Tennessee baseball entered the weekend batting .264 as a team, ranking in the lower half nationally. It had recorded double-digit hits in just three SEC games.
The Vols upped their season average by 0.04 points — earning 11, 13 and nine hit days in the sweep against No. 9 Mississippi State. It included a boost in situational hitting.
Tennessee went 7-for-12 with runners on, and recorded four hits when runners stood in scoring position on Sunday. The Vols added needed insurance runs in the sixth and ninth innings, which were long-standing struggles in many of their losses this season.
Sunday’s nine hits were a series-worst, but five came with two outs, where they scored four of their runs.
“I think credit goes to two places,” head coach Josh Elander said. “One would be Chuck Jeroloman, who is doing a great job with those guys as he gets more settled in, and vice versa with the crew. And also to the players. You know, they’re just letting it happen instead of trying too hard. I think at times that was the issue early. There wasn’t an issue with approach or anything like that. Just guys maybe trying to do a little bit too much.”
The Vols had not put a runner on base after a Blaine Brown leadoff single in the second inning. Mississippi State starter Charlie Foster retired 12 Vols in a row, and the Bulldogs had cut the lead to one run. Then, a Garrett Wright walk in the sixth inning re-ignited the lineup.
A Reese Chapman double put two in scoring position, then Henry Ford brought a run home on an RBI groundout. Blake Grimmer added a two-out single to push Tennessee’s lead to 4-1 in the sixth.
More two-out hitting arose in the ninth as Tennessee led by two runs — a lead in a spot the Vols have notoriously failed to hold. But as the weekend theme, the tides continued turning. Tennessee rallied for three runs on four hits after two quick outs in the inning. It extended Bo Rhudy’s lead on the mound from two runs to five, where he finished out the win by retiring the side in order.
“I think the biggest thing was sticking to our approaches, not trying to go out there and hit every pitch,” said Chapman, who posted four hits across the weekend. “Find a pitch, sit on it and then drive it. And then just being a dog with two strikes. We had multiple two-out, two-strike knocks that helped move this game in the right direction for us. And that was just huge as a hitting staff over there. And just the main theme is trust.”
In Friday’s game, the Vols put up a three-spot in the eighth inning — which proved to be needed in a one-run affair. They went just 4-for-14 with runners on, but went 9-for-17 on advancement opportunities. Tennessee scored three of its runs with two outs.
Wright provided a three-hit day at the top of the order, while Blaine Brown and Jay Abernathy were the only hitless starters.
On Saturday, the Vols went 6-for-15 with runners on and added four hits with them in scoring position. Though insurance wasn’t needed with a three-run first inning and strong starting pitching, Tennessee still pulled one across the plate on a two-out double by Abernathy in the eighth.
The Vols got a trio of three-hit days from Trent Grindlinger, Manny Marin and Abernathy out of five, seven and nine-hole slots of the lineup.
“Just being able to string things together at the bottom really shows what we can do as a group when we’re all working together,” Abernathy said. “So being able to come through with two outs or whatever it was, that really just becomes trust and having the guys around you.”
Situationally, Tennessee made things happen. It’s a building block for a team that hasn’t won an SEC series since April 2025, much less swept a conference series since March 2025.
“We knew that’s what we were capable of, and we knew that’s how we can play,” Chapman said. “And I think that’s just the standard of this lineup, and I know that we’re going to continue to roll with this thing.”