Tennessee baseball came from behind to defeat Illinois 8-3 and complete the weekend sweep at Lindsey Nelson stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Nate Snead was dominant in relief and the Vols’ offense exploded with two outs in the seventh inning.
Here’s how Tennessee baseball earned its 15th straight win and completed the weekend sweep.
Shaky Combs Start, Great Snead Relief Outing
After serving as an opener in Tennessee’s Tuesday night win over Kansas State, right-handed pitcher Aaron Combs started again for the Vols against Illinois on Sunday.
Combs gave up two runs (one earned run) in two innings against the Wildcats and was shaky again versus Illinois. The redshirt junior pitched three innings and surrendered three earned runs on four hits and two walks as the Fighting Illini jumped out to an early lead.
Tennessee turned to perhaps its best reliever, Nate Snead, and the Wichita State transfer came through with perhaps his best performance of the season to date.
Snead took Tennessee to the finish line, allowing just four hits and two walks while striking out five batters in six innings pitched. Walks have been Snead’s biggest weakness this season and he didn’t surrender any until he walked two batters in three plate appearances in the ninth inning. He was sharp on a day Tennessee needed him to be.
Mid Game Drama Raises The Stakes
The opening inning of the series finale had a little bit of a sleepy feeling after Tennessee won the first two games of the weekend including a 24-1 win Saturday.
Illinois jumping out to a lead took some of that drama away. The bottom of the fifth inning took the rest of it away.
Hunter Ensley’s pinch hit homer got Tennessee on the board to leadoff the bottom half and then Blake Burke started the drama with his solo home run later in the inning. Burke said something to Illinois catcher Camden Janik while crossing home that caused the Fighting Illini coaches to pop out of the dugout.
Officials issued warnings earlier in the game and then tossed Burke for the extra curricular. The incident led to both an increase in intensity from both Tennessee and Illinois and made the final four innings extra tense and dramatic.
More From RTI: Blake Burke Ejected From Tennessee’s Win Over Illinois
Tennessee Grabs Control With Seventh Inning Two-Out Rally
The seventh inning started innocently enough for Tennessee’s offense. With the game knotted at three, Cannon Peebles led off the inning with a strikeout and Christian Moore grounded out.
But Illinois opened the door with a two-out walks of Dalton Bargo and Billy Amick. Tennessee made the Fighting Illini pay.
Kavares Tears extended his hit streak to 15 games and, more importantly, gave Tennessee its first lead of the game with a double to left field. Illinois went to Jake Rons out of the bullpen and he walked Dylan Dreiling on four pitches to load the bases for Robin Villeneuve.
The junior college transfer came through with his 355 foot fly ball just clearing the left field wall and landing in the first deck of porches. Villeneuve’s third home run of the season was a grand slam that extended Tennessee’s lead to five runs.
Tennessee did all the damage with two outs as they went from tied and not threatening to leading by five runs in short time.
Final Stats
Up Next
Tennessee baseball returns to Lindsey Nelson Stadium on Tuesday afternoon for the final game of its 15-game home stand. The Vols host Eastern Kentucky in their final tuneup before SEC play at 6 p.m. ET.
