Christian Moore slugs No. 3 Tennessee baseball to series win at No. 5 Kentucky

Christian Moore smacked his chest and raised his right hand as he floated toward first base Sunday.

The ball? Somewhere over the left-field fence at Kentucky Proud Park, where the Tennessee baseball junior deposited it for his third home run for the Vols at the end of a top-five series.

Moore slugged all weekend in Lexington and was at his best in the finale of it to power the Vols to a series win in Lexington, Kentucky. Tennessee won 13-11 Sunday to claim the series after a 9-4 win Saturday.

Moore homered four times in the three-game series for No. 3 Tennessee (33-7, 12-6 SEC) against the No. 5 Wildcats (32-7, 15-3). UT lost the opener 5-3 on Friday.

How Tennessee baseball won Kentucky series

Kavares Tears had the game-changing at-bat within a whirlwind Sunday finale. The junior outfielder fell behind 0-2, fouled off three offspeed pitches, watched three, then demolished the ninth pitch for a lead-taking two-run homer.

Tennessee fell behind 6-2 in the fourth. It took a 7-6 lead in the sixth with a rally that started with a Cal Stark hit-by-pitch and included a clutch Cannon Peebles sacrifice fly to take the lead.

The Vols trailed 8-7 before Moore's second homer tied it 8-8. Then Tears gave UT the lead. Moore's three-run shot in the eighth proved to be the winner after the Wildcats hit back-to-back homers to pull within 13-11.

Aaron Combs is giving Tennessee baseball an answer

Aaron Combs has spent the past few weeks proving he is exactly the pitcher that Tennessee expected the redshirt junior to be. Saturday was his finest work yet.

Combs pitched 4⅔ innings of scoreless work with three hits and no walks. He had seven strikeouts, including striking out the side in the ninth. That was a career-high after he set a new one with six against Auburn in early March.

"He had to get his feet under him a little bit and it’s been nice to see him pitching the way that he is," Vols caoch Tony Vitello said Saturday.

Combs had a rocky start to the season. He allowed eight runs on eight hits and seven walks with 11 strikeouts in five nonconference outings. The crafty right-handed reliever has allowed two runs on eight hits and five walks in 12⅔ innings in SEC play. He has struck out 18 in those five conference chances.

Combs has felt better about his command lately. He has not walked a batter in his past 6⅔ innings. He has 10 strikeouts in that span, allowing three hits and no runs. Combs got an inning-ending double play in the fifth at Kentucky and pitched around back-to-back hits in the seventh to remind he is capable of being a go-to bullpen choice.

“I had my curveball for sure,” Combs said of his Kentucky outing. “It has kind of been my main pitch the last couple outings. ... I had total control of it.”

Tennessee baseball is homering at a crazy pace again

Moore homered in the third inning Sunday for Tennessee's 108th of the season. It is the third straight the Vols have hit at least 108. The program record prior to 2022 was 107.

RECORD:Blake Burke sets Tennessee baseball record for longest hitting streak at 28 games

Tennessee has hit 111 home runs, trailing the 158 hit by the 2022 team and 126 hit last season.

Moore now holds the Tennessee career record with 46 after pulling ahead of Blake Burke, who has 44. Moore also is within reasonable range of the single-season record of 24 set by Sonny Cortez in 1998.

Kentucky had allowed 26 homers in 36 games entering the series. The Vols hit 10 in the series.

Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on Twitter @ByMikeWilson. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it.