COLUMBIA, S.C. — After dropping game one of Saturday’s doubleheader in painful fashion, Tennessee baseball responded the right way by slaughtering the Gamecocks 12-1 in the regular season finale.
Here’s everything to know as Drew Beam returned to form and the Vols’ bats found life.
Tennessee Capitalizes On USC Fourth Inning Blunders
Opponents have capitalized on Tennessee defensive mistakes with big innings frequently this season. But in Saturday’s regular season finale it was Tennessee who took advantage of South Carolina defensive mistakes.
The Vols’ bats were largely lifeless for three innings when Griffin Merritt reached on a fielding error to open the fourth inning. Christian Moore followed it up with a single to right field and after following behind 0-2, Zane Denton lined a 1-2 pitch into centerfield for a RBI single to open the game’s scoring.
A wild pitch moved the runners up 90 feet and Christian Scott did what he needed to do, hitting a hard grounder to second base that scored Moore. The icing on the cake was South Carolina second baseman Will Tippett couldn’t handle the nasty hop the ball took and Scott reached base on an error.
Scott and Denton both scored two at-bats later when Maui Ahuna roped his team best 17th double down the left field line.
South Carolina helped Tennessee out with defensive mistakes but the Vols did what they needed to capitalize. Both plays were also borderline and could have been ruled hits.
After losing game one in brutal fashion and being somewhat flat to start game two of the doubleheader, the inning was huge for Tennessee to get back on track.
More From RTI: Late Inning Implosion Cost Tennessee In Game Two At South Carolina
Beam Steadies The Ship
Drew Beam entered Saturday’s regular season coming off two consecutive poor starts. For the first time all season, Tennessee’s game three started was listed as TBA entering the weekend series.
But Tony Vitello and Frank Anderson decided to stick with the sophomore right hander and the move paid dividends.
Beam ended his streak of poor road starts by turning in one of his better outings of the season. The sophomore allowed just one run and six hits while striking out four batters in six innings pitched.
The Murfreesboro native worked around baserunners in the second and third inning as he leaned more on his off-speed pitches and used a crucial double play ball in the second inning.
Facing the top of South Carolina’s lineup for the third time in the fourth inning, Cole Messina led off the inning with a solo homer and Ethan Petry followed it up with a hard hit single up the middle.
Right when it looked like Beam might be slipping, he got into an impressive groove while striking out the next three batters to strand the runner.
After a few consecutive poor outings, Beam’s string performance was a great sign going into the postseason. It also keeps Tennessee alive in the regional hosting conversation.
Homers Provide Insurance For Tennessee, Put South Carolina Away
After South Carolina cut into Tennessee’s four run lead with a solo homer in the bottom half of the fourth, the Vols got it right back in the top of the fifth inning.
Griffin Merritt went the opposite way for a solo homer on the first pitch of the inning to push Tennessee’s led back to four runs.
The Vols did nothing else in the fifth inning but repeated the trick in the sixth inning when Cal Stark led off the inning with mammoth home run into the Tennessee bullpen in left field.
While the score wasn’t super close, the Gamecocks were still very much in the game. The homers gave Tennessee more breathing room which made things less tense as Beam worked out of a sixth inning jam.
But the game ending swing of the bat came from Christian Scott in the seventh inning. The right fielder hit a mammoth home run that left Founders Park completely. Scott watched the ball leave the yard before flipping his bat much to the chagrin of South Carolina catcher Cole Messina.
Final Stats
Up Next
With the regular season over Tennessee heads to Hoover to open up play at the SEC Tournament on Tuesday.
