No. 1 Tennessee beats Texas A&M in SEC Tournament

No. 1 Tennessee beat Texas A&M by a score of 7-4 in round three of the SEC Tournament

May 23, 2024; Hoover, AL, USA; Tennessee Volunteers outfielder Kavares Tears (21) celebrates his three-run home run with teammates during a game against the Texas A&M Aggies at the SEC Baseball Tournament at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vasha Hunt-USA TODAY Sports / Vasha Hunt-USA TODAY Sports

No. 1 Tennessee beat No.4 Texas A&M by a score of 7-4 to advance into round four of the SEC Tournament.

No. 1 Tennessee bounced back from a disappointing loss last night against No. 8 Vanderbilt with a 7-4 win over No. 4 Texas A&M. With this win, Tennessee will advance to the fourth round of the SEC Tournament where they will face off against the loser of No. 8 Vanderbilt vs No. 5 Mississippi State.

It was a night and day difference for the Tennessee pitching staff when compared to last night's endeavor against Vanderbilt, using only three pitchers to get the job done in contrast to last night's effort resulting in eight pitchers being called to the mound. Chris Stamos and AJ Causey led the way for the Vols with a combined 10 K's with only three runs allowed through seven innings.

On the offensive side of the ball Tennessee right fielder Kavares Tears had a huge day at the plate, going 3-for-5 while driving in four out of the seven runs the Vols scored. Tears would drive in his first RBI in the fifth inning, hitting an RBI double to put the Vols up 3-1, followed up by a three-run home run in the seventh inning to give the Vols a 6-2 lead, along with much-needed breathing room entering the eighth inning.

The Tennessee bullpen would close out the rest of the game despite allowing a run in both the eighth and the ninth inning. Despite the Aggies late-game efforts the Vols had plenty of insurance to secure the win, including some additional help in the eighth inning from catcher Cal Stark who hit a solo shot home run to increase the Vols run total to seven.

Head Coach Tony Vitello spoke with the media after the game. " I thought we handled it a lot better yesterday. It’s not like we did anything wrong, but everything seemed to be a little more in sync. Great attitude from our guys even though it was definitely not a perfect game. Both teams made mistakes. I haven’t looked at it close enough to know who made one more than the other, but I think because Stam and Causey threw the ball so well, we were able to take advantage of KT’s stuff at the plate as well as the rest of the team. " Vitello said.

Next up, the Volunteers will continue their tournament run tomorrow at 7:30 pm ET.