The Josh Elander era as Tennessee’s baseball coach has its first Southeastern Conference series victory.
Evan Blanco dominated on the mound and Levi Clark and Garrett Wright connected on home runs Sunday afternoon as the No. 23 Volunteers whipped Missouri 7-1 after losing Friday night’s opener and squaring the series Saturday. Tennessee, which lost its opening league series last weekend at Georgia, improved to 17-7 overall and to 3-3 in conference contests, while the Tigers fell to 16-8 and to 1-5 within the league.
“This is the best way to win a series in the SEC,” Elander said afterward in a press conference. “I told the guys on Friday night that this is what we’re in this business for. We want to find a way to win two games in a weekend.
“There are going to be some gut punches thrown back and forth, and the door swings both ways, but you’ve got to be able to hook it up.”
Sunday’s finale drew a crowd of 6,132 at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.