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 celebrates scoring a winning run

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 makes a throw to first base

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 makes a throw to first base

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.