Late stat change allows Blake Burke to capture another Tennessee record
LEXINGTON, KY — Tennessee first baseman Blake Burke added another accomplishment to his All-American junior campaign on Friday night, breaking the program record for longest hit-streak at the plate.
However, it originally didn’t appear to be the case.
Burke tied former Tennessee superstar Condredge Holloway on Tuesday for the longest hit-streak in program history at 27-straight games. The junior, however, was 0-for-3 heading to the plate in what would likely be his final at-bat of the evening Friday night in game one of the series against Kentucky at Proud Park.
The sharp grounder off the bat to first base made UK’s Ryan Nicholson fumble the ball around. Burke reached base in time on what initially ruled as an error. However, following video review in postgame and discussions with both coaching staffs, that play was later changed to a hit instead of an error.
So, that means the hit-streak lives on at 28-straight ballgames for the California native as his play in the eighth inning almost mirrored the game-defining play in the seventh inning. Then, it was Emilien Pitre who hit a line drive ground ball to third where Tennessee’s Billy Amick botched it. Thanks to two more errors on the same play, two runs scored and Kentucky had its first lead of the ballgame.
“We just don’t make a play and to our third baseman’s defense he’s getting 75 different hand signals and directions and things like that,” Tony Vitello said after the ballgame. “I don’t know if he got caught in between on that deal right there.”
Since the two plays were so similar, one couldn’t be ruled a hit while the other was an error. It was an all of nothing situation, so that play was also changed to a hit instead of an error like originally ruled.
At the end of the day, Burke’s streak continues on, and his on-base streak also extended to 36-straight games. The is the program record holder for career home runs at 43 and also entered the weekend tied for the nation lead with 20 doubles.
Burke now holds the longest hit-streak in Tennessee program history (28) while Holloway is in second at 27 games – accomplishing the feat in 1975. Jeff Pickler hit safely in 26-straight games back in 1998 while Justin Ross did so in 24-stright games in the same season.
The Brentwood, Calif. native, Burke belted 14 home runs in 2022 as a true freshman. He accomplished the feat in his first collegiate season in only 95 at-bats as a part-time player. As a sophomore in 2023, Burke launched 16 home runs and now sits at 10 home runs thus far into the 2024 campaign.
He has been named a Perfect Game Freshman All-American (2022), Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American (2022) and to the SEC All-Freshman Team (2022). The first baseman was also named a Preseason All-American (2nd Team) by Baseball America ahead of the 2024 campaign.
Burke and the Vols return to action Saturday afternoon for a 2 o’clock eastern time game two first pitch time.
