Tennessee baseball is off to a great offensive start in the postseason.

The 8-seed Vols' bats heated up to take down 9-seed Alabama 15-10 in UT's SEC Tournament opener on Wednesday afternoon.

This sends Tennessee to the quarterfinals, where it will meet 1-seed Texas on Thursday.

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The Vols got to their high run count through 20 hits. Tennessee only left the yard once on a Reese Chapman swing in the eighth, instead settling for stringing hits together and taking advantage of runners on base. This was the most hits the team has recorded in a game all year.

The finest days at the plate came from a trio of Vols who all recorded three hits. Andrew Fischer, Levi Clark and Cannon Peebles all got to the three-knock mark, recording a combined three RBI and five runs.

On the mound, Marcus Phillips got the ball to start. He went four innings while allowing just one earned run on four hits and striking out five. He was first replaced by Brandon Arvidson who struck out the only batter he faced.

This made way for AJ Russell to take over the game on the mound. He went 3.2 innings while allowing no earned runs on two hits, one walk and five strikeouts before returning in the ninth. He allowed a pair of hits and was pulled in the inning without recording another out.

Brayden Krenzel replaced him, allowing Russell's two runners to score and allowing two more himself. This was just a small chip into Tennessee's lead, though, as the Vols won by five.

You couldn't ask for a much better start to the postseason for Tennessee. Phillips used just eight pitches in the top of the first to sit down the side in order.

In the bottom of the inning, Fischer ripped a 3-0 single before Hunter Ensley doubled to score him all the way from first. Dalton Bargo and Curley both barreled up balls afterward, but couldn't reach safely. This still gave the Vols a 1-0 lead after one inning of play.

Phillips continued to look dominant in the second, getting out of the inning without allowing a runner to reach. In the bottom of the inning, Tennessee took advantage of a lead-off walk from Chapman by getting back-to-back two-out singles from Manny Marin and Gavin Kilen to score a second run.

Another 1-2-3 frame for Phillips was followed by a base hit from Ensley in the third. However, a double-play finalized the inning with no runs crossing.

Alabama began to get to Phillips in the fourth, though. He allowed a lead-off double and fly-out to get one on third with one out. After a walk, a double scored the Tides' first run. However, the runner departing from first was questionably held at third and the batter was gunned out between second and third amidst the confusion.

Phillips struck the following batter out to limit the damage to just one run and keep the lead intact.

Things got ugly in the fifth, though. After a double, walk and single issued by Phillips, Arvidson entered in relief. He did his job, recording a strikeout, before Russell entered.

He would record the second out and walk one to load the bases with two down. He forced a routine ground ball to Curley at second, but the throw was off and the error allowed two to score. The following at-bat, a double pushed another two runs home to give Alabama a 6-5 lead.

Tennessee got the run back in the bottom of the frame after two-out hits from Clark and Peebles which tied the game. In the bottom of the sixth, it was a Bargo single that poked through to left field that gave the Vols the lead back at 7-6.

Chapman joined the hit parade with a bases-loaded single to push in another pair in the inning. Clark ripped a double, as well, which nearly scored two but Chapman was called out at home. It still plated one to make it a four-run advantage. Peebles supplied the final run of the inning with an RBI single.

This left the score at 11-6 in favor of Tennessee after six innings of play.

With Russell settling in at this point, Alabama struggled to make any credible threats at the plate. Instead, it was a Chapman two-run shot that put the next runs on the board all the way in the bottom of the eighth.

Marin contributed a two-RBI double down the left-field line in the frame, as well, to push the lead all the way to 15-6.

Russell returned in the ninth to shut things down after a lead-off bunt resulted in a hit. After giving up a double on a long at-bat, he was pulled for Krenzel. Four runs crossed on his watch with two going down on Russell's stat line.

Tennessee now gets the treat of facing 1-seed Texas in the SEC Tournament Quarterfinals. The Longhorns were regular season champions in their first year in the conference.

First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET on Thursday. The winner gets Friday off before playing in a semifinals match on Saturday at noon. Both games would air on SEC Network.

The conference title game is set for Sunday at 2 p.m. ET. That will air on ESPN2.

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