Tennessee evened its Southeastern Conference record Friday night inside a rainy Lindsey Nelson Stadium, and with some authority.
The Volunteers, who slipped to No. 11 in the Baseball America poll after losing two of three last weekend at Alabama, pounded Ole Miss starting pitcher Gunnar Davis for 10 runs in less than four full innings in a 15-3 drubbing of the No. 17 Rebels that required only seven innings. Tennessee improved to 20-3 overall and to 2-2 in SEC play, while Ole Miss dropped to 16-7 and 2-2.
"Being back on our home turf was huge," Vols junior second baseman Christian Moore said in a news conference after his two-homer night. "Getting a win like this was huge, and it helped us save a little pitching for Saturday and Sunday. Our offense did what we needed it to do for our pitching staff."
Tennessee starter AJ Causey pitched into the sixth inning, allowing three runs on five hits while striking out six. The transfer from Jacksonville State improved to 5-0 and has a 1.91 ERA.
"AJ just did what he does, honestly," Vols redshirt sophomore center fielder Kavares Tears said after his 3-for-4 night. "We had to face him a lot in the fall, so it's nice to see other people have to go through the same struggles we did."
The Vols struck for five two-out runs in the second inning, with Reese Chapman igniting the outburst with a single to right field that scored Tears. Dean Curley followed with a home run to left-center that brought home Robin Villeneuve and Chapman, and Moore made it back-to-back blasts with a homer to left to make it 5-0.
Tennessee opened the third inning with a Tears double down the right-field line, a Dylan Dreiling walk and a Villenueve homer to left for an 8-0 advantage. Tears hit a two-run homer to center in the fourth for a 10-run bulge, and Moore went deep to left-center to open Tennessee's five-run sixth.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.