The Tennessee Volunteers are in Nashville this weekend to take on the Vanderbilt Commodores. This is the third SEC series of the season for the Vols, who entered Friday with a 3-3 conference record.
Both the Vols and Commodores have slightly underperformed fan expectations so far, so this series was destined to have repercussions. With a series win, both teams would be feeling very good about building some positive momentum as we go deeper into conference play.
The first two games of the series are
now in the books, so how are we looking? Let’s dive into the recaps from Friday and Saturday.
Friday: Vols lose 3-2 in 10 innings
In Friday’s opener, offense was hard to come by. No team scored until Vanderbilt’s Brodie Johnston singled up the middle and plated one. in the 3rd.
The Dores added another run in the bottom of the 5th on a solo shot from Korbin Reynolds. Finally, the Vols got on the board in the 6th when Blake Grimmer scored to make it a 2-1 game. Then, in the 8th, Manny Marin scored on a Levi Clark single to tie the game at 2.
In the 9th, the Vols were able to keep it tied at 2 and force extra innings. Unfortunately, the Vols didn’t get any offense in the top of the 10th, which led to the Dores winning on a walk-off single from Logan Johnstone in the bottom of the 10th.
It was a disappointing loss, but there were some positives. Brandon Arvidson and Tegan Kuhns both pitched several innings of quality ball, and both pitched well enough to win, had they gotten any offensive support. If you only allow two runs in nine innings, you’d expect that to be good enough for a win.
But, at the same time, it’s hard to get a win when you can’t manage more than five hits. So, did the offense heat up on Saturday?
Saturday: Vols lose 6-5 in 16 innings
Well, Friday night’s game went long, but that was nothing compared to what came on Saturday. In the longest game in Tennessee baseball history, the Vols ended up losing a heartbreaker in the bottom of the 16th inning.
This game has one of the strangest box scores you’ll ever see. Both teams had one inning of scoring five runs, and every other inning until the 16th had no runs. The Dores scored five in the bottom of the 4th, and the Vols responded by scoring five in the top of the 6th.
The Vols’ offensive explosion in that ending began with a Blake Grimmer single that plated two runs. Then, Henry Ford came up to the plate and smashed a three-run homer to tie the game at five. It would then take a whopping 10 innings for another run to score, and unfortunately, it was the Dores who got the last laugh.
It needs to be stated that Cam Appenzeller was amazing today. The freshman pitched six innings and didn’t allow any runs while striking out four and walking nobody. Bo Rhudy also tossed three solid innings, allowing no runs and striking out two.
Once again, you can’t blame this one on the pitching staff. The offense was dead for 15 of the 16 innings in this game, and it’s going to be very hard to win games like that.
Now, the only hope is that the Vols can heat up on Sunday and get a win to end the series. It’s tough to have already lost the series before Sunday even begins, but the Vols still have plenty of chances to right the ship.
