Tennessee Dominates No. 1 Ole Miss to Win Series

OXFORD, MS– The No. 5 (D1Baseball.com) Tennessee Vols defeated No. 1 (D1Baseball.com) Ole Miss for the second consecutive night to take the series. On Saturday night, the Vols earned ten runs off of 17 hits against the Rebels, cruising to a 10-3 win after early success at the plate for the second night in a row.

The Vols scored eight runs through five innings on 12 hits and zero home runs. Trey Lipscomb and Seth Stephenson were each responsible for a pair of RBIs through the first five frames, and Drew Gilbert tacked on a pair of hits and runs.

Gilbert finished with three hits to co-lead Tennessee with Lipscomb, continuing his efficiency at the plate as the junior entered Saturday with a team-high .463 batting average.

The Vols tacked on two more runs in the top of the eighth to reach ten runs, making it back-to-back double-digit run totals for Tennessee against the No. 1 team and the 14th time the Vols have scored ten or more runs in a game in their 23-game season.

During Tennessee's first win over Ole Miss on Friday, the Vols left the yard five times and recorded nine hits. The Vols' Saturday performance saw UT make even more contact at the plate, further showing they are one of the most dangerous offenses in the country.

On the mound, Chase Dollander delivered one of his best performances in his first season in orange and white, striking out 10 Rebels and allowing three hits in a season-high 6.1 innings pitched.

Will Mabrey relieved Dollander to get UT out of a jam in the bottom of the seventh, as a subpar effort from Tennessee's infield in the inning allowed two Rebels to get into scoring position with one out. Mabrey retired two consecutive batters to keep Ole Miss scoreless and get Tennessee to the top of the eighth.

Dollander's line was then finalized, with the sophomore giving up zero earned runs on 25 batters faced. Dollander threw 80 strikes on 100 total pitches, walking only one Rebel.

Mabrey pitched a clean inning, and Ben Joyce took the mound with one down in the top of the eighth. Joyce consistently touched triple digits on the radar gun yet again but allowed his first run of the season. Tim Elko caught a Joyce fastball and sent it over the center field wall for a two-run shot to give Ole Miss their first two runs of the night.

The Rebels' third run came off of a solo shot from Alderman in the top of the ninth off of Wyatt Evans, who closed out the game for Tennessee on the mound.

Through the first two games of the series, all of Ole Miss's four runs have come off three home runs. Meanwhile, Tennessee scored 10 runs in game two of the series with zero homers.

Tennessee's Saturday win follows up the Vols' 12-1 blowout of Ole Miss on Friday, in which Rebels' RHP Dylan DeLucia said they "took [the Vols] lightly."

"We took them lightly," DeLucia said on late Friday night. "It won't happen again. We will win tomorrow. I'll tell you that. It's one of those things where they play in a small field. We have a bigger field, so we thought we could throw it in to them. It didn't work out. We missed some spots and that's why they ended up hitting the homers. Tomorrow will be a lot better."

DeLucia had to eat his words on Saturday, as Tennessee's lack of complete performance at the plate guaranteed the Vols deserve to be among the top ranked teams in the nation. Combine Tennessee's stellar weekend rotation with leading the NCAA in home runs by 13 and winning a series against the No. 1 team in dominant fashion, there is strong case to give Tennessee the nod as the best team in the country.

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The Vols improve to 22-1 on the season (5-0 SEC) and have won 14 consecutive games, which is Tennessee's best start to conference play since the 1966 season, per the SEC Network broadcast.

Tennessee will go for the series sweep against No. 1 Ole Miss in Oxford on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET.

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