Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello needs a consistent cleanup hitter, not Batman, Spider-Man and Superman rolled into one.
Sophomore first baseman Blake Burke is experiencing his toughest stretch of the season for the Volunteers, going 1-for-13 this past weekend at Georgia. The 6-foot-3, 240-pounder from Brentwood, California, is 2-for-20 in his last five games, though his two hits did produce four runs.
“He was just outside of himself,” Vitello told reporters following Sunday’s 9-4 loss that clinched the Southeastern Conference series for the Bulldogs. “Your head is going to move a lot when you’re running at the baseball. Unfortunately, we didn’t see the swings that we saw in BP the prior three days, because it was probably the best form fundamentally that we had going on in BP, with all due respect to everybody else.”
As Tennessee was struggling out of the gate this season while shortstop Maui Ahuna was ineligible and other new pieces were adjusting to the team, Burke sizzled with seven home runs and 21 RBIs through the first 12 games. Entering Tuesday night’s 6:30 home contest against Austin Peay, that essentially represents half of his power production, as he has 15 homers and 40 RBIs in 47 contests.
Burke has one home run in his last nine games but still leads the Vols in that category, and his RBI output is tied for second with Jared Dickey behind Zane Denton’s 43.