Tennessee continues to impress

The beat goes on for Tennessee.

The top-ranked Volunteers (31-1) became the first SEC team to open 12-0 in league play after they took three games from Missouri in Knoxville over the weekend.

They also have won an SEC record-tying 23 games in a row and 81 of their last 100.

The Vols are not lacking for confidence. In fact, fifthyear Coach Tony Vitello, a former University of Arkansas assistant, said one of his challenges is to get his players to “tame” their emotions.

Their home run celebrations have made them a target for critics the past year. The most highprofile example was Drew Gilbert’s walk-off grand slam against Wright State in the NCAA regionals last year. He flipped his bat high into the air, skipped and jumped down the first- and thirdbase lines and heaved his helmet like a discus before he touched home.

“We took that villain role and we fed off that,” relief pitcher Redmond Walsh said. “We’ve got guys like Drew Gilbert who, legit, wants to fight everybody it feels like and be the guy that has a target on his back.”

In the opener of the series at Vanderbilt on April 1, Jordan Beck’s first-inning homer was disallowed because his bat was deemed illegal on a technicality and he was called out. When Luc Lipcius homered the next inning and crossed the plate, he put his bat up to his eyes and stared at the barrel as if to inspect it to make sure it was legal.

“I said some choice words to the umpire and their dugout and … it was one of those things you had to do, to get back at them and make it a little chippy,” Lipcius said.

“People haven’t really liked us since we’ve been