Tennessee baseball trailed Queens at the halfway point of its Tuesday night matchup at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. But the Vols’ dominated in the game’s final 4.5 innings on their way to earning a 14-3 victory.
Here’s how Tennessee got it done in its Tuesday night matchup against Queens.
Queens Makes Things Interesting In The Fourth Inning
Tennessee wasn’t hammering Queens early but it looked like business was back to normal for the Vols in the midweek after they dropped their midweek contest against ETSU last week. The Vols scored one run each in the first and second inning and likely would have scored more in the first inning if it weren’t for a base running blunder.
But after Queens started Ryan Brown kept Tennessee off the scoreboard in the third inning, things got dicey for the Vols. Andrew Behnke came out to pitch the fourth inning and things quickly went haywire for the junior.
Anibal Rivera led off the inning with a solo home run to left field and that was just the start of the trouble for the Vols. Jake Barbour singled off Behnke and after the left-handed pitcher recorded the first out of the inning he then hit Nick Alderfer to put two-on with one-out and end his day.
Austin Hunley relieved Behnke and looked like he was going to get out of the jam after retiring the first batter he faced. But then Queens put on a double steal and no Vol covered second base allowing Lawless throw to sail into center field and for a run to score. Then Justin Hudson drove in a run with a single to center field that gave Queens the lead.
The three-run inning gave the midweek game a definitive competitive feel and was also a bad sign for Behnke after the left had two solid outings last week after returning from injury.
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Tennessee Takes Control With Big Fifth And Sixth Innings
Tennessee didn’t immediately respond after Queens took the lead in the top of the fourth inning. It took until the fifth inning for the Vols to do their damage. They claimed the lead with a six-run fifth inning before all but putting the game away with a four-run sixth inning.
The Vols largely capitalized on Queens inability to throw the ball in the strike zone. Tennessee scored its first two runs of the fifth inning without recording a hit thanks to three walks and two hit-by pitch.
Tennessee scored its next four runs on a pair of bases loaded singles up the middle. The first came from Reese Chapman who gave Tennessee a 6-3 lead. Two at-bats later, Blake Grimmer made it an 8-3 lead with a two-RBI single. Grimmer had a nice day overall, hitting a two-run homer in the eighth inning.
The Vols’ four-run sixth inning also only included just two hits with Dean Curley leading off the inning with a single and Andrew Fischer beating the shift and driving home a run with an opposite field single. Tennessee scored its other two runs on a Chris Newstrom sac fly and a passed ball that scored Hunter High.
Over the course of the two innings, Tennessee went from down one run to up nine runs. That all but put the game away and allowed Tennessee to start putting some more reserves in
Additional Johnny Wholestaff Notes
Tennessee did its usual midweek pitching plan of throwing a number of pitchers in “Johnny Wholestaff” game. We touched on the rough outing for Andrew Behnke and to a much lesser extent Austin Hunley.
But a handful of Tennessee pitchers had really nice appearances in the win. Let’s start with Brandon Arvidson who was the only Vol to pitch two innings. The lefty was dominant, allowing just one baserunner on a throwing error while striking out four batters.
Right-handed pitcher Austin Breedlove was dominant in his lone inning pitched, striking out the side in the second inning. LHP Michael Sharman started for Tennessee and was impressive in the first inning, striking out two batters while retiring the side on 10 pitches.
Bryson Thacker, Thomas Crabtree and Ryan Combs also retired the side in order in their innings pitched.
Box Score
Up Next
Tennessee heads back on the road where they’ll face South Carolina in a three-game series this weekend. First pitch at Founders Park is at 7 p.m. ET on Friday night. The SEC Network+ is streaming the game.
