Tennessee baseball outlasts Missouri to win series

Tennessee can hit the ball, as evidenced by its run-rule thumping of Missouri in which its lineup homered six times on Thursday.

The Vols can win games where they have a slower take off, too as they proved in a series-clinching 3-2 victory at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on Friday.

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Tennessee hitters did just enough at the plate, scoring two runs in the second inning, including a Hunter Ensley RBI double and a Blake Burke ground out RBI in the seventh.

Dean Curley and Billy Amick paced the Vols (36-7, 14-6 SEC) with two hits each in four plate appearances.

Strong pitching helps, too.

In fact, the performance of right-handed starter Drew Beam was the headliner of Game 2, tossing eight strikeouts and seven scoreless frames before giving up a late two-run home run. He allowed six hits and two runs in 7.1 innings of work.

After Missouri (19-25, 6-14) narrowed the gap, Kirby Connell and Aaron Combs closed out the game in relief efforts over the last final two frames.

Tennessee

1. Christian Moore (R) - 2B

2. Blake Burke (L) - 1B

3. Billy Amick (R) - 3B

4. Kavares Tears (L) - RF

5. Dylan Dreiling (L) - LF

6. Dean Curley (R) - SS

7. Hunter Ensley (R) - CF

8. Dalton Bargo (L) - DH

9. Cal Stark (R) - C

RHP Drew Beam

Missouri

1. Brock Daniels (L) - LF

2. Trevor Austin (R) - 3B

3. Kaden Peer (L) - CF

4. Jedier Hernandez (R) - C

5. Matt Garcia (B) - 2B

6. Mateo Serna (B) - DH

7. Jackson Lovich (R) - RF

8. Drew Culbertson (R) - SS

9. Danny Corona (L) - 1B

RHP Logan Lunceford

In a near repeat of the first inning of Game 1, Missouri threatened early after back-to-back hits put runners on the corners with two outs.

Beam was able to escape the frame unscathed, tossing his first strikeout to leave the Tigers empty-handed.

Tennessee continued to frustrate the Missouri lineup in the second after a hit-by-pitch posted a runner on first, Kavares Tears made a diving grab in right to rob another hit, then made the throw to first to get the runner out at first to complete the double play.

Missouri returned the favor in the bottom half after Dylan Dreiling drew a lead off walk. Dean Curley grounded into a double play and a strikeout kept it scoreless through two.

The pitchers duel carried over into the fourth with Beam again escaping trouble after giving up a couple of two-out hits to load the bases. After getting a ball to drop in shallow right, Matt Garcia drifted too far from the bag and Cal Stark took advantage, darting a ball to Blake Burke at first for the third out.

At the plate, Tennessee started to make more contact in the fourth. With two outs, Dylan Dreiling grounded to third but the double-clutch from Trevor Austin led to a late throw that Dreiling beat out.

In the following at-bat, Curley singled to right and moved into scoring position on the throw, then a wild pitch scored Dreiling to give the Vols a 1-0 lead.

Ensley extended the inning again with a double to left to stretch the lead to 2-0.

There were a number of moments where Missouri looked inches away from snatching the momentum. Two of those instances came in the sixth. Jedier Hernandez sent a ball to the wall that landed harmlessly in the glove of Tears just underneath the scoreboard.

A few at-bats later, with a runner on first, Matt Garcia lined out to Curley, who went high at short and snatched the ball out of the air to conclude another scoreless frame for the Tigers.

Beam was seemingly on cruise control as the game wore on, pitching his eighth strikeout as part of another 1-2-3 frame in the seventh.

Looking for insurance in the seventh, Stark led off with a double and made his way to third on a wild pitch, enough to later score on a Burke ground out at first to push the Vols' lead to 3-0 heading into the eighth.

Missouri trimmed its deficit to one after Austin homered to left for two runs, leading to Connell taking over for Beam with Tennessee up 3-2.

Connell made quick work of Missouri in the ninth with back-to-back ground outs and Combs closed the door for good

1. Cal Stark gets Tennessee out of a bases-loaded jam in the fourth inning.

2. Hunter Ensley extends the Vols' lead with a two-out RBI double in the bottom fourth.

3. Dean Curley robs a hit at shortstop to end the top of the sixth.

Tennessee will go for its second series sweep in the last three weeks in Game 3 against Missouri on Saturday.

First pitch between the Vols and Tigers is slated for Noon ET on SEC Network.

According to Tennessee game notes, a starting pitcher is to be determined. Left-hander Zander Sechrist started in the Vols' last series finale at Kentucky last Sunday.

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