Burns Tabbed as SEC Co-Pitcher of the Week

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – After two dominant relief appearances in Tennessee's series sweep over No. 2 Vanderbilt last weekend, Chase Burns was named the SEC Co-Pitcher of the Week on Monday afternoon by the league office.

The sophomore right hander picked up the win in Friday night's series opener and pitched a 1-2-3 inning to finish off the sweep in Sunday's series finale. In total, Burns retired 11 of the 12 batters he faced over his two scoreless outings.

Burns entered Friday's contest with a runner on and no outs in the top of the 10^th and proceeded to strike out the next three batters to get the Vols out of the jam and keep the game tied at three.

Burns went on to pitch the final three innings of the contest, allowing just one hit while facing the minimum. Seven of the nine outs he recorded came via strikeout as he registered multiple pitches of 100-plus miles per hour. UT went on to win the game on a walk-off homer by Griffin Merritt in the 12^th inning.

The Gallatin, Tennessee, native capped the weekend and finished off the Vols' seventh consecutive victory over the Commodores with a perfect ninth inning on Sunday. Burns struck out the first batter he faced before forcing a groundout and a fly out to end the game, needing just nine pitches to retire the side in order.

This marks the first time Burns, who was named the D1Baseball.com National Freshman of Year last season, has been named SEC Pitcher of the Week in his career.

University of Tennessee Athletics

Players Mentioned

Chase Burns

Griffin Merritt

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