Tennessee baseball dropped game two of its weekend series against Texas A&M 9-3 as Aggies’ home runs and poor defense plagued the Vols.
Here’s how the Aggies evened the weekend series in game one of the Saturday doubleheader.
Home Run Ball Gives Marcus Phillips Issues
Entering game one of Saturday’s doubleheader, Marcus Phillips had allowed just two home runs in 35.2 innings pitched on the season. Texas A&M more than doubled that number, bashing three home runs off of Phillips in 4.2 innings pitched.
The first two home runs weren’t overly serious. Caden Sorrell led off the second inning with a solo home run to left field. Two innings later, Bear Harrison tied the game with a mammoth homer to left field. But as Tennessee pitching coach Frank Anderson says, solo home runs won’t beat you.
Texas A&M’s real damage came with two outs an inning later. Terrence Kiel’s ground ball just got through the left side to give the Aggies a two-out baserunner. Then Jace LaViollete lined a home run through the wind and into the Tennessee bullpen in right field to give the Aggies their first lead of the weekend.
Phillips hit the ensuing batter and that ended his day. It wasn’t a horrific outing for Phillips by any means, four runs in 4.2 innings, but it was the most runs he’s given up all season.
A Few Missed Opportunities
It was a quiet afternoon for Tennessee’s bats but there were still a few opportunites that the Vols squandered and another tough break that took runs off the board.
Andrew Fischer had a bit of bad luck to lead off the fourth inning. The left-handed slugger hit what looked to be a no doubt home run off the bat. But the wind howling in from right field knocked the ball down and allowed Texas A&M’s Terrence Kiel to rob the home run over the short wall on right field.
Trackman had the fly ball going 366 feet and well out of the ballpark but bad luck and a great play by Kiel kept the run from scoring.
Even after that in the fourth inning, Tennessee put runners on second and third with two-outs thanks to a Texas A&M throwing error and a Chris Newstrom single. But Stone Lawless struck out swinging to strand a pair in-scoring position.
Tennessee put together a really nice two-out rally in the fifth inning which loaded the bases for Manny Marin. But Marin flew out to center field and the Vols were unable to get the hit that would have tied the game or potentially taken the lead.
The Vols overall numbers with runners on-base were not bad. But on a game for the offense, the missed opportunities were magnified.
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Sloppy Defense Leads To The Game Getting Away
Tennessee trailed just 5-4 when Nate Snead came in to pitch to open the sixth inning. A poor outing by Snead amplified by bad defense led to the game getting away from Tennessee.
The Aggies quickly put a runner on third after a walk, wild pitch and stolen base. That later became runners on the corners with one-out and Snead was very close to getting out of the jam after striking out Ben Royo and then Hayden Schott. But the breaking ball in the dirt that Schott chased got away from catcher Stone Lawless allowing Scott to reach and the run to score.
Texas A&M added a run off of Snead in the seventh inning then in the eighth inning things got ugly. The leadoff batter reached and an errant pick off attempt allowed him to advance to second. A RBI double ended Snead’s day but the two runners he left on base would score after he exited when Dean Curley sailed a throw to first out of play.
Snead was already far from his best but the Vols made a number of mistakes that amplified the bad outing. By the time Snead’s line was official, Texas A&M led 9-3.
Box Score
Up Next
Tennessee and Texas A&M conclude their weekend series with game two of the doubleheader on Saturday night. First pitch is at 7 p.m. ET. SEC Network+ is streaming the game but stay tuned to RockyTopInsider.com for live updates.
