Four quick takes on Tennessee’s home finale
Tennessee won its final home game of the season 9-5 over Belmont thanks to some timely two out hitting in a game that was delayed multiple times by weather. Here are four quick takes on the victory.
1 — TIMELY HITTING — Some times a team (or individuals) has a tendency to get tight when there are two outs, especially if there are runners in scoring position. That was definitely not the case for Tennessee tonight.
The Vols scored their first six runs—across three different at-bats—with two outs.
That started in the second inning with the game tied 0-0. Christian Moore drew a walk with one out to put a runner on. Christian Scott drew a two out walk one batter later and then both Scott and Moore stole second and third respectively.
Tennessee caught a break when Charlie Taylor hit what should have been a routine fly ball to center but was grossly misplayed. It landed cleanly for a single and scored both Moore and Scott for the first two runs of the game.
Ethan Payne then walked, advancing Taylor to second. Maui Ahuna, who had.a big game at the plate, snuck a double down the right field line to bring Taylor home and stake the Vols to a 3-0 lead before multiple weather delays turned this into a marathon.
2 — SLOW START AFTER DELAY — it was early, with plenty of time for anything to still happen in a baseball game—but it felt like the Vols were in control up 3-0 when the game was delayed by lightning for more than an hour after the second inning.
Belmont had gone pretty quietly in its first two at bats, recording just one base hit while going down on strikes five times in their first six outs of the game.
That shifted to start the third inning after the delay.
Jacob Bimbi took over on the mound for the Vols when play resumed and immediately got in trouble. He issued a leadoff walk to Belmont’s Jeff Clarke. Then the ninth batter in Belmont’s line-up, Ethan Harden, stroked a double to left to put runners on second and third with no outs.
Bimbi settled down and got the next two batters out on strikes, looking like he might have righted the ship. He followed that up with a two out walk to Brodey Heaton and that was enough for Tony Vitello to go to the bullpen for Kirby Connell.
The lefty came into a tough spot with the bases loaded and two outs and Belmont got to him for two straight base hits. Sam Slaughter had a two out single followed by a double from Max Blessinger that plated two more to put Belmont on top 4-3.
Zach Joyce came on in relief to get the final out of the inning and get the Vols out of the jam.
3 — JUST ROCK STEADY — Tennessee didn’t have another really big inning after that three run third, but they just kept consistently getting to Belmont pitching and adding runs.
It was death by a thousand cuts for the visitors.
Tennessee scored two in the third off a two run homer from Zane Denton that just barely cleared the centerfield wall to put the Vols back on top 5-4.
Belmont managed to tie it back up at 5-5 in the top of the fourth with a run.
Tennessee responded in the bottom of the fourth when Ensley brought Ahuna home with a two out double.
Belmont’s offense started to blink in the top of the 5th, falling to answer the Vols’ after having put up five runs in two innings.
Hollis Fanning (more below) shut Belmont’s bats down and the Vols just kept chipping away, adding one more run in each of the fifth, sixth and seventh innings to push the lead to 9-5 and cruised home from there.
4 — BULLPEN SETTLES DOWN LATE — The Vols’ pitching staff got off to strong start when Zander Sechrist struck out the Belmont side in the top of the first.
Sechrist gave up a leadoff double to start the second inning and was pulled off a sacrifice fly moved the runner to third base.
Bryce Jenkins came on in relief and struck out the next two batters to retire the side.
That’s when the nearly one and a half hour weather delay halted things.
Jacob Bimbi got off to a rocky start, giving up a leadoff walk followed by a double that put runners on second and third with no outs.
Bimbi rallied to strike out the next two batters, but as noted above, gave way to Kirby Connell who gave up four runs.
Zach Joyce came on to relieve Connell and got out of the third with no further damage.
Joyce got into some problems in the fourth after a leadoff single. The runner moved to third after consecutive wild pitches and came home to tie the game at 5-5 on a single from Jack Rando.
That would be the last offense Belmont would find on the night, in large thanks to Fanning.
Fanning came for Joyce to start the fifth and promptly mowed Belmont down in order, striking out the side.
Tennessee plated a run in the bottom of the fifth to go back up 6-5 and Fanning made sure that was enough.
He struck out the side again in the sixth. The Vols scored one more in the bottom of the sixth to make it a 7-5 game. Fanning struck out the leadoff batter in the seventh to make it seven straight strike outs.
Fanning recorded a routine ground out to end the ‘K’ streak, and after a two out single finished his third consecutive scoreless inning with a foul out to third.
The bullpen stayed strong with Andrew Behnke coming on to strike out two more in a scoreless eighth inning.
Belmont finished the game with nine hits, but they got just three of those hits (and no runs) in their final four at bats.
The post Four quick takes on Tennessee’s home finale appeared first on On3.
