Tennessee Survives Mizzou to Accomplish Seventh Series Sweep, Make SEC History

No. 1 Tennessee Vols Baseball Survives Mizzou to Accomplish Seventh Series Sweep, Make SEC History

KNOXVILLE, Tenn.– The No. 1 Tennessee Vols completed the sweep over the Missouri Tigers with a 4-3 win in the series finale in Lindsey Nelson Stadium on Sunday. 

With the win, Tennessee sits alone atop the record books as having the best start to SEC play of all-time with a 12-0 record. Ole Miss' 1964 team, Alabama's 1940 team and LSU's 1991 team were tied with Tennessee as teams to begin conference play 11-0. 

Tennessee also tied a program record with their win on Sunday, as the No. 1 Vols completed their seventh series sweep to join UT's 1994 team as the only two squads in history to do so. However, for this Tennessee team, they have six remaining series to break the record. 

In their latest sweep, Tennessee capped it off with a four-run effort led by senior Luc Lipcius, who left the yard twice for Tennessee. 

Lipcius scored the first run of the game with a solo shot at the batter's eye in the bottom of the third. His second homer of the game came in the bottom of the fifth inning, when the senior boomed a two-run no doubter over the right field wall to score himself and Jared Dickey. 

Lipcius' pair of homers brought his season total to nine, which is second on the team behind Trey Lipscomb's 13. 

Tennessee fourth run of the contest came off the bat of Drew Gilbert, as he drove a double to left center to score Jordan Beck, marking is second-team-high 33rd RBI of the season (in 77 at bats). 

On the mound, Tennessee held Missouri scoreless until the seventh inning, a complete opposite showing from Friday and Saturday's contest as the Tigers put two runs on the scoreboard in the first inning each night. 

Drew Beam pitched until the seventh, where he was pulled after Mizzou had scored their first run and had a pair of runners in scoring position. Beam performed well yet again as the Sunday pitcher, keeping Mizzou at bay better than Dollander and Burns were able to in the first two meetings. The freshman also recorded a career-high in strikeouts against the Tigers. Beam's final line is below. 

Beam: 6.1 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 R, 7 K (career-high), 61 strikes on 95 TP, 27 BF

Will Mabrey relieved Beam to take the mound for the second time in the series, further showing he is atop the Vols bullpen. 

The ensuing AB was an RBI groundout from Mizzou's Josh Day, and the Vols' junior reliever finished out the inning with a K to leave a Tiger stranded. 

Tennessee called on Redmond Walsh to close out the game in a potential four-out save in the top of the eighth. Walsh took care of business in the eighth but allowed a pair of lead-off singles in the top of the ninth to put the tying run on base. Jason Day hit a one-out sac fly to score Ross Lovich, leaving Walsh in a two-out, tying runner on third situation. 

And Walsh did what he does best. Close. 

Walsh forced a groundout to officially log his fifth save of the season and 21st of his career, as the super-senior is now two behind Todd Helton (23 saves) for the most in program history. 

Tennessee's bullpen came up huge yet again, solidifying a theme for the series sweep as Tennessee improves to 31-1 on the season.

The Vols' winning streak is extended to 23 games after Sunday's victory, and UT is a Tuesday Tennessee Tech win away from tying the longest winning streak in history among SEC teams, as Texas A&M won 24 consecutive games in 2015. 

Note: With 12 consecutive SEC wins, the Vols are five games away from tying the longest winning streak against SEC teams in history (UT '94, LSU '00). 

Photo Credit: Tennessee Athletic Communications

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