KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – No. 16 Tennessee rode dominant pitching and some red-hot bats on a chilly Friday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium, blanking Georgia Southern, 9-0, to start the 2022 season.

The Vols’ bats were on fire despite the low temperatures as four different players went yard for the Big Orange. Eight of UT’s nine runs came via the long ball.

Freshman pitcher Chase Burns was as good as advertised in his collegiate debut, tossing five shutout innings, allowing just two hits and one walk while striking out five batters to earn his first-career victory. Tennessee posted a shutout to open the season for the third time in the past four seasons.

After three scoreless innings to start the game, Trey Lipscomb got the scoring started with a monster two-run homer over the porches in left field. The senior third baseman had a huge night, going 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs.

Newcomer Seth Stephenson followed suit with a two-run blast of his own in the fifth and Jorel Ortega blew the game wide open with a three-run shot in the sixth to spot the Vols a 7-0 lead. Senior outfielder Christian Scott added a pinch-hit home run in the seventh, the first of his career, and drove in another run with a bases-loaded walk in the eighth to round out the scoring.

UT’s bullpen was just as dominant as Burns, allowing just one baserunner over the final four innings. Camden Sewell took over for Burns and set down all six batters he faced before Kirby Connell finished things off with two shutout innings of his own.

Austin Thompson paced the Eagles with a pair of base hits. Georgia Southern starting pitcher Ty Fisher was credited with the loss after giving up four runs on six hits in five innings.

The Vols and Eagles will be back at it tomorrow for Game 2 of the series, which is slatted to begin at 1 p.m. and will be streamed on SEC Network+ and the ESPN app.

NOTABLE
Career Highs on Opening Day: The infield duo of Trey Lipscomb and Jorel Ortega was extremely impressive for the Big Orange. Lipscomb tied career highs hits (three) and runs scored (two). Ortega reached base in all four of his at-bats, going 3-for-3 with a walk while setting career highs in hits and RBIs (three). He also tied his career high in runs scored with two.

Feel the Burns: True freshman pitcher and highly-touted signee Chase Burns lived up to the preseason hype on Friday night, putting forth a dominant performance in his collegiate debut. The Gallatin, Tennessee, native is the first UT freshman to throw five shutout innings in his first-career start since Camden Sewell went six scoreless in a win over Middle Tennessee on Feb. 27, 2019.

Tennessee Debuts: The Vols had five players make their Tennessee debuts: Burns, Stephenson, Logan Chambers, Blake Burke and Charlie Taylor. Burns, Stephenson and Chambers all started for UT.