Tennessee sweeps Illinois, continues impressive streak
The No. 5 Tennessee Volunteers have won 15 straight heading into the first weekend of SEC play.
The Vols swept the Illinois Fighting Illini this past weekend and look to be one of the best teams in the country heading into conference play. Weather played a factor this weekend as it rained Friday and Saturday, with the game on Saturday being delayed. It did not affect the play on the diamond for the Vols, though, as they have continued hitting the ball at an incredible and powerful rate. The Vols hit 11 homers, including 2 grand slams on the weekend. That makes 3 grand slams in the last 4 games.
Illinois is probably not a tournament team, but so far it does not seem to matter who the Vols play, runs
will be scored. This lineup is incredibly deep and has power throughout. Transfer Billy Amick and
freshman Dean Curley continue to impress and make their mark on this year’s version of Tony Vitello’s
team.
The weekend was highlighted with a 24-1 victory on Saturday. That is a score you are not going to see
often in baseball. With the delay and the lack of defense and pitching from Illinois the baseball team
couldn’t make it to the first half of the basketball game down the road in TBA. I’ll let my counterparts
discuss that one though, here at LNS the Vols are undefeated and look to continue that with a midweek
showdown with Eastern Kentucky on Tuesday.
As stated before, going into SEC play pitching does slightly concern me. A.J Causey started Friday with
Drew Beam and Aaron Combs rounding out the weekend. Getting AJ Russell and Chris Stamos back in
the rotation with healthy arms will bolster this squad for the SEC. All eyes are on the Crimson Tide as the
Vols travel to T Town this weekend for their first SEC series. The Tide are 15-1 on the season and this will
be a great first test. A lot of good things are happening on Rocky Top and the BaseVols look to keep
during their part.
