Blake Grimmer said goodbye, again and again. Levi Clark did it twice. Henry Ford got hold of one.
The trio of struggling Tennessee baseball sluggers combined for six home runs in a game three win over Ole Miss, 13-5.
Clark and Grimmer’s contributions made it the first time this season that the Vols (26-14, 8-10 SEC) have had two multi-homer hitters in the same game. Ford joined the pair with a four-hit day, including a three-run blast in the eighth inning, as the trio of hitters combined for all 13 of Tennessee’s RBIs.
Grimmer added to the party late with homers in the third, seventh and eighth innings. He tied a program record for most homers in a game, becoming the most recent to do it since Christian Moore at Kentucky on April 21, 2024.
Ole Miss (29-12, 10-8) kept the game tight when Tristan Bissetta sent a two-run shot out of the park in the seventh, but Grimmer’s second long ball provided insurance for the Vols.
Big third inning
Ole Miss opened the scoring in the top half of the third, but that didn’t put the Vols out of the game. In response to a one-run deficit, Tennessee answered with a five-run frame to take the lead.
Stone Lawless, in his first at-bat since a facial injury at Vanderbilt on March 29, lined a leadoff single to right field. Nine-hole hitter Clark followed with a two-run blast to left-center to put Tennessee ahead.
But the scoring didn’t stop there.
Ford and Reese Chapman each recorded base knocks to put two in scoring position. Grimmer elected to empty the bases with a three-run shot to the bullpen in right, putting Tennessee ahead 5-1.
Clark demolition party
Tennessee has not gotten the results it needs out of Clark. The sophomore was hitting .178 in 33 starts entering Sunday, and was 1-for-6 in the previous two games of the series against Ole Miss.
Change was necessary for Clark, who had been hitting eighth in the lineup for the last five games. With Lawless back in the fold, Josh Elander moved Clark down to the nine-hole, and he produced a 3-for-4 day at the plate with four RBIs. It included the first multi-homer game of his career.
Clark’s first blast gave the Vols the lead in the third. His next pushed Tennessee’s lead to six runs, going 438 feet to dead center, clearing the batter’s eye at 110 mph off the bat. He added a sixth-inning double to mark his first career three-hit game.
Clark is now hitting .444 in five games in the nine-hole of the lineup. He has eight hits in 18 at-bats, with at least one hit and one RBI in every game he’s played there. Clark is batting .154 in any other number in the lineup card.
Stable Evan Blanco
The Vols received another stable Sunday start from Blanco. The consistent lefty provided a strong six innings, giving up three earned runs on seven hits while striking out eight batters. He went a career-high 110 pitches with 72 strikes, walking a lone batter.
Blanco’s line was tagged for an additional two runs that could not be statistically faulted to a fielder. In the fifth inning with two outs on the board, Will Furniss skied a ball to shallow left field, but none of the converging three defenders — Manny Marin, Garrett Wright or Blaine Brown — came up with it. Two earned runs scored because the ball dropped without a play being made.
He retired the first six batters of the game before the Rebels tacked the first run on in the third inning with three singles. Ole Miss loaded the bases afterward on a walk, but Blanco induced a flyout to end the additional threat.
Blanco retired the side in the sixth with a pair of strikeouts to end his day. That marked the third straight start of six or more innings after a disastrous Vanderbilt apperance three weeks ago.
