Reese Chapman, Andrew Fischer and Blake Grimmer each hit grand slams Tuesday night as Tennessee opened the first of 10 consecutive games inside Lindsey Nelson Stadium with a 22-9 pounding of Radford in seven innings.
The top-ranked Volunteers produced three grand slams in the same game for the first time ever, and they already have seven slams this season after establishing a program record last year with 12. The NCAA single-season standard is 14.
“The fact we were able to stack up a bunch of at-bats day after day in the fall against our guys — who are really solid — kind of preps you for games like this,” Fischer said afterward in a news conference. “It doesn’t surprise me that our guys are hitting well.”
Tennessee improved to 12-0 by overwhelming the Big South Conference program, inching closer to its best start ever. The 2019 Vols started out 15-0, while the 2020 Vols began 13-0 and were 15-2 when their season was halted by the outbreak of the coronavirus.
Chapman’s blast to right field occurred in the third inning and turned an unexpected 4-2 deficit into a 6-4 lead. The Vols would load the bases for a second time in the third, with Dean Curley drawing a walk to make it 7-4 and Gavin Kilen singling up the middle to make it 9-4.
Radford would then score five straight runs to knot the game until Hunter Ensley’s two-out double to left with two out in the fifth scored Curley as the Vols regained a 10-9 advantage. A Stone Lawless double down the right-field line scored Fischer for an 11-9 lead in the sixth.
The Vols put the Highlanders away with an 11-run seventh inning that included slams from Fischer and Grimmer, with Grimmer ending the game that consumed three hours and 43 minutes.
Nic Abraham, Michael Sharman and Austin Hunley each struggled on the mound for Tennessee. Dylan Loy replaced Hunley with two out in the fifth inning and retired all seven batters he faced, including four by strikeout.
“That was a little bit of a stress reliever,” Vols coach Tony Vitello said. “You expect to come back home and take control of a game, and it wasn’t there. Dylan certainly calmed the storm and gave us more outs than we expected.”
Tennessee was its own worst enemy in the first two innings, with a fielding error by Levi Clark at first base and throwing and fielding errors by Curley at shortstop enabling the Highlanders to take their 4-2 lead. Radford fell to 5-6 on the season and to 0-7 all-time against the Vols, with Tuesday representing their first matchup since 2009.
The Vols will be back at it Wednesday night, hosting Xavier at 6.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.