They are running out of brooms in Knoxville.
Tennessee notched its fourth Southeastern Conference sweep in four opportunities Sunday afternoon by defeating Missouri 4-3 at Lindsey Nelson Stadium for a 23rd consecutive triumph. The No. 1 Volunteers improved to 31-1 overall and 12-0 in conference play, becoming the first SEC baseball team ever to win its first 12 league games.
Saturday night's 11-4 win by Tennessee yielded an 11-0 SEC start that matched Alabama in 1940, Ole Miss in 1964 and LSU in 1991.
"We'll see where all that is at the end of the year and buy the guys a T-shirt or something," Tennessee coach Tony Vitello told reporters late Saturday night. "At this point, what does it mean? This is kind of a group that's all about, 'What's the next day got going on for me?'
"I've kind of molded myself into their personality, and that's really all that matters."
Sunday's decision was the closest of the weekend but also the only one the Vols led wire to wire. Sixth-year senior first baseman Luc Lipcius homered twice and junior center fielder Drew Gilbert collected an RBI double in the fifth inning that staked Tennessee to a 4-0 lead, but the Tigers scored twice in the seventh and made it a one-run game in the ninth before Redmond Walsh picked up his fifth save.
The sixth-year senior now has 21 career saves, two behind Todd Helton for the most in program history.
"Me and Luc were actually talking about this, because our first year here, we won seven in the SEC," Walsh said Sunday. "It's unbelievable how this program has turned around. We used to celebrate winning one game, and now taking three is the standard."
Said Lipcius: "People haven't really liked us since we've been good. They're used to us being the people who would lay down for you. Now that we're here, it's ruffling some feathers."
Tennessee trailed 3-2 entering the seventh inning of Friday night's 8-3 win and trailed 4-3 entering the sixth inning Saturday, when junior right fielder Jordan Beck's grand slam ignited an 8-0 surge to close that contest. The Vols entered this series having not trailed after a full inning in more than a month.
"We're just resilient," Beck said Saturday. "We're a super-talented team with some young guys who just don't fear people, and I think that's a good recipe with our older guys. Our pitching staff is amazing, so I have no doubt that when they get a couple of runs that we can come back.
"It's just a fun team to be a part of."
Tennessee's starting pitchers were not quite as dominant this weekend, with freshman Chase Burns allowing four walks, three hits and two runs in less than three innings Friday.
"If that ends up being his worst night, then that's a pretty good worst night," Vitello said Friday. "If not, we'll expect him to battle through those circumstances because he's seen what it looks like."
Sophomore Chase Dollander was lit up for a pair of home runs in the first inning Saturday, but he wound up retiring the last 10 batters he faced and nearly worked seven innings. Dollander tallied 10 strikeouts, extending his SEC-leading total to 70, and Vitello praised him for grinding and gritting things out, which saved some of his bullpen in the process.
In the finale, freshman Drew Beam worked more than six innings and notched a career-high seven strikeouts.
Tennessee will face Tennessee Tech on Tuesday in Kodak, the home of the Tennessee Smokies, before returning to Lindsey Nelson Stadium next weekend to host Alabama.
Heupel over Manning
Josh Heupel threw out the ceremonial first pitch before Saturday's game, with Tennessee's second-year football coach displaying the accuracy from his days as Oklahoma's quarterback more than two decades ago.
"It was a strike, which isn't easy," Vitello said. "He's got one up on Peyton Manning right there, if I can say that."
AP photo by Stephen Spillman / Tennessee's Brandon Huntley-Hatfield dribbles around Texas forward Dylan Disu during a Big 12/SEC Challenge game on Jan. 29.Portal alert
Tennessee forward Brandon Huntley-Hatfield, who played in all 35 basketball games this past season as a freshman and started the final 13, has entered the transfer portal.
The 6-foot-10, 246-pounder from Clarksville averaged 12.6 minutes, 3.9 points and 2.9 rebounds for the Vols, who went 27-8 and won the SEC tournament for the first time since 1979 before getting bounced by Michigan in the second round of NCAA play. One of Huntley-Hatfield's biggest shots was a 3-pointer four minutes into the second half against visiting Auburn on Feb. 25, which ignited a 32-10 run that turned an 11-point deficit into an 11-point lead in Tennessee's eventual 67-62 victory.
Huntley-Hatfield's departure leaves coach Rick Barnes with four scholarships to fill.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.