University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
Western Carolina
Volunteers Win Season Opener
February 01, 2000 | Baseball
KNOXVILLE-The Tennessee baseball team opened the 2000 season with a 6-0 thumping of Western Carolina on Tuesday.
The Volunteers (1-0) played host to Western Carolina (0-1) after having their series with Mercer canceled this past weekend. The two teams were not scheduled to meet until April 18, but were able to schedule the two-game series to serve as the season openers for both schools.
Despite cold temperatures, the Volunteers were able to get the bats warm early in the game and jump out to an early lead over the Catamounts. In the first inning, All-America sophomore and lead-off batter Chris Burke hit a double to left field to get things rolling for Tennessee. Junior transfer Ryan Case answered with a RBI single to score Burke and put the Vols on the board.
The Tennessee bats kept on swinging as the Vols earned four runs on five hits to give them a 4-0 lead going into the second.
After a high-scoring first inning, Vols pitcher Jamie Bennett (1-0) took control of the game from the mound. The senior went five straight innings retiring the batters in order. Bennett dished out nine strikeouts and no walks while giving up just three hits on the afternoon.
Leading the Tennessee offense was junior transfer John Massey, sophomore Brandon Hopkins and sophomore transfer Ryan Moffett, who each totaled two hits on three at-bats. Chris Burke extended his hitting streak to 17 games while shortstop Stevie Daniel snapped a 17-game steak.
The leading hitter for Western Carolina was Morgan Frazier who finished with two hits on three at-bats. Senior Aaron Kirby (0-1) took the loss for the Catamounts.
The Volunteers will wrap up the two game series against Western Carolina tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m. at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. Admission is free.
