Dylan Dreiling hit a two-run home run to right field in the third inning and Blake Burke hit a two-run homer to right in the fourth as No. 5 Tennessee broke free and demolished Alabama 11-3 Friday night in Tuscaloosa.
Tony Vitello's Volunteers won their 17th straight game in improving to 18-1, while the Crimson Tide dropped to 15-3 after the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams.
Dreiling and Burke were joined in the home run department by Kavares Tears, whose two-run blast to center in the sixth inning extended Tennessee’s lead to 10-2. The homer by Burke was the 37th of his career.
Tennessee took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Robin Villeneuve drew a bases-loaded walk to score Burke, who had reached on a one-out single to right. The Tide went up 2-1 in their half of the first on consecutive home runs by TJ McCants and Ian Petrutz off AJ Causey.
Dreiling’s homer put Tennessee ahead to stay at 3-2, with Burke’s blast making it 5-2. The Vols added three more runs in the fifth, with a Cannon Peebles single to left-center scoring Dreiling and Dalton Bargo’s double to right-center bringing in Peebles and Dean Curley.
Causey, the transfer from Jacksonville State, worked into the seventh inning and allowed six hits and two runs while striking out eight. He improved to 4-0 with a 1.65 earned run average.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.