Wow. Well, that’s how you turn a season around, at least potentially.
Tennessee, reeling after a heartbreaking series loss to LSU last weekend in Knoxville, took to the road against No. 9 Mississippi State, and the Vols made Dudy Noble Stadium their home away from home, taking all three contests.
The Vols won the opener on Friday night 6-5, with Cam Appenzeller being a bad, bad dude as usual. He allowed two earned runs in five innings out of the bullpen after Landon Mack got touched for three runs in 4.o
innings. However, he mowed down eight hitters via the strikeout over those five innings, including the final out of the game. What a luxury he’s been this year. Offensively, the Vols got three in the eighth to take the lead in a tie game after Levi Clark beat out a possible double play ball for the go ahead run. Nate Eisfelder and Garrett Wright followed with RBI singles.
On Saturday, Tennessee got on the Bulldogs at the jump. Reese Chapman homered in the first, and Tennessee put up three more in the second to spot Tegan Kuhns a 4-0 lead through two. Kuhns delivered, going 6.0 innings allowing two earned runs. Brandon Arvidson threw three scoreless to close the door on a 6-2 win.
On Sunday, the Vols scored early and late, putting up two in the first and three in the ninth to back up Evan Blanco, who was awesome. He went 6.2 innings with six strikeouts and two earned runs allowed to help the Vols claim the series. Bo Rhudy went the final 1.2 innings of scoreless baseball to pick up the save in Tennessee’s 7-2 win.
Tennessee has not lost to Mississippi State now since April 2019. That is truly absurd. But more importantly, the Vols moved back to within one game of .500 in SEC play, which puts them right back in the mix in both league play and contention for the NCAA Tournament.
Up next is UNC-Asheville on Tuesday before welcoming in Ole Miss to Lindsey Nelson Stadium next weekend.
