FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Tennessee had an unsuccessful throw from the catcher to the pitcher, made a defensive miscue and failed to provide clutch hits in Sunday’s series finale at Arkansas.
The Vols no good, very bad weekend — nay season — continued as Arkansas completed the three-game sweep with a 7-2 victory over Tennessee.
Here’s everything you need to know about the series finale.
More From RTI: Play-By-Play Of Tennessee’s Series Finale At Arkansas
A Disastrous Drew Beam Outing
One of the only things different in Tennessee’s series finale at Arkansas from the first two games is the the Vols got bad starting pitching Sunday instead of pretty good starting pitching.
Drew Beam was off from the jump, tossing three straight balls to open his day. The usual pitch to contact Beam couldn’t find the strike zone, particularly with his fastball, as he walked for Razorback batters and hit another in less than two innings pitched.
Even when Beam did find the zone, Arkansas frequently hit the ball hard. The Razorbacks scored three runs in the first inning but it easily could have been more if Jared Dickey hadn’t made a fantastic running catch at the wall in left field.
The Vols’ defense did the usual drill of giving their pitchers little help in the second when two Arkansas runners tagged up on a pop up behind home plate. Still, it looked like Beam might maneuver his way out of the inning unharmed to only have a bad outing instead of a disastrous one.
But then Beam hit Kendall Diggs with a 1-2 breaking ball to load the bases and Brady Slavens promptly cleared them with a triple down the right field line.
The usually reliable Beam was anything but in the series finale at Arkansas. Giving up six earned runs in less than two innings, Beam still had to strain and throw 62 pitches.
Clutch Hitting Eludes Tennessee Again
Jared Dickey singled to left field with the bases loaded in the fourth inning to open the scoring for Tennessee. It was the Vols’ first hit with a runner in-scoring position all weekend long. It would be their only hit with a runner in-scoring position all weekend.
Much like game two Saturday night, Tennessee frequently had baserunners against the Razorbacks in the series finale. The Vols had the leadoff batter aboard five different innings and went down in order just twice but consistently struggled to do anything with the baserunners.
Tennessee went two-of-16 with runners on base and one-of-11 with runners in-scoring position in Sunday’s series finale continuing a theme that has been all too prevalent. The Vols game three production with runners on base matched their weekend production as Tennessee hit four-of-43 with runners on base and one-of-22 with runners in-scoring position.
The Vols can’t beat anyone with that type of clutch hitting, let alone a top five team in a rowdy road environment.
Granted, Tennessee got few hits in all of the series finale. The Vols tallied sevem for the game and frequently had baserunners more so do to the five walks they worked.
Still, there’s little path to victory with that type of situational hitting.
Chase Burns Finds His Mojo Out Of The Bullpen
It’s hard to believe given how bad Tennessee’s weekend was on the hole, but the Vols’ pitching was actually pretty good at Arkansas. There was no more positive sign than Chase Burns looking like freshman Chase Burns for the first time all season.
Granted, Burns entered the game in a very low pressure situation with Tennessee already trailing but the right-hander looking great.
The most positive sign was his ability to throw off-speed pitches for strikes early in at-bats and use his slider as an effective out pitch. Burns hasn’t trusted that slider much this season and opponents have teed off on his fastball since they didn’t have to trust the breaking balls.
Burns’ fastball command wasn’t great but it was good enough with the strong breaking ball. The sophomore even touched 100 mph on the radar gun at Baum-Walker Stadium.
The only real negative for Burns was his struggles with leadoff hitters but it was an afterthought as he allowed just one run, three hits and two walks while striking out five in 5.1 innings pitched.
Final Stats
Up Next
Tennessee returns to Lindsey Nelson Stadium to open up an eight-game home stand Tuesday night against Tennessee Tech. The Vols are looking to avenge last season’s loss to the Golden Eagles at 6:30 p.m. ET.
