Longhorn Baseball 2022 Preview
Tennessee baseball improved to 4-0 Wednesday evening, decimating UNC-Asheville 16-1 at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
A day after having its matchup with Tennessee Tech postponed due to weather, the Vols came out and dominated, scoring in six innings.
LHP Zander Sechrist earned his fist career start and was fantastic in three innings, allowing no hits and one walk while striking out seven Bulldogs.
While Sechrist’s fastball sits in the low 90s, the sophomore pounded the strike zone and had fantastic command of his off speed pitches.
“He’s always composed, but I thought he was really throwing the ball with some conviction,” Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello said. “Wasn’t trying to be too cute for brevity’s sake, that’s the best way I can say it. But also the way he was mixing speeds too, he showed he’s a potential starter or a lot of other available roles because right now everything is kind of up in the air.”
While Sechrist was fantastic in three innings, junior Ben Joyce stole the show on the mound. The right-handed pitcher struck out the side around a two-out double. Joyce was sitting 102 and topped out at 103 MPH as UNC-Asheville batters didn’t have a chance.
Joyce made Grayson Preslar look foolish with a 90 MPH changeup to finish the inning.
This pitch from Ben Joyce was 90 mph…
And, it's 13 mph slower than his fastest pitch today.
Basically sat 102-103 mph. 😵 pic.twitter.com/JJbBZ5mBQw
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) February 23, 2022
At the plate, the Vols relied on the long ball. Tennessee hit four home runs in the win including some absolute bombs.
Jordan Beck, Luc Lipcius, Trey Lipscomb and freshman Christian Moore all went deep.
“At times he lets the umpire bother his performance a little bit,” Vitello said of Moore’s first start. “The rest of the night he was dialed in. I think he sees the ball as well as any hitter we have on our team as far as what’s ball and strikes, where to hit the baseball, what’s going on with spin and all of those things. He’s competitive and he’s also gifted in that area. I didn’t have that little deal whether it’s hand eye or whatever, and then it doesn’t take a genius to look at him and see he has some power.”
Vitello also discussed the versatility of his team, how fast he’s seen Joyce throw and more.
