Volunteer Country

Vols Second Baseman Earns SEC Honors

Vols Baseball Sophomore Jorel Ortega Earns SEC Honors

Jack Foster

Tennessee sophomore second baseman Jorel Ortega received SEC Player of the Week honors following his impressive performance in the Vols' weekend series win over Alabama, the league announced on Monday. 

Ortega's performance at the plate was crucial in Tennessee's series win, as Ortega crushed a 3 RBI home run in the Vols' series winning victory on Sunday. 

The redshirt sophomore finished the weekend 8-12 at the plate with five RBIs, five runs scored including three home runs and a triple. Ortega also recorded a hit and scored one of Tennessee's two runs in the Vols' 3-2 midweek loss to Tennessee Tech last Tuesday. 

Ortega led the SEC with a .563 batting average for the week and also tied for the league lead with nine hits, with his Sunday performance featuring a career-high four hits. He also tied for second in the SEC with six runs scored last week, scoring at least once in every game. His 17 total bases also ranked third in the conference, per UT Athletics.

The Puerto Rican native recorded at least two hits in all three games against No. 24 Alabama over the weekend, as the second baseman continues to be a fixture in the Vols' electric lineup. 

Ortega and the No. 1 Vols will look to build off their recent pair of wins when they host Bellarmine for a midweek battle on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. before heading down to Gainesville for a series with Florida this weekend.

Below are all the Vols who have received SEC honors in the first nine weeks of the season. 

Jorel Ortega- SEC Player of the Week (April 18)

Drew Beam- SEC Pitcher of the Week (April 4), SEC Freshman of the Week (April 4, March 21)

Chase Dollander- SEC Pitcher of the Week (March 28)

Chase Burns- SEC Freshman of the Week (March 28)

Jared Dickey- SEC Freshman of the Week (March 14, February 28)

Trey Lipscomb- SEC Player of the Week (February 28)

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Photo Credit: Saul Young Knoxville News Sentinel 

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Jack Foster
JACK FOSTER

Jack is a sophomore at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville majoring in Journalism/Electronic Media. Jack grew up in Paris, Tennessee, but now spends the majority of his time in Knoxville doubling as a student and sports journalist for Volunteer Country. Jack has been a sports junkie since he was a young kid and always watched NFL football with his dad on Sundays. Jack still follows the NFL religiously, as he is an avid fantasy football player. Jack started with Volunteer Country in May of 2021 and has since helped provide full coverage of football, baseball and men's and women's basketball. Jack also works as a recurring member of WUTK's Rock Solid Sports show on Wednesdays and Fridays, and he also serves as head sports producer of The Volunteer Channel's Vol News, a student-run show at the University. When Jack is not watching or covering sports, find him on the golf course or back home spending time with his parents, younger sister and friends. Follow Jack on Twitter and Instagram by clicking "Twitter" and "Instagram" to see all of his work with Volunteer Country as well as student media.

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