Tennessee baseball was tied with UNC-Asheville through six innings before manufacturing a run and using strong pitching to earn a 3-2 victory.
The Vols’ offense struggled as Tennessee set a new Lindsey Nelson Stadium home opener attendance record on a pleasant February afternoon.
Here’s what to know about the Vols’ home opener.
Solid First Career Start For Derek Schaefer
Freshman right-handed pitcher Derek Schaefer’s college debut didn’t go well on Saturday night when he allowed one run in 0.1 innings while earning the loss against Oklahoma.
Tennessee coach Tony Vitello decided to turn right back to Schaefer and gave him the ball in the Vols’ first midweek start of the season. It wasn’t a fully stretched out appearance but it was more than just a one inning opener like Tennessee oft uses in midweek games.
Like his appearance against Oklahoma, Schaefer didn’t get off to a strong start. He surrendered a leadoff walk and then a single to give the Bulldogs two-on with nobody out. The right-handed pitcher was able to escape the inning by allowing just one earned run and then settled in nicely.
But after a rocky first inning, Schaefer settled in very well. He retired the final six batters he faced and recorded three strikeouts in the three inning outing.
The freshman is extremely talented and has a chance to earn a real role out of Tennessee’s bullpen on the weekends. Getting his feet wet and being productive through three innings was a step in the right direction after his forgettable debut.
Quiet Day For Tennessee’s Offense
Tennessee’s offense is expected to be the strength of this season’s team and they looked like it during the Vols’ season opening weekend in Texas.
But in its first midweek game of the season, the Vols’ offense struggled. Tennessee totaled just three runs on five hits as they were tied with the Bulldogs through the first six innings.
Redshirt sophomore Kavares Tears continued his strong play from the weekend and went two-of-four including his second home run of the young season.
Five different Tennessee starters didn’t record hits and three didn’t reach base at all.
Granted, Tennessee didn’t start two of its normal starters— eventually pinch hitting and running Cannon Peebles and Bradke Lohry— but it was still an unexpected quiet performance from the Vols’ offense.
Tennessee Manufactures The Go-Ahead Run
When the Vols’ finally reclaimed the lead in the seventh inning, they didn’t do it with a big offensive breakthrough but by manufacturing a run. In fact, they did it without recording a single hit.
Robin Villeneuve worked a leadoff walk before the pinch hitting Dalton Bargo was hit-by a pitch to give Tennessee two runners on with nobody out. UNC-Asheville went to the bullpen after that and while Isaac Gonzales did a solid job out of the bullpen, the Vols found a way to scrap the go ahead run across.
Lohry, who pinch ran for Villeneuve, advanced to third on a Cannon Peebles fly out to right field before Hunter Ensley brough him home with a two-strike sac fly to center field.
RHP Austin Hunely did a strong job shutting the game down in his first career appearance. The redshirt freshman pitched a scoreless final three innings while allowing just three baserunners and striking out two batters.
Final Stats
Up Next
Tennessee basketball returns to Lindsey Nelson Stadium in less than 24 hours when they host ETSU in a midweek matchup. First pitch is at 4:30 p.m. ET.
