Christian Moore is the top home run hitter in Tennessee baseball history — for a career and a season.

Moore hit his 25th homer of the season in the first inning Thursday against South Carolina, breaking the record of 24, which Sonny Cortez set in 1998 and held for the past 26 seasons.

Moore tied Cortez with a sixth-inning homer against Belmont on Tuesday.

The junior second baseman also holds the record for career homers with 52.

Where Christian Moore ranks in Tennessee baseball record books

Moore got within one of Cortez's record with a pair of homers in Tennessee's series win at Vanderbilt. His homer in the second game of the series gave him 23 after he reached 22 with a homer in the opener.

Trey Lipscomb threatened Cortez' mark in 2022. He hit 22 in his final season at UT before he was drafted in the third round by the Washington Nationals. Lipscomb and Cody Hawn were tied for second in UT history for single-season homers. Hawn hit 22 in 2009. Chris Burke (2001), Todd Helton (1995) and Chuck Barclift (1980) each hit 20 in a season.

Moore reached the 20-homer mark against Missouri on April 25 after getting to 19 with a three-homer game at Kentucky on April 21. He never envisioned getting to that mark this season.

“Staying humble, staying hungry and just staying to my work, staying to my approach," he said. "I think for me when I try to overswing or do too much, bad things happen. Coach V (Tony Vitello) told me today, 0-for-3 before that homer, just try to hit a line drive. I did and it snuck out. Just try to stay short to the ball.”

Christian Moore has three double-digit homer seasons in his Vols career

Moore was a part-time starter on Tennessee's vaunted 2022 team. He largely served as the designated hitter and made it count. He hit 10 homers in 118 at-bats in 51 games with 29 starts.

He smacked 17 as a sophomore, the second-most on Tennessee's College World Series team.

Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on Twitter @ByMikeWilson. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Christian Moore sets Tennessee baseball single-season home run record