It was natural for Tennessee to rely on its stellar weekend rotation of Chase Dollander, Chase Burns and Drew Beam during the early stages of the season, as well as the returning position player likes of Blake Burke, Jared Dickey and Christian Moore.
Now the fresh faces are settling in.
After starting all 116 games the past two seasons at Alabama, third baseman Zane Denton certainly seems at home with the No. 2 Volunteers, hitting for the cycle in Friday night's 23-4 crushing of Morehead State and providing a sacrifice fly in Saturday afternoon's 6-0 blanking of the Eagles.
"Just playing Tennessee last year and seeing how they did everything well — they didn't just hit home runs," Denton said following Friday's performance to remember. "They played the game harder and better than everyone we played. In seeing some of the leaps some of the guys made from the year before, I just knew that this program was different and that I wanted to be part of it."
Two other Power Five transfers, shortstop Maui Ahuna from Kansas and left fielder Griffin Merritt from Cincinnati, are thriving as well for the Vols, who completed a three-game sweep of Morehead State with Saturday night's 6-3 dumping. The Vols and Eagles (9-7) wound up playing twice Saturday due to significant rain expected Sunday in Knoxville.
Ahuna was ineligible the first eight games this season but recently claimed the leadoff spot and homered twice in Friday's shellacking. He homered again Saturday night.
"You could see it coming," Tennessee coach Tony Vitello said. "He's taking good swings. Some of the results haven't been there, but in the last couple of days, his swing is looking really clean. He's not trying to make up for lost time anymore."
Tennessee Athletics photo / Tennessee outfielder Griffin Merritt, a transfer from Cincinnati, homered once Saturday afternoon and twice Saturday night in a doubleheader sweep of Morehead State.Merritt homered to left-center field in the second inning Saturday afternoon to extend Tennessee's lead to 2-0, which was more than enough to support sophomore starter Chase Burns, who worked nearly seven innings and racked up a career-best 13 strikeouts. Merritt homered twice Saturday night.
"He kind of came in this place and took over," Vols reliever and former Cleveland High School standout Cam Sewell said. "He didn't try to fit in. He was just who he was. He's a leader, and he's a winner."
Sewell, who has battled arm soreness in recent weeks, made his season debut Saturday afternoon with one out in the ninth inning and struck out the only two batters he faced.
"Being able to be around these guys every day is a blessing," Sewell said, "and to finally be out there with them felt really good."
The Vols are 14-3 after the sweep, which followed Tuesday night's 7-6 loss to Boston College, and will next host Lipscomb this Tuesday before beginning Southeastern Conference play Friday at Missouri.
"You start building up some lessons learned and some history, and they all matter," Vitello said. "This team has shown both statistically and emotionally that they respond pretty well. It's nice to win every game, but they've shown they can respond to date. I hope that trend continues."
Said Denton, who played at Ravenwood High in the Nashville suburb of Brentwood: "This has been everything I could have dreamed of. It's something that I've always wanted to do, and luckily the opportunity lined up. I'm here now, and it's still surreal to me."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.