KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – No. 1/1 Tennessee earned a hard-fought 6-3 midweek win over a scrappy Queens team on Tuesday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium to record its 40th victory of the year.
The Volunteers (40-9, 17-7 SEC) have now posted 40 or more wins in each of their last five full seasons, matching the longest such streak in program history (1993-97).
Dylan Dreiling came up with the biggest hit of the night, blasting a three-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to give UT its first lead of the night at 6-3. The Big Orange tied the game at three earlier in the inning on a Billy Amick RBI groundout to set the stage for Dreiling’s 15th home run of the year.
Tennessee fell into an early 2-0 hole after three walks and a hit batter resulted in a pair of Royals runs in the top of the first inning. After Hunter Ensley scored on a wild pitch to get the Vols on the board in the bottom of the fourth, Christian Moore tied the game at two later in the frame with an RBI single to left field to score Cannon Peebles.
Queens (13-27, 8-16 ASUN) regained the lead with a run in the top of the sixth before the Vols’ four-run seventh inning gave them the lead for good.
The Royals did make things interesting in the ninth, loading the bases with no outs before the top three batters in their lineup all struck out swinging in consecutive at-bats to end the game.
Aaron Combs came on to record the final two punchouts and lock down his third save of the season. JJ Garcia picked up the win after tossing 1.1 innings of shutout ball with a pair of strikeouts.
Dylan Loy also shined in a relief role for the Big Orange, coming on in relief of starter Marcus Phillips with just one out and the bases loaded in the first inning before tossing a career-high 3.1 scoreless innings with a career-best five strikeouts.
Moore and Kavares Tears were the only two UT players to finish the night with multiple hits, recording two apiece while also scoring a run each.
Tyler Cotto and Zach Weston led the Royals at the plate with two hits each. Righthanded reliever Jack Renaud got the loss after giving up four runs on four hits and two walks in 3.1 innings.
STAT OF THE GAME: Christian Moore extended his on-base streak to 13 straight games after reaching base in four of his five plate appearances on Tuesday night, recorded two singles and a pair of walks.
UP NEXT: Tennessee makes the short drive west for an in-state showdown at No. 25/NR Vanderbilt this weekend in Nashville. Friday night’s series opener is slated to begin at 7 p.m. ET and will be streamed on SEC Network+ and the ESPN app. Games two and three of the series will feature national TV broadcasts on the SEC Network and ESPN2.
