Tennessee is now 12 games into its Southeastern Conference baseball schedule.
The Volunteers have racked up double-digit run totals in six of them.
Nine-hole hitter Cal Stark hit a grand slam in the second inning and added a three-run home run in the third as the No. 4 Vols erupted yet again Sunday afternoon in a 19-5 throttling of Auburn inside Plainsman Park that was halted after seven innings. Tennessee won its third consecutive Sunday rubber match to improve to 26-6 overall and to 7-5 in Southeastern Conference play.
"It feels awesome to be able to contribute on that side of the ball," the 6-foot-1, 200-pound senior catcher from Knoxville said. "I think it just makes us that much more dangerous, especially whenever all of us are swinging the bat like we did this weekend.
"It just makes us a dangerous team."
Auburn dropped to 18-13 overall and to 2-10 within the league, having opened its conference schedule against No. 7 Vanderbilt, No. 1 Arkansas and No. 3 Texas A&M before facing the Vols.
Stark, who hit just .180 last season but went 3-for-3 Sunday to raise his average to .289, produced Tennessee's second grand slam in as many days and its ninth this spring. Christian Moore's grand slam during Saturday's 12-2 seven-inning drubbing was Tennessee's eighth, breaking the single-season record set by the 1998 Vols.
"Our guys like a challenge, and they better, because it's going to seek you out," Tennessee coach Tony Vitello said. "You want to win as many games as you can, but it is certainly to your benefit to be in these 1-1 battles the way we have."
SEC STANDINGS
Eastern Division
1. Kentucky (11-1, 27-4)
2. Vanderbilt (8-4, 25-7)
3. Tennessee (7-5, 26-6)
4. South Carolina (6-6, 22-10)
4. Florida (6-6, 17-14)
6. Georgia (5-7, 24-8)
7. Missouri (4-8, 15-18)
Western Division
1. Arkansas (11-1, 27-3)
2. Texas A&M (8-4, 28-4)
3. Mississippi State (6-6, 21-12)
4. Alabama (4-8, 22-10)
5. LSU (3-9, 21-12)
5. Ole Miss (3-9, 18-15)
7. Auburn (2-10, 18-13)
Stark had two of Tennessee's six homers Sunday, with Moore, Dean Curley, Hunter Ensley and Kavares Tears each going deep once. Moore's homer was the 40th of his career, pulling him within one of teammate Blake Burke's program-record 41, which he got on Saturday.
Cooper McMurray's three-run home run to right field in the first inning off of Zander Sechrist put Auburn up 3-0, but the Vols loaded the bases in the second inning with nobody out and pulled within 3-1 when Curley drew a walk. Then it was time for Stark's blast to left-center field that put the Vols up 5-3, and his homer was immediately followed by Moore going deep to straightaway center to make it 6-3.
Tennessee took a 7-3 lead into the third inning and quickly made it 10-3 on a Curley single to left, a Reese Chapman walk and Stark's homer to left. After Sechrist worked a scoreless second inning, Nate Snead came in and pitched four innings, allowing two runs on five hits to pick up the win and improve to 6-1 this season.
"I think we responded today, and I think we responded all weekend after a tough loss on Friday," Vitello said. "Zander went out and got a huge zero in the second. Today was a good-hitting day, and every zero is big. On the offensive side, I think our guys were locked in all weekend other than when we got punched in the gut on Friday.
"To win a series on the road is huge in the SEC."
The Vols will host Alabama A&M on Tuesday before reigning national champion LSU arrives for a weekend series that begins Friday.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.
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