Vols Storm Back in Gainesville to Beat Gators, Sweep the Series
Tennessee has only had its back up against the wall a handful of times this season, one of which being Sunday against the Gators.
Jorel Ortega walked up to the plate in the top of the ninth inning with his team down three runs. The Puerto Rican native then proceeded to drill a solo home run to cut Florida's lead to two runs.
After that, the Vols went on to tie the game to force extras and ultimately win in 11 innings.
With a huge thanks going to the bat of freshman Christian Moore.
Trey Lipscomb and Evan Russell had each recorded two-out singles, and Luc Lipcius was walked to load the bases with Christian Moore taking the plate in the top of the ninth.
Moore then made contact for his biggest hit of his young carer, cracking a two-run single to score Lipscomb and pinch-runner Seth Stephenson to tie the ballgame.
While Tennessee could not take the lead in the ninth, Moore and the Vols' ability to rise to the occasion and prevent their first road SEC loss of the season was huge.
But not as huge as Moore's encore in the 11th inning.
Moore approached the plate with Evan Russell on base, and the Brooklyn, New York, native crushed a two-run home run to give Tennessee a 6-4 lead.
Moore's homer marked his ninth of the season and gave him four RBIs on the day.
Just like that, the Vols were in control of the ballgame, and Redmond Walsh did his thing to secure Tennessee's eighth series sweep of the season, a program record.
Walsh's performance on Sunday cannot be understated. The super-senior got Tennessee out of two jams in the bottom of the ninth and bottom of the tenth to keep Florida at four runs. Walsh stranded a pair of Gators, including the winning run on third, in the bottom of the ninth and stranded two runners in the bottom of the tenth with the winning run on second. The Tennessee native then went on to retire the Gators in order in the bottom of the 11th to finish the game, assisted by Christian Scott's acrobatic catch in left field to get the final out.
Walsh's performance earned him the win on the afternoon, bringing his season record to 2-0.
Before Walsh, Drew Beam, Will Mabrey and Mark McLaughlin graced the mound for the Volunteers. While Beam was not his sharpest, Mabrey gave up just two hits and one run (unearned), while McLaughlin retired every batter he faced.
The Vols went to extra innings on Sunday for the first time in SEC play and the second time all season. The first time the Vols were forced to go into extra innings was a midweek game against James Madison that was rain delayed until the next day. Therefore, Sunday was the first time Tennessee played that long of a game in one sitting, and the Vols' stamina proved to be more superior than the Gators, as UT will return to Knoxville coming off a sweep against the SEC East rival.
With the win, Tennessee makes SEC history with a 17-1 start to conference play, breaking the tie the 1951 Volunteers who started SEC play 16-1.
Tennessee also is the first team to sweep Florida in Gainesville since 2006, and it is the first time the Vols have swept Florida in Gainesville since 2001.
The records continue to pile on for the top-ranked Vols who continue to rise to the occasion.
Up next for Tennessee (37-3, 17-1 SEC) is a midweek bout with Xavier on Tuesday in Lindsey Nelson Stadium at 6:30 p.m. ET followed by a home weekend series with Auburn.
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