Tied 5-5 against Mississippi State in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals, Tennessee had its fans biting thier nails. However, Blake Burke showed no signs of nerves. In the top of the eighth inning, the Tennessee junior crushed a one-run shot over the center field fence to give the Volunteers a 6-5 lead.
Tennessee never looked back, preventing Mississippi State from cutting into its lead over the final two innings. After the game, Burke revealed his thought process before the pivotal hit.
“I knew he had a lot of ride on his fastball, and he’s got a good offspeed, too,” Burke said. “I was just looking for something in the zone and I don’t know if that one was in the zone, but it was all fastball and I got it.
“It took a whole team effort. It wasn’t pretty but we got it done. We’re just having fun right now. And when you have fun, that’s when you’re playing your best baseball. So, I’m excited to see how far we can go.”
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Jaw-dropping home runs are nothing new for Burke. He boasts the second-most career home runs in Tennessee history with 47. He only trails his teammate, Christian Moore, who has amassed 54 home runs in his career thus far.
Tennessee has the second-most home runs in the country this season, following closely behind Austin Peay. The team’s powerful hitting is no accident. After the game, Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello revealed the secret behind his players’ hot bats.
“Our strength coach is somewhere behind me. He’s incredible,” Vitello said. “The Cubs stole him away from us, big league club. We were fortunate enough to get him back… Then, Beth, our nutritionist, is on top of these guys all the time about everything they can do to become better athletes.
“[Christian Moore and Blake Burke], I think truly were motivated by the leaders of the team when they were freshmen. Whether it be Trey Lipscomb, or you mentioned Luke Lipcius, he’s got a hand in that. You ask Blake. [Lipcius] coached him up as much as any coach did that freshman year. So, there’s kind of this cool little lineage we have now.”
Advancing to the next round, the Volunteers will look to keep piling up the highlight hits. On Saturday evening, the team will square off against Vanderbilt on the SEC Network. Vanderbilt defeated Tennessee 13-4 on Wednesday during the teams’ first meeting in the SEC Tournament.
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