Tennessee now has two notable accomplishments this baseball season that last year’s national championship team couldn’t attain.
This season’s Volunteers won their first 20 games before finally falling this past Tuesday against East Tennessee State University, and they won their series at Alabama.
Atoning for their only Southeastern Conference series loss a year ago, the top-ranked Vols convincingly won Saturday afternoon’s rubber match inside Sewell-Thomas Stadium, thumping the No. 12 Crimson Tide 9-2 before a sellout crowd of 5,800. Touted freshman pitcher Tegan Kuhns delivered his best start yet for Tennessee, and the Vols piled up three home runs in improving to 22-2 overall and to 5-1 in SEC play.
The Vols lost two of three in Tuscaloosa during their opening league series last March, so Saturday’s triumph clinched their 11th consecutive SEC series triumph.
“Obviously we dropped our first two games this week, which was tough, but it was good to see how the guys responded,” Tennessee fifth-year senior center fielder Hunter Ensley said. “It’s baseball, so you’ve got your ups and downs. As long as this team stays as consistent as possible, we have enough talent to win a bunch of games.”