Blake Burke was standing not far from home plate at the Hoover Metropolitan Complex Sunday evening patting the shoulders of Christian Moore. The Tennessee Baseball first basemen seemingly thought his teammate and all-everything second baseman was about to be named the SEC Tournament’s most valuable player.
Then the public address announcer said Burke’s name as the MVP, with Moore turning around and pushing Burke toward SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey for the photo op.
Burke was named MVP and was named to the All-SEC Tournament team alongside Tennessee outfielder Kavares Tears after the Vols beat LSU 4-3 to win the tournament championship for the second time in three years.
Burke hit go-ahead home run in eighth inning against Mississippi State on Friday
Burke went 9-for-17 over five games in the tournament, scoring four runs and walking six times. He hit they go-ahead home run in the eighth inning of the 6-5 win over Mississippi State Friday night, which sent Tennessee to Saturday’s semifinal round and a rematch with Vanderbilt.
Vanderbilt beat Tennessee 13-4 on Wednesday in the Vols first game in the tournament. The No. 1 seed bounced back with a 7-4 win over Texas A&M, a 6-5 win over Mississippi State and a 6-4 win over Vanderbilt Saturday night.
Tennessee will likely be the No. 1 overall seed when the 64-team NCAA Baseball Tournament bracket is released on Monday (Noon Eastern Time, ESPN2). The Vols were projected as the No. 1 overall seed by both D1Baseball.com and Baseball America on Sunday, entering the SEC Tournament final against LSU.
Tennessee’s NCAA Baseball postseason history under Tony Vitello
Tony Vitello in 2019 took Tennessee back to college baseball’s postseason for the first time since 2005 with a 40-win season in just his second year on the job. The Vols were eliminated by North Carolina in the Chapel Hill Regional final after wins over UNC Wilmington and Liberty.
In 2021, after the COVID pandemic cancelled the 2020 season, Tennessee won 50 games and went back to the College World Series for the first time since 2005, sweeping LSU in the Knoxville Super Regional before losing to No. 8 Virginia then No. 2 Texas in Omaha.
The Vols won 57 games in 2022 and were the No. 1 overall seed in the postseason, but were upset by Notre Dame in the Knoxville Super Regional.
Tennessee’s 44-win team last season advanced out of the Clemson Regional and won in three games in the Southern Miss Super Regional to go back to Omaha. There, the Vols lost to LSU 6-3, bounced back with a 6-4 win over Stanford but were sent home after a 5-0 loss to LSU.
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