Game Recap: Baseball | March 09, 2024
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – No. 7/8 Tennessee secured another series win with a 24-1 thrashing of Illinois on Saturday afternoon at Lindsey Nelson Stadium, recording season highs in runs and hits (20) to run its winning streak to 14 games.
UT scored two or more runs in seven of the eight innings it batted it and five different Vols had multi-hit efforts while eight different players drove in runs on the day for UT, led by a career day from sophomore Reese Chapman, who went 3-for-4 with two runs and six RBIs after hitting his first-ever grand slam in the sixth inning.
Blake Burke also had a great day at the dish with three hits, three runs and four RBIs. All three of his knocks went for extra bases as he had a pair of doubles and a three-run homer.
Billy Amick, Dean Curley and Hunter High all posted two hits apiece to round out the multi-hit performances for the Big Orange while Christian Moore (two), Bradke Lohry (two) and Dylan Dreiling (three) all finished with multiple RBIs.
Tennessee’s pitching staff combined to allow just one run on five hits and one walk while racking up 13 strikeouts.
Drew Beam improved to 3-0 on the year after striking out five over five innings, scattering four hits and allowing one run.
Relievers Dylan Loy, JJ Garcia, Brayden Sharp and Austin Hunley all pitched one scoreless inning and allowed just one combined hit over the final four frames.
Asher Bradd drove in the lone run for the Fighting Illini (5-8) with an RBI groundout in the top of the fifth. Starting pitcher Logan Tabeling fell to 0-2 on the year after giving up seven runs on four hits and four walks in just 1.2 innings of work.
UP NEXT: The Vols (15-1) and Illini wrap up their weekend series on Sunday at 1 p.m. on SEC Network+ and the ESPN app.
STATS OF THE GAME: With his performance on Saturday, Beam recorded his 20th career victory, moving into a tie for 10th on Tennessee’s career wins list with Jeff Glover (1984-86) and Bill Aldridge (1975-78).
With his three-run blast on Saturday, Burke moved into sole possession of seventh on UT’s all-time home runs list and is just five away from tying Luc Lipcius’ program record of 40 homers.
