The last time junior centerfielder Chris Fritts had six RBIs in a game was during a blowout summer league victory as a member of the Alexandria Beetles.
    
He and the rest of the Tennessee baseball squad replicated that performance on Saturday at Lindsey Nelson Stadium in the first of two sweep-clinching victories over Northern Illinois to begin first-year coach Dave Serrano’s tenure.
   
 An eighth-inning shot off Fritts’ bat cleared the left field fence of Lindsey Nelson Stadium, and combined with an earlier double gave him six RBIs in the game, which the Vols won 10-5 over visiting Northern Illinois.
    
“I actually had six (RBIs) this summer I think I remember,” Fritts said. “On the Fourth of July, I hit a grand slam so that was cool. But today was fun.”
    
Fritts was not the only Vol to bring fireworks to the ballpark during UT’s 7-1, 10-5 and 7-2 victories this weekend.
    
Senior Chris Pierce alternated on either side of Fritts in both left field and right field and matched Fritts’ performance at the plate, as the duo combined to drive in 14 of the Vols’ 24 runs over the three games.
    
“I think they’re playing with a different confidence now together,” Serrano said. “They’re guys that we look to for leadership.
   
 “To have guys like that from the middle to the bottom of the order is good to have because they’ve got some experience when we have those big at-bats.”
    
The Vols were led by Friday night starting pitcher and first baseman Drew Steckenrider.
    
UT’s cleanup hitter reached base safely on 11 of his 14 plate appearances over the weekend.
    
He was also the winning pitcher Friday night, allowing no runs in four innings of work.
   
 “I was proud of him,” Serrano said. “For him to be able to do those types of things, it’s going to make it a lot easier for us to be successful.”
    
Serrano stuck closely to a plan which called for each of the three starting pitchers to throw a maximum of four innings.
    
Junior right-handers Zack Godley and Nick Blount followed the script to a T on Saturday, each recording wins in their respective four-inning starts.
   
 The Saturday starters combined with Steckenrider, also a junior right-hander, to allow no runs in a combined 12 innings.
    
“I’m very excited about what I see materializing in this young pitching staff,” Serrano said.
    
“I really liked how we pitched this weekend. This is a big step and it helped answer some questions. I saw some things I really liked but I saw some things that we need to clean up.”
    
The Vols utilized seven pitchers out of the bullpen over the series, including three freshmen.
   
Freshman right-hander Robbie Kidd succeeded Steckenrider on the mound Friday night for three innings, allowing one run on three hits. He was followed by freshman right-hander Connor Stevens, who pitched Friday’s eighth and ninth innings, giving up no runs on one hit to seal the opening day victory.
    
Freshman left-hander Joseph Vanderplas followed Godley in game two on Saturday, allotting Northern Illinois five runs, though just three of them earned, over innings five through seven.
    
The Huskies had narrowed the score to 6-5 when Fritts silenced the rally with his three-run bomb.
   
 “We were just comfortable,” Fritts said. “This coaching staff has done a great job to prepare us in practice by simulating game-like situations. We just felt like it was another day on Friday, really, and that carried over to today and we took care of business.”
    
UT (3-0) will host Western Kentucky (1-2) on Tuesday at 3 p.m.