Tennessee's Christian Moore ejected vs Vanderbilt after defending pitcher Chase Dollander

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Tennessee second baseman Christian Moore was ejected from Saturday’s game against Vanderbilt and was subsequently issued a one-game suspension after getting into a heated exchange with the Commodores’ Troy LaNeve in defense of pitcher Chase Dollander. 

Moore, a sophomore out of Brooklyn, New York, was ejected in the seventh inning after getting into LaNeve’s face after he seemingly ran into Dollander. 

Christian Moore of the Tennessee Volunteers celebrates scoring the winning run against the Texas A&M Aggies at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on March 25, 2023, in Knoxville. (Eakin Howard/Getty Images)

Dollander was covering first base for Blake Burke, who caught a pop-up by Vanderbilt’s  T.J. McKenzie, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel. As LaNeve ran back to first to declare himself safe, he made contact with Dollander, prompting the incident. 

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"I’ll acknowledge the fact that CMo has got a lot of passion, and I’d rather have guys with passion than without," Vols coach Tony Vitello said. "I also will acknowledge the fact that he has got his teammate's back. I think that was the intent of what he was doing, but I also think the situation – with all due respect to the team we played and the scoreboard – it wasn’t necessary."

Umpires quickly separated the two players, but a visibly frustrated Moore was then ejected from the game. 

Christian Moore of the Tennessee Volunteers makes a throw to first base against the Razorbacks at Baum-Walker Stadium at George Cole Field on April 16, 2023, in Fayetteville, Arkansas. (Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)

He was also given a one-game suspension, which would rule him out for the final game of the series on Sunday. 

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"What led up to it was their guy running the bases hard regardless of the score and our guy getting over to cover first base in Doe (Dollander), and I don’t know what Doe said about it, but there was contact. But it was, I don’t want to say incidental, but it was two guys playing baseball, man," Vitello said of the incident. 

Moore’s teammate also came to his defense after the game. 

Christian Moore of the Tennessee Volunteers makes a throw to first against the Razorbacks on April 16, 2023, in Fayetteville, Arkansas. (Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)

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"He's the quarterback for our team – Dollander is," shortstop Maui Ahuna said. "I have his back and I’ll have CMo’s back. Any player in this country would do the same."

Tennessee’s 10-5 victory on Sunday completed the Vols’ series sweep of Vanderbilt and marked their seventh consecutive win over the Commodores.