Rain and lightning made for an interesting Tuesday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium as Tennessee defeated Belmont 9-5 in eight innings.
Zach Joyce made his return and Hollis Fanning had a career performance on the mound.
Here’s everything to know about the Vols’ final midweek game of the season.
Weather Delays Constant
It was a wild day of game time changes Tuesday. Tennessee and Belmont moved the start time up 90 minutes to 5 p.m. ET in hopes of avoiding inclement weather. It proved to be in vain.
The game was delayed twice before the game even began with the game finally beginning at 5:50 p.m. ET. The Vols and Bruins got two innings in before the game went into another delay due to lightning.
In that time, the Vols opened up a 3-0 lead to take control of the game thanks to RBI hits from Charlie Taylor and Maui Ahuna.
After 1-hour, 27-minutes the game resumed with Jacob Bimbi coming in to pitch for Tennessee.
There was no additional delay but with Belmont traveling back to Nashville there couldn’t be a new inning started after 10 p.m. ET. That led to the game being just eight innings long.
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Zach Joyce Returns
Tennessee relief pitcher Zach Joyce returned to the field for the first time since April 18 when he left the Vols’ midweek loss to Tennessee Tech with arm pain.
Tony Vitello and the Vols feared the worst at the time but Joyce avoided a significant injury and made his return Tuesday four weeks after the injury originally occurred.
Joyce entered the game with two-outs and a runner on second in the third inning and got the Vols out of the inning with a fly out.
The Knoxville native ran into a little bit of trouble in the fourth inning when Jeff Clarke singled and advanced to third on a pair of wild pitches. Ben Rando drove Clarke home with an infield single as Zane Denton couldn’t make a tough play.
In total, Joyce recorded four outs including two strikeouts while allowing a pair of hits. The junior’s fastball sat 92-93 mph as Joyce was solid in his return.
Joyce doesn’t have an obvious path to earning a serious role in the bullpen but with the postseason approaching every arm could potentially see meaningful action.
A Career Outing For Hollis Fanning
Right-handed reliever Hollis Fanning allowed a single against the first batter he faced Tuesday night. He retired the next eight batters he faced in a career day for junior.
Fanning struck out seven straight batters after the first hit and turned in three scoreless innings of action while allowing just two hits.
It was Fanning’s career-high in innings pitched and strikeouts. In fact, Fanning more than doubled his previous strikeout high.
Fanning hasn’t had a big role out of Tennessee’s bullpen in his career but it has expanded ever so slightly in recent weeks.
After not pitching in any of Tennessee’s first seven SEC series, Fanning has totaled three appearances in the Vols’ last two series. The tall right-hander has been impressive in his opportunities and hasn’t allowed an earned run since March 10.
Final Stats
Up Next
Tennessee heads to South Carolina for its final regular season series this weekend. First pitch for the weekend series is at 7 p.m. ET Thursday night.
