'Let Them Do Whatever They Want. We Are Gonna Keep Winning': Luc Lipcius is Embodying Tennessee Baseball Culture

If there is one thing Tennessee baseball has done well this year, it's win games.

The BaseVols currently sit atop the SEC East with a 12-0 conference record, four games ahead of second-place Georgia.

Tennessee's perfect 12-0 start to conference play is the best in history, as the Vols broke the 11-0 tie with Alabama (1940), Ole Miss (1964), and LSU (1991) on Sunday with their 4-3 series sweeping victory over Mizzou.

The Vols are also on a 23-game winning streak, the longest in program history, and one win away from tying Texas A&M's 2015 squad for holding the longest winning streak by an SEC team.

In winning these games, UT has adopted a 'villain' persona, building off their energy from last year when the team reached the College World Series for the first time in 16 years.

"We started to adopt it last year," Vols super-senior relief pitcher Redmond Walsh said of taking on the villain personality following the series finale against Mizzou. "We kind of took on that villain role, and a lot of people fed off of that. I think everybody knows, and I think everyone wanted it. We got guys like Drew Gilbert who legitimately want to fight everybody and be the guy that has a target on his back. We feed off of guys like him and Jordan Beck and continue to love having that target."

As Walsh noted, junior star outfielders Gilbert and Beck are vital pieces to the Vols adopting that role. For example, after the Vols swept Vanderbilt, Gilbert's reasoning for a quietened Vanderbilt crowd was because Tennessee kept stepping on the Commodores' throats as the series went on.

But they aren't the only ones, as Vols' super-senior first baseman Luc Lipcius also embodies what Tennessee baseball culture has become.

Lipcius first came to Rocky Top in 2017, as the Williamsburg, Virginia, native is one of only two Vols (Walsh) to have played one full season on Rocky Top before Tony Vitello took the reins.

Throughout his career in orange and white, Lipcius has been a part of a rapidly growing Tennessee Volunteers baseball program. The Vols went 27-25 (7-21 SEC) in his first year. In his final year, Tennessee is off to an historic start, having as many conference wins as they did in Vitello's first year as HC in 18 less games.

"Luc and I were actually talking about it," said Lipcius' fellow super-senior Walsh regarding the program's turnaround since their arrival. "We won seven games in the SEC our first year, so knowing we had won that in our first seven SEC games this year is unbelievable to see how this program has turned around and the expectations of winning are what they are. We used to be happy about winning one game in an SEC series, and now taking all three is the standard."

Lipcius has grown to become a staple of the Vols' lineup and in-field in his six-year Tennessee career, serving as the starting first baseman the past three seasons (second full season due to COVID-19 impacting 2020). This season, Lipcius is batting at a career-high percentage as a full-time starter (min. 20 starts) with a .308 and leads the team in home runs during conference play with six, significantly assisting his team in the historic conference start.

Lipcius recent outing was a two home run effort to help Tennessee best Mizzou in the series finale, as the Vols continued to do what they do best: win.

And in his final year, Lipcius is doing more than using his skills on the diamond to help his team sustain No. 1 status. His personality is a core part of Tennessee baseball's villain style that makes the program's culture so dynamic.

Following the senior's big outing, Lipcius further discussed the team's culture and how their balance is a crucial aspect to maintaining success.

"It's electric. It's a really fun team to be around and we don't take anyone lightly," Lipcius said of the Vols. "We have a really good offense, really good pitching staff, and our defense is good, too. It's hard to find a weak spot on this team. Also, the dugout is a party every day. When you have good vibes and a good team, it's a good mixture. No matter if we're behind or in front, we're going to be relaxed because we know we can put three up at any time."\

In the past 12 days, Luc Lipcius has scored at home plate using the tip of his finger and mock-checked his bat for a sticker after Jordan Beck's bat was deemed illegal against Vanderbilt, but he's also clobbered three home runs and accounted for six RBIs in the Vols' back-to-back conference sweeps.

Lipcius doesn't care how his actions come across or what people have to say about the Vols because, in his eyes, Tennessee is "just going to keep winning."

"It's fun to have a target on your back," Lipcius said. "It's either you are with us or you are against us. If you're against us, we don't give one heck about you, if you're with us, you're riding or dying with us. People haven't really liked us since we've been good. They're used to us being the team that lays down for you. But now that we're here, we are ruffling some feathers, and people don't like it. We play with a lot of emotion, and it gets under people's skin. But let them do whatever they want, we are just going to keep winning."

Regardless of the fun Lipcius and the Vols have, or how much they have turned and continue to turn the rest of the college baseball world against them with their antics, the Vols keep winning the main focus, which is clear in Lipcius' reaction to his team making history.

"It's one of those cool things, kind of an afterthought," Lipcius said after Tennessee officially became the first team to start conference play 12-0. "We just want to win games and the history thing is just icing on the cake."

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