College baseball notebook: Defending champion Volunteers show no dropoff with newcomers leading way
If there were any concerns about Tennessee dropping off after it won the national championship, those have been allayed so far thanks to the performances of the team's newcomers.
The Volunteers (11-0) came out of their most challenging weekend to date with three wins in the Astros Foundation College Classic in Houston, and the numbers they're putting up so far have exceeded those at this point in 2024.
The Vols have hit 31 homers and average a nation-leading 2.82 per game. Last year, when they slugged 184 for the second-most in Division I history, they had 25 in the first 11 games (2.27).
The pitching staff leads the nation with a 1.82 ERA and 14.6 strikeouts per nine innings. At this point a year ago, those figures were 2.80 and 9.7, respectively.
Tennessee hit a combined 10 homers and its pitching staff allowed five runs and struck out 45 in wins over Oklahoma State, Rice and Arizona.
Louisville transfer Gavin Kilen homered four times, drove in seven runs and scored seven times in the three games. Six of his nine hits went for extra bases. He leads the Vols with seven homers, 17 RBIs and a team-best .486 batting average.
Freshman Levi Clark homered against Rice and Arizona, with the the ball bouncing off the train tracks above the left-field wall and out of Daikin Park against the Wildcats. He has five homers for the year and is batting .462.
'When you've got depth in your order like this team does, it's really easy to pass the torch to the next guy,' said Mississippi transfer Andrew Fischer, who has four homers batting cleanup. 'You've got guys obliterating baseballs. If it's not me getting it done, it's the guy ahead of me or behind me.'
Left-hander Liam Doyle (2-0), who also transferred from Ole Miss, has established himself as the No. 1 pitcher. He's allowed one earned run over 14 2/3 innings and has 34 strikeouts against just three walks.
In the polls
Texas A&M's 1-3 week brought a shakeup at the top of the polls Monday. D1Baseball.com promoted LSU (11-1) to No. 1, followed by Tennessee (11-0) and Arkansas (10-1).
LSU beat Nicholls to start the week and Dallas Baptist at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. They closed with wins over Kansas State, Nebraska and Sam Houston at the Frisco (Texas) College Baseball Classic.
Baseball America's top three are Tennessee, LSU and Arkansas.
Clemson dominance
Clemson went on the road and swept in-state rival South Carolina for the third time in four years to complete a 4-0 week. The Tigers limited the Gamecocks to a combined six runs and 15 hits over the three games and struck out 36 in wins of 5-3, 5-1 and 8-2.
The Gamecocks had started 9-0 under Paul Mainieri, the former LSU coach and the active Division I wins leader who returned to coaching after a three-year hiatus. They wasted strong starts by Jake McCoy on Saturday and Dylan Eskew on Sunday.
'I know how much it means to South Carolina people, South Carolina fans, and I feel bad we didn't come through for them,' Mainieri said. 'There's nothing we can do about it at this point except for keep improving and working on the things we need to work on. We've got to figure out the hitting and get a little more thump there.'
Lots of thump here
Gardner-Webb's Dale Francis Jr. set national season highs with four home runs and 12 RBIs in the Runnin' Bulldogs' 16-14 win over Appalachian State on Saturday. He has seven homers and 27 RBIs in 13 games after going deep 29 times in 76 games the previous two years for Division II Erskine College.
Cleanup spot
West Virginia, with first-year coach Steve Sabins, has opened with 11 straight wins for its best start since it was 18-0 in 1964. It's the Mountaineers' longest winning streak since 2008. ... Arkansas' sweep of Charlotte extended its streak of nonconference home weekend series wins to 31 since 2015. ... Oregon (10-2) smashed its school record for runs in its 35-1 victory over Ivy League favorite Columbia on Saturday. ... Paul Vossen of St. Bonaventure stole seven bases in a 13-6 win over UT Martin on Sunday, one off the Division I record.
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