole Miss bullpen to make it 10-0 in the fifth.
Lipscomb hit his 10th homer of the season after Jordan Beck singled and Drew Gilbert walked.
T-6th: Tennessee 11 (+1), Ole Miss 0
Jared Dickey hit his second home run of the day in the seventh on an opposite field solo shot into the Tennessee bullpen. His seventh home run of the season put the Vols up 11-0.
B-7th: Tennessee 11, Ole Miss 1 (+1)
Ole Miss finally got on the board with one out in the seventh when Rebels first baseman Tim Elko hit a solo homer to centerfield.
B-8th: Tennessee 11, Ole Miss 1
Chase Burns' day was complete after seven innings, as Mark McLaughlin came in to pitch the eighth.
It was an incredible outing from Burns against one of the best lineups in the country: 7.0 IP, ER, 2 H, 11 K, 0 BB, 106 pitches (72 strikes)
T-9th: Tennessee 12 (+1), Ole Miss 1
Vols freshman Blake Burke got in on the fun in the ninth inning when he pinch-hit and smashed a solo home run to left-center. Burke's fourth homer of the season put the Vols up 12-1.
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
