Through the first five innings Friday night, the top-ranked Tennessee Volunteers were battling to avoid being shut out for a second time in three Southeastern Conference games.
Then their bats awoke, and in a big way.
Tennessee homered twice in the sixth inning and once in the seventh to turn a 3-0 deficit into an 8-3 triumph over No. 24 South Carolina inside Lindsey Nelson Stadium that clinched a ninth straight series victory. Blake Burke provided the statement blast with a grand slam to right-center field in the seventh to bring home Cannon Peebles, Cal Stark and Christian Moore.
Peebles and Moore had reached via walks, while Stark was hit by a pitch.
"Blake has done that in some big moments before, and that was a really big moment," Tennessee coach Tony Vitello said in a news conference afterward. "It was a massive exclamation point that he did it with."
The Vols improved to 45-10 overall and to 21-8 in conference contests heading into Saturday's 1 p.m. regular-season finale, while the Gamecocks dropped to 33-20 and 13-16. Tennessee remains one game back of Kentucky in the SEC East race, with the Wildcats having improved to 22-7 in league play with Friday night's 17-7 hammering of Vanderbilt in Lexington.
Burke's homer marked Tennessee's 11th grand slam of the season, setting a new SEC standard. Arizona State set college baseball's single-season record with 14 grand slams in 2003, which passed the 12 that Oklahoma State produced in 1996.
"It's fun to hit with the bases loaded, and the pressure is on the other guy," Vitello said. "Our guys have fought their way on base a lot this year."
South Carolina took a 3-0 lead into the sixth inning, when Tennessee got on the board with Moore's solo shot to right. Billy Amick and Dylan Dreiling collected two-out singles later that inning before Hunter Ensley's three-run homer to left put the Vols up 4-3.
Tennessee starting pitcher Drew Beam worked six innings and allowed five hits and three runs.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.