Tennessee baseball got back in the win column on Tuesday night, knocking off Alabama State 10-2 at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
AJ Russell was back on the mound and the Vols offense started slow before a freshman sparked the offense with a big performance. Here’s how it went down.
AJ Russell Gets A Slightly Bigger Workload
Tennessee right-handed pitcher AJ Russell returned to the mound in a starting role for the second straight midweek. After throwing just one inning last week, Russell threw two against the Hornets.
It was a solid and efficient two inning outing. Russell retired six of the seven batters he faced. In the first inning, the right-handed pitcher struck out two batters on his way to retiring the side in just nine pitches.
Russell’s second inning was a tad more rocky. He retired the first two Alabama State batters due up and then allowed a single to right field. The single wasn’t hit overly hard but the next ball, a Luke Parmentier fly out to center field, was roped with Hunter Ensley making a great running catch just shy of the wall.
Russell finished his day allowing just one baserunner while striking out a pair in two innings pitched. He threw 21 pitches and 16 strikes as he continues to pound the strike zone as a high rate. His fastball sat 93-94 mph and touched 95 mph on a cooler April evening.
It’ll be interesting to see what’s next for Russell this season. One more midweek outing seems likely before they move him to the weekend.
Tennessee’s Offense Explodes In The Fourth Inning
After Tennessee’s offense struggled in Saturday’s doubleheader, the Vols started slow at the plate on Tuesday night. There was some tough look with hard hit outs while the Vols also squandered a few scoring opportunities. But through three innings the game was still all tied at 0-0.
That quickly changed in the fourth inning as Tennessee’s offense exploded for eight runs in a 40 minute half inning. Reese Chapman led off the inning with a 405 foot line drive home run that hit the top of the video board in right field. Not to be outdone, Chris Newstrom followed it up by pummeling a home run to the third deck of porches in left field.
Two at-bats, a pitching change and Alabama State coach ejection later, Dean Curley extended Tennessee’s lead to 4-0 with a homer to left-center field. Curley’s 10th homer of the year had a 110 exit velocity which tied it for the hardest hit Tennessee home run this season.
Tennessee added runs on a wild pitch, a sac fly and a two-run double as they not only took the lead but put the game away with the eight-run inning.
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Chris Newstrom Stays Hot
One of the only positives of Tennessee’s doubleheader losses was the plate appearances of freshman Chris Newstrom who started in game one and then forced Tony Vitello’s hand to keep him in the lineup for game two.
Newstrom started for Tennessee again on Tuesday night, this time at second base, and stayed hot. He hit the previously mentioned solo home run, drove in two more runs that inning with a two-out RBI double in the right-center gap and had a RBI infield single in his final at-bat.
After a three-for-five night with two extra-base hits and four RBIs, Newstrom is now hitting nine-for-13 with a walk in his last four games played dating back to last Tuesday. But Newstrom hasn’t just been torching midweek pitching, he has two-plus hits in all four games.
Vitello has discussed how the lineup for this team will be like continuously putting a puzzle together because of its depth. Newstrom is a puzzle piece that fits right now.
Box Score
Up Next
Tennessee baseball heads on the road this weekend for a three-game series against Ole Miss in Oxford. First pitch for Friday night’s series opener is at 7:30 p.m. ET. SEC Network+ is streaming the game.
