The Tennessee Volunteers had one of their ugliest innings of the season Tuesday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium, but it wasn't enough to deter their winning ways.
Vols third baseman Billy Amick made sure of that with seven RBIs.
Tennessee yielded two walks, hit a batter and committed a throwing error during a grisly fourth inning defensively in which Western Carolina took a 4-3 lead. Home runs by Colby Backus and Kavares Tears in the fifth inning, however, sandwiched a two-run single by Amick and quickly restored order as the No. 3 Vols cruised to a 12-4 triumph.
"We were the Bad News Bears there for a top half of an inning," Tennessee coach Tony Vitello said in a news conference. "That was high alert and high stress. There is a lot to be happy about tonight and a lot to learn from."
Amick capped the scoring with a three-run homer to left field in the eighth inning as the Vols won for the ninth time in 10 games. Tennessee, which took two out of three at Kentucky last weekend, improved to 34-7 overall and will resume Southeastern Conference play with a three-game series against visiting Missouri that begins Thursday night.
Backus homered to left field to lead off Tennessee's fifth to tie the game at 4-4. Amick's single to center put the Vols up 6-4, and a three-run homer to left-center by Tears produced a five-run bulge.
"We had a good game plan going into this," Amick said. "We just attacked pitches that we can hit. We did a good job."
Tennessee had taken a 2-0 lead in the third inning when Blake Burke's two-out single up the middle was followed by Amick's homer to left.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.