Taylor’s grand slam leads Vols to midweek win over Austin Peay

Vols smacked four home runs during this game and now have 103 for the season.
Tennessee Vols catcher
Tennessee Vols catcher(Tennessee Athletics)
Published: May. 9, 2023 at 11:42 PM EDT
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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - A third-inning grand slam from Charlie Taylor highlighted No. 23 Tennessee’s 9-4 midweek victory over in-state foe Austin Peay in front of a great Tuesday night crowd at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

The Vols broke open a 1-1 game with five runs in the bottom of the third, punctuated by Taylor’s first-career slam. The redshirt sophomore catcher destroyed the first pitch of the at-bat, blasting a fastball 410 feet off the batter’s eye in dead center field for his third home run of the year.

The Big Orange homered four times on the night, marking the sixth time in the last 11 games that they have hit three or more long balls in a game.

Christian Scott, Griffin Merritt and Maui Ahuna were the other three players to go deep in Tuesday’s win. With its four home runs, Tennessee eclipsed the 100-homer mark (103) for the second straight season and just the third time in program history.

The Vols used nine pitchers in the game with Aaron Combs earning the win to improve to 4-0 on the year after tossing 0.2 scoreless frames with a pair of strikeouts.

With the win, UT improved to 5-1 in games against in-state opponents this season and 11-2 in midweek games.

Tennessee (33-16, 12-12 SEC) hosts its final SEC home series of the season this weekend, taking on No. 17 Kentucky.

Friday’s series opener is slated for a 6:30 p.m. first pitch and will be streamed on SEC Network+ through the ESPN app.