New King: Christian Moore slugs to Tennessee home run record

On3 imageby:Eric Cain•04/21/24•

_Cainer

LEXINGTON, KY — Vols second baseman Christian Moore homered three times on Sunday against No. 3 Kentucky, moving past teammate Blake Burke for the Tennessee program record for round trippers, blasting career home runs No. 44 and No. 45 in front of a sellout weekend from Proud Park.

The record-breaking home run – his second of the game – came in the top of the seventh inning and tied the ballgame at 8-8 at the time. It traveled 399 feet and was 106 miles per hour off the bat. The second home run of the day was Moore’s 18th of the season and he’s now within striking distance of chasing down the single-season home run record as well. That record is currently held by Sonny Cortez, who blasted 24 home runs for Tennessee back in 1998.

The latest record-tying homer that came beforehand was in the top of the third inning and was a two-run shot. It was Tennessee’s first hit of the ballgame as the Vols tallied only one base runner in the game before that point – a Cal Stark walk the batter before.

Moore previously tied the record on Sunday, April 14 against LSU as career home run No. 42 came in the bottom of the seventh in three-run fashion. He again tied the record at 43 on Saturday for all of about 45 seconds before Burke followed with a long shot right behind him, going back-to-back to begin the Saturday contest at Kentucky.

For the first time ever, Moore sits at the top of the all-time Tennessee home run marker at 45 career bombs. Teammate Blake Burke is one back at 44 while Luc Lipcius is in third place at 40. Evan Russell is six back of the leader at 39. VFL and now Major League Baseball Hall of Famer – Todd Helton – finished with 38 career home runs and comes in fourth all-time.

Moore has played with USA Baseball (2023 summer) and was a four-time preseason All-American entering the 2024 campaign. He was recently named to the Midseason Golden Spikes Award Watch List.

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.

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