Knoxville, Tenn. – Tennessee baseball earned a 10-0 run-rule series-clinching win over Florida Saturday in Knoxville behind a career-outing from starting pitcher Marcus Phillips, great defense and nine-run seventh inning.
Here’s how it happened as the Vols clinched their first SEC series of the season.
Stellar Defense on Display
Tennessee’s defense was stellar all game long in the series-clinching win.
Freshman outfielder Jay Abernathy had a pair of highlights to end each of the first two innings. His first great defensive play came in the first after Florida’s Colby Shelton singled with two outs, stole a base, then headed home on a Blake Cyr single.
But Abernathy made an incredible throw from mid-left field to catcher Stone Lawless, who applied the tag on Shelton to end the inning.
In the second inning, after back-to-back Marcus Phillips strikeouts, Florida’s Landon Stripling roped a line drive to the left-field wall, but Abernathy sprinted towards the wall and made a fantastic catch while crashing into it.
“He likes to compete,” Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello said about Abernathy. “He’s got a calm toughness about him. That didn’t come from us. We obviously try to instill that in guys, but it’s a lot easier to recruit it than it is to coach it, and you could pick a bunch of different skills he has to say, ‘Well, he’d be a great commodity to have,’ or a great guy to have on the team. But I think that toughness was something we noticed right away in the fall.”
Tennessee’s defense delivered again in the fourth when Lawless caught Shelton stealing second, allowing Phillips to face the minimum in the frame.
Lawless’ defensive highlights didn’t stop there. The redshirt freshman bare-handed a ground ball and fired a perfect throw to Andrew Fischer at first for the first out in the sixth then later caught Brody Donay stealing to end the inning.
Second baseman Gavin Kilen also had a web gem in the sixth to get the second out.
Marcus Phillips Has Career-Best Outing
Tennessee starting pitcher Marcus Phillips had a career-best outing in his first ever SEC start. The hard-throwing righty came out pumping triple digits against his first batter and was in complete control for the first six innings.
Outside of Shelton in the first inning, Florida did not get a runner in scoring position in the first five frames. Phillips sat the Gators down in order in the second and fifth, retired the side around a two-out single in the third and faced the minimum in the fourth.
Phillips gave up his first walk of the day in the sixth to leadoff hitter Justin Nadeau, who then stole second, but Phillips got a groundout to strand him. Phillips tied a career-high with eight strikeouts in a career-long 7.0-inning outing. The South Dakota native gave up no runs on five hits while walking just one.
Phillips has seemingly gotten better and better each week this season, and he proved he has what it takes to be a big-time SEC pitcher Saturday against the Gators.
“Improvement,” Vitello said when asked what he saw from Phillips. “Which has kind of been the case. Last year, it would come in bunches, or maybe the graph would be a little more scattered. This year, there’s been a steady incline of improvement.
“I’m excited for him because I think he can – you’re going to give up runs and you’re going to give up hits – but I’m excited for him because I think there are years past here where he is going to continue on an incline.”
More From RTI: Johni Broome Compliments Tennessee After Being Eliminated by the Volunteers
Tennessee Struggles Against Florida’s Starter
Tennessee struck first in the second inning when freshman Manny Marin delivered an RBI single to center field to score Levi Clark, who doubled to leadoff the inning.
The Vols were unable to do much against Florida’s Aidan King in what was a true pitcher’s duel between the two starting pitchers.
Tennessee got a runner on base in the first, third, fourth and fifth innings but nothing came of it.
Vols Scores Nine Runs in the 7th to Get the Run-Rule Win
Tennessee had more success at the plate when Florida turned to the bullpen to begin the bottom of the seventh.
Reese Chapman, Marin and Abernathy loaded the bases for Dean Curley with a pair of singles and a walk against Florida reliever Jackson Barberi.
Curley then came through in the clutch, roping a bases-clearing double down the left-field line.
“Those pitches combined with Jay’s (Jay Abernathy) at-bat,” Vitello said when reflecting on what stuck out about the 7th inning. “A lot of times, before something happens, something happened. I think our guys took good swings against a tough pitcher… and Jay laid off some pitches… [he] had some unbelievable takes.
“And then the at-bat (Dean’s) itself was incredible. Seeing as many pitches as he did, and then [he was] able to get something. Dean is the type of guy that will adjust as the game is going on, he’ll think through the game, he’ll compete in all situations, and it’s what makes him a good baseball player.”
Upon reaching second base, Curley opened his jersey revealing a ‘Free Berto’ (Alberto Osuna) t-shirt under it. Curley later scored on a Hunter Ensley RBI single, giving Tennessee a 5-0 lead.
Fischer then joined the party, scoring Ensley and Kilen, who had walked, with a two-run single.
After a Dalton Bargo pinch-hit double put runners on second and third with one out, Chapman crushed a three-run homer to right field to end the game and complete the run-rule.
Up Next
Tennessee will aim to sweep the series Sunday. First pitch is at 1 p.m. ET on SEC Network +.
