Four Quick Takes on a come-from-behind series-win against Mississippi State
Tennessee, who once trailed by five runs, battled back with four runs in the fifth inning and four more runs in the sixth inning to take game two of the series over Mississippi State, 12-8 the final score.
Blake Burke’s decisive three-run home run in the sixth put the Vols in front and they never looked back. Tennessee scored 12 runs on the day off 12 hits. Mississippi State managed eight runs off 10 hits, bit committed two errors defensively.
Camden Sewell (3-0) picked up the win after tossing the final 3.1 innings of the ballgame, allowing no hits and no runs. Brock Tapper (2-1) is charged with the loss after surrendering two runs in 0.2 innings of work.
Tennessee returns to the field tomorrow for game three against the Bulldogs at 2 pm ET, but first, what were the four biggest takeaways for the Vols?
First inning Doe
Chase Dollander’s first inning struggles continued Friday night as Mississippi State pounded for three runs off three hits in the opening frame. Colton Ledbetter and Hunter Hines singled with one away and came around to score on a three-run home run from Dakota Jordan that emptied the bases. Tennessee found itself down early in a 3-0 hole.
The righty has now given up 15 first inning runs on the season, including 12 in Southeastern Conference play. Dollander has surrendered four home runs on the season in the game’s first frame and three in conference play. The long balls have come in starts against Dayton, Missouri, Arkansas and Mississippi State. Friday continued that trend.
Mississippi State tacked on another run in the third on a solo shot from Hunter Hines. Dollander’s day was finished after three innings where he allowed four runs off five hits, totaling a pair of strikeouts and a pair of walks in the outing. The right-handed pitcher threw 63 pitches on the day with 37 strikes. The first inning accounted for 33 pitches and 17 strikes.
Of note: Tony Vitello said in the midgame interview on the SEC Network+ that the starter has been battling illness all week. He’ll have more on the subject in postgame video and quotes.
The bridge collapsed
After the short outing from Dollander in the start, Tennessee needed to eat a couple of innings before handing the ball to one of the long-relief options to finish off the game – hopefully with a win still in view. Zander Sechrist looked good in a 1-2-3 fourth inning, but the wheels came off for Bryce Jenkins and AJ Russell in the fifth as the Bulldogs added three more runs off three hits.
Colton Ledbetter singled to begin the frame and then came around to score on the third home run in the past six innings (at the time) from Hunter Hines. Kellum Clark followed with a double and that’s all she wrote for the freshman Jenkins. Russell came in and surrendered a sacrifice by off the bat of Bryce Chance before getting Luke Hancock to fly out to finally retire the side.
Seth Halvorsen came on in the sixth inning and was hit hard, collecting only two outs before he handed the ball off to Camden Sewell. The hurler who went on to get the win in the outing, settled everything down defensively for Tennessee.
More! More! More!
Remember when Kylo Ren kept the order to fire on Luke Skywalker from the AT-AT in that horrendous attempt at a sequel trilogy in Star Wars Episode 8? That’s me thinking about Tennessee scoring all these two-out runs lately. Friday was no exception, plating four in the fifth to make it a one-run ballgame.
Following a Cal Stark walk, Maui Ahuna struck out and Hunter Ensley flew out. Jared Dickey then homered over the right field wall for his ninth long ball of the season. Blake Burke took a full-count walk to first base and scored when the Mississippi State right fielder fumbled the double hit by Christian Moore. Griffin Merritt followed with an RBI single to left field and it was a one-run deficit for Tennessee.
At that point in the ballgame, Tennessee had scored 35 two-out runs in the past five games.
One inning later, the Vols would add three more runs to that tally when Blake Burke went yard for the 15th time this year. It was a three-run shot and it handed the Vols their first lead of the ballgame at 10-8.
Odds and Ends
Tennessee’s win Friday night means the Vols have reached a .500 record in league play for only the second time this season and the first time since March 26 – after finishing off a three-game sweep over Texas A&M at home. If the Vols finish off the series-sweep of Mississippi State with a game-three win on Saturday, Tennessee will be a game over .500 for the first time this season.
Sewell picked up the win on the mound and he did it in style, tying a career-high in strikeouts with seven on the night. The right-handed hurler also logged seven strikeouts in a win over ETSU last season. Christian Moore, who was in the midst of a mini-slump entering the ballgame – broke out in a big way with a 2-for-5, 2 RBI effort. Burke had the big home run of the night, but he also totaled three hits, three runs and three RBI in the game as well.
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