Vols Second Baseman Earns SEC Honors

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