Drew Beam Leads Tennessee Past Vandy To Make Program History
NASHVILLE, Tenn.– The No. 1 Tennessee BaseVols defeated the No. 9 Vanderbilt Commodores in the series finale in Hawkins Field on Sunday, 5-0.
Drew Beam was near perfect for Tennessee in the win, throwing a complete game with allowing only two hits and retiring 26 of 28 batters in the process. Beam is the first Volunteer pitcher to go the distance this season and is the first Vol to throw a complete game since Garrett Stallings did it in a 7-0 shutout versus Ole Miss in 2018.
Beam pitched seven 1-2-3 innings and retired 15 consecutive batters to end the contest.
At the plate, the Vols were stymied early by Vanderbilt, but Drew Gilbert got things going with a solo home run in the top of the fourth inning.
Tennessee went cold again at the dish until the seventh inning, when Luc Lipcius laid down a crucial RBI single to give the Vols a two-run lead heading into the stretch.
With Beam taking care of business, Tennessee continued to free roll into the eighth, where Jorel Ortega padded his team's lead with a one-out RBI single to score Trey Lipscomb. In the top of the ninth, the Vols raced closer to the brooms with a two-run inning courtesy Drew Gilbert's two-run double. Gilbert's RBI marked his third of the weekend and 30th of the season as he continues to deliver at a high level in his junior season.
With the win, the Vols have now completed six series sweeps on the season which is the most in the Tony Vitello era, and there are still seven series remaining on the schedule.
The Vols' 9-0 SEC start is the best in program history to go along with their school-record of 19 consecutive wins. Tennessee is the first SEC team in 28 years to begin conference play 9-0.
Up next for the No. 1 team in the country is a midweek date with Lipscomb in Lindsey Nelson Stadium on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. ET.
Stat Corner:
-Drew Beam's Final Line: 9 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 73 strikes on 110 total pitches. Beam improves to 6-0 on the season with a win and has a 0.72 ERA, the lowest among Tennessee's weekend rotation.
-With Tennessee's baseball sweep over Vandy, UT has swept Vandy in men's and women's basketball, football and baseball for the first time in history.
-Tennessee now has swept Vandy three times this century.
-The Vols' sweep over Vandy marks the first time Tennessee has swept the Commodores since 2009.
-Tennessee's shutout against the Commodores marks their first since 2014.
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