AJ Causey racked up 12 strikeouts Friday night as No. 8 Tennessee racked up its 13th straight victory with a 6-3 downing of Illinois before a crowd of 5,083 inside Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
The 6-foot-3, 205-pound transfer from Jacksonville State won his second straight Friday start by working six innings and allowing one run.
"Everything was firing on all cylinders tonight," Causey said. "The slider was feeling way better than it's felt the past two weekends, and the changeup and sinker were working. To finally have that slider back like I had it in the fall was a great feeling.
"I could throw three in a row or at 3-2. It was an awesome feeling."
Causey improved to 3-0 this season with a 1.31 earned run average as the Volunteers improved to 14-1 overall.
"He was great, and he had a few moments of adversity," Vols coach Tony Vitello said. "It's not easy to stand up there when it's that windy, and they took some good swings and battled a couple of times. He is fully capable of being a starter, and if we're going to have the type of season we want to have, he's going to need to continue to start for us but also be willing to come in and get guys out in different situations as well."
Illinois scored its only run off Causey in the top of the first, but the Vols answered later in the inning with Christian Moore's leadoff double to left field, Blake Burke's double to right and Billy Amick's home run to right-center for a 3-1 advantage.
Cal Stark opened the second inning for Tennessee with a homer to left to make it 4-1.
Game two of the three-game series between the Vols and Fighting Illini (5-7) is scheduled for Saturday afternoon at 1.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.