The No. 2 Tennessee Volunteers won’t be No. 2 much longer.
Tennessee opened the Southeastern Conference portion of its baseball schedule this weekend at Missouri and was resoundingly thumped, getting swept in the three-game series by a combined 23-6. Missouri rolled to a 9-1 victory Friday night and won a pair of seven-inning games Sunday by scores of 7-4 and 7-1.
The Vols were swept for the first time since a 2019 trip to Arkansas and are 0-3 in SEC play for the first time since that same season, when they opened at Auburn.
In Sunday’s duo of debacles, Tennessee committed as many errors — five — as runs scored, and Vols coach Tony Vitello was ejected in the third inning of the opening game. The sweep left the Vols with a 15-6 overall mark.
Designated hitter Dalton Bargo’s two-run home run to right-center field off Chase Burns highlighted a three-run first inning for Mizzou in the opener. The Tigers led 5-0 through three innings before the Vols got on the board in the fourth via a Maui Ahuna RBI single to center.