Tennessee entered Friday night’s baseball game at South Carolina having won 11 consecutive Southeastern Conference series dating to last season.
The top-ranked Volunteers took a big step toward a 12th.
All nine of Tennessee’s batters scored as the Vols downed the Gamecocks 11-7 in the best-of-three opener at Founders Park. Tennessee improved to 24-2 overall and to 6-1 in Southeastern Conference play, while South Carolina fell to 17-10 and is 1-6 within the league.
“I think that was a byproduct of guys competing and grinding out at-bats,” Vols coach Tony Vitello said. “Some of them occurred with two outs, and I think we kind of wore them down. We also capitalized on some of their mistakes.
“They did it as a group, and they got us out to a lead, but no lead is safe against these guys.”