Winning never gets old, nor does finding new ways to win.
Tennessee homered three times during Saturday’s 7-5 topping of South Carolina at Founders Park, which is nothing unique for this year’s Volunteers, but they also turned double plays in the eighth and ninth innings to clinch their 12th consecutive Southeastern Conference series dating to last season.
“We found a different way to win than we’ve won so far this season, which is really important,” Tennessee coach Tony Vitello said, “and we did it on the road. You don’t want to pat them on the back too much, because the first half of this game wasn’t very good from our standpoint, but there was a lot of ‘want to’ on display there, and that was impressive.”
The top-ranked Vols improved to 25-2 overall and to 7-1 in SEC play before an announced crowd of 8,242, while the Gamecocks fell to 17-11 and 1-7. Tennessee has now defeated South Carolina 11 times in the past 12 series meetings.
Cannon Peebles launched a two-run home run to right-center field in the top of the ninth inning to account for the final tally, but his blast occurred between two defensive gems.