Tony Vitello speaks on Christian Moore's importance to Tennessee baseball

Christian Moore helped lead Tennessee to a 7-inning win over Belmont on Tuesday, belting a solo home run in the sixth inning and scoring two runs on the afternoon. It tied the school record of 24 for most home runs in a single-season.

Of course, while Moore didn’t get the Vols on the board until late, Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello explained how important he’s been every time he steps up to bat.

‘When we first got here, people didn’t believe they could win,” Vitello explained after the win. “We needed to work a little harder to win, so everything is pushing forward as a winning approach and if you do well enough, you’ll get some feedback from the game that it’s either a homer or a win. [Moore] and Blake Burke are winners.

“They find ways to do different things whether it’s a hit in the first inning or a hit in extra innings with the game on the line. Extra base hits or just getting on base. C-Mo reached on an error the first (at-bat), but he was 0-2 in a hurry and then extended it five, six more pitches, puts the ball in play, everybody knows he’s a green runner, so maybe you hurry a little bit. Just winning is the word that comes to mind.”

Proving to be more than just a home run threat every time he’s at the plate, Moore has been able to put together a team-high .377 batting average to go with 80 hits, the aforementioned record-tying 24 home runs, 37 extra base hits and 57 RBI’s.

Winding down his junior season, it’s unlikely Moore will be sticking around Knoxville very much longer thanks to his potential in the big leagues. Vitello believes he has what it takes to make it.

“When their time is over — I don’t mean to sound like a jerk — I’ll high five and I’ll be all for the individual accolades, and like, that’s a pretty cool record, that’s a big number of this or that, but I think in the current moment, the thing that sticks out is those guys are winners and they’ve evolved with how they would be labeled that,” Vitello said.

Next up for the Vols is one final regular season series against No. 23 South Carolina in Knoxville. The series begins on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. ET and will air live on SECN+. Friday and Saturday’s games will close out the regular season and just a few days later — Tennessee is due up in in Hoover for their opening game in the SEC Tournament.