No. 18 Tennessee Sets New Program Record While Demolishing Iona for Second Series Sweep of 2022

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- With one swing through the chilly Sunday air, Cortland Lawson shattered a 113-year-old program record for Tennessee baseball. In the bottom

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- With one swing through the chilly Sunday air, Cortland Lawson shattered a 113-year-old program record for Tennessee baseball. 

In the bottom of the second inning, Lawson powered a two-run bomb over the double-decker porches in left field. 

The feat put Tennessee ahead 4-0 and gave the Vols 60 runs in this weekend's series against the Gaels -- good enough to top the previous program record of 59 runs set against Tusculum from April 1-3, 1909. 

Jordan Beck followed suit with a 428-foot shot, and UT kept the bats swinging for an 12-2 win that was called after seven innings. 

In total, the victory put Tennessee at 68 runs through the weekend with a 117-7 ratio through the first seven games. 

The Vols totaled four home runs on Sunday with 18 bombs through the weekend, while Trey Lipscomb totaled 14 RBI on a 10-of-12 effort in the series. 

Freshman right-hander Drew Beam picked up Sunday's win -- his first in a Vols uniform. 

Beam threw 33 strikes, struck out four and allowed one hit in 3.1 innings of work. 

For the Gaels, Nick Chiaia picked up the loss with eight hits, 11 runs, 11 errors and six walks allowed in 2.2 innings. 

The Vols picked up a third of those walks in their first two batters, as Jared Dickey and Luc Lipcius took second and first, respectively, before pulling off a double steal. 

Jordan Beck knocked an RBI groundout to score Dickey for a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, then Drew Gilbert scored Lipcius with a ground-rule double to right. 

Evan Russell led off with a double in the next inning, and Lawson swung his way into the record books before Beck poured it on even more. 

Russell -- who switched back to left field Sunday after playing catcher on Friday and Saturday -- knocked a homer of his own in the bottom of the third to give UT an 8-0 lead. 

Lipcius connected on a sac fly in the bottom of the third frame, and Trey Lipscomb -- who struck out his first time up Sunday -- resumed his outstanding weekend with a two-RBI double for an 11-0 advantage. 

Tennessee was held scoreless in the fourth and fifth innings, and the Gaels took advantage in the fifth with a two-out, two-RBI double from Nick Forney. 

Jared Dickey responded by hammering a solo shot to right in the sixth, putting the Vols back at a comfortable 12-2 lead for the win. 

Up next, the Vols will celebrate Mardi Gras on Tuesday night against ETSU before traveling to Houston to face Texas, Baylor and Oklahoma in the Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic. 

The Vols' first Lone Star State foe will be a familiar one, as UT's historic 2021 season ended in an 8-4 loss to the Longhorns in Omaha last June. 

Cover photo courtesy of Jake Nichols