Tennessee's opportunities to generate offense against South Carolina were becoming more limited when Christian Moore stepped up to the plate with one out in the sixth Friday night.

The Vols' batters had made contact through the first five frames, but in all of the wrong places. Then the program's all-time career home run leader took a swing at a 2-1 pitch and left no doubt, sending the ball over the scoreboard and right field and putting Tennessee on the board for the first time.

As he has much of his record-breaking junior campaign, Moore gave the top-ranked Vols and offensive jolt, one that included three more runs in the inning to go in front and headline a 8-3 victory over the No. 24 Gamecocks to win their ninth-straight series.

TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM

In what has become a familiar trend for Tennessee (45-10, 21-8 SEC), its batters turned a sluggish start into a hitting clinic.

After Moore's 27th homer of the season, Hunter Ensley added one of his own for two runs that gave the Vols the lead, then Blake Burke mashed a grand slam in the seventh that all but put South Carolina (33-20, 13-16) out of reach.

It wasn't all offense for Tennessee, though.

Right-handed pitcher Drew Beam turned in another quality start, allowing five hits and one earned run while striking out four in 6.0 innings of work.

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. Reese Chapman (L) - DH

9. Cal Stark (R) - C

RHP Drew Beam

South Carolina

1. Austin Bringling (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. Gavin Casas (L) - 3B

LHP Garrett Gainey

Cole Messina started the second inning with a single to center field and a couple of Tennessee errors allowed South Carolina to load the bases with one out.

Talmedge LeCroy opened the scoring with an infeld single to short and Gavin Cases drove in another run on a single. Gavin Casas' fly out to deep center extended the Gamecocks' lead to 3-0 before Drew Beam was able to get out of the inning.

Looking to respond in the bottom half, Hunter Ensley singled up the middle but Tennessee couldn't take advantage of an early base-runner. The Vols had a similar finish to the third as a fielder's choice at second stranded another runner.

Tennessee settled in defensively, though. Its third error in as many innings put runners on the corners for the Gamecocks but Beam was able to get out of the jam unscathed.

Beam had thrown more than 100 pitches by the sixth but South Carolina batters were still struggling to generate offense, keeping the Vols within striking distance.

Christian Moore helped close the gap with Tennessee's first run in the bottom sixth, a solo home run that went over the scoreboard in right to trim the deficit to 3-1.

Moore seemingly provided the spark for the Vols' offense as Billy Amick and Dylan Dreiling followed it with back-to-back singles. With two outs and two on, Hunter Ensley mashed the second home run of the frame to the porches in left to give Tennessee the lead for the first time at 4-3.

The Vols put themselves in position to add to their lead without recording a hit in the seventh, using a a pair of walks and hit-by-pitch to load the bases for Blake Burke.

Burke left little doubt on the first pitch he saw, mashing the Vols' 11th grand slam of the season--a new SEC single-season record--over the wall in right-center to put Tennessee up 8-3.

1. Christian Moore gets Tennessee on the board with a solo shot over the scoreboard in right field.

2. Hunter Ensley puts Tennessee in front with a three-run homer in the sixth.

3. Blake Burke mashes Tennessee's SEC single-season record 11th grand slam in the seventh.

Tennessee will go for its third conference sweep in its regular season finale against South Carolina on Saturday.

Regardless of the result, the Vols will enter the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Alabama next week with a lot of momentum after winning its ninth consecutive league series.

First pitch between Tennessee and the Gamecocks in Game 3 is slated for 1 p.m. ET on SEC Network+. Left-hander Zander Sechrist (1-1, 4.57 ERA) is the Vols' projected starting pitcher.

–––––

– TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM.

– ENJOY VOLREPORT WITH A PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTION.

– SUBSCRIBE TO THE VOLREPORT YOUTUBE CHANNEL.

– FOLLOW VOLREPORT ON TWITTER: @TennesseeRivals, @ByNoahTaylor, @RyanTSylvia, @Dale_Dowden, @ShayneP_Media, @CalebSisk_.

–––––