Tennessee baseball’s 17-game winning streak came to a close on Saturday night as the Vols fell at Alabama 6-3.
The Vols made early mistakes at the plate, in the field and on the base paths and couldn’t overcome the early 6-0 deficit as Alabama evened up the weekend series.
Here’s how it went down.
Early Inning Blunders Cost Tennessee
Tennessee has largely played very clean baseball through its first 18 games of the season. But a handful of mistakes in early innings dug the Vols an early hole in game two of the weekend series.
The Vols quickly threatened in the first inning with a Christian Moore single and Blake Burke double that gave them runners on second and third with nobody out. But Tennessee couldn’t capitalize. Billy Amick struck out, Kavares Tears walked to load the bases but Dylan Dreiling struck out and Robin Villeneuve flew out to strand the bases loaded.
Alabama quickly threatened the same way in the bottom of the first inning with a double and a single that gave them runners on the corners. The Vols put on a pick off play and had the runner on third out but a throwing error on Drew Beam allowed the runner at third to be safe and the runner on first to advance to second.
The bigger defensive miscue came in the second inning. Christian Moore had a chance to make a tough play to end the inning but couldn’t make it. That gave Alabama a baserunner with two outs and Bryce Eblin made them pay roping a double off the right field wall. Eblin stretched it for a triple and Moore’s throw to Billy Amick got past him and into the Alabama dugout for a triple plus an error for another run.
Tennessee quickly threatened in the third inning with a Moore leadoff double. However, Moore made a base running blunder that killed the scoring opportunity.
When Alabama put together a strong two-out rally in the bottom of the third inning, the Crimson Tide had opened up a 6-0 lead.
Can’t Win With Solo Homer
Tennessee pitching coach Frank Anderson has a core philosophy. The opponent can’t beat you by hitting solo home runs.
The Vols found that out the hard way on Saturday afternoon as Robin Villeneuve and Christian Moore both crushed home runs in Saturday’s matchup. But neither came with runners on base. And with runners on base, Tennessee’s offense struggled.
Tennessee hit just three-of-19 with runners on base and zero-of-seven with runners in-scoring position. Combine that with Alabama who found a way to total a number of clutch hits and hit four-of-nine as a team with runners in-scoring position.
The Crimson Tide did the bulk of their damage with two outs as well, scoring all six of their runs with two outs and hitting .429 as a team with two outs.
Drew Beam Better Than The Numbers Indicate
It was a shaky start for Drew Beam as Alabama but up six runs on him in the first three innings before he settled in and turned in a long outing.
But even while giving up six runs, Beam was better than the numbers indicated. The Vols defense didn’t do him any favors as he gave up two runs in the second inning as we previously discussed. There was plenty of more poor luck in the third inning.
Beam retired the first two batters of the inning before a line drive of his foot and a walk gave Alabama two-on with two-outs. Catcher Mac Guscette hit a soft liner right off the end of his bat that stayed fair down the right field line as Blake Burke played off the base. That soft hit drove in a run and after another walk and a single through the infield and Alabama totaled two more runs.
After giving up six runs through three innings, Beam got into an incredible rhythm. He retired 15 of the next 16 batters he faced as he gave Tennessee eight innings of work and kept them within striking distance. While that didn’t earn them a win, it did preserve its bullpen for the series finale.
Beam finished the day allowing eight hits, six runs (five earned runs) and two walks while striking out six batters. He was better than those numbers indicated.
Final Stats
Up Next
Tennessee and Alabama meet for the series rubber match at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday afternoon. The SEC Network is broadcasting the game.
