Tennessee baseball was staring down the barrel of a debilitating series rubber match loss at Ole Miss entering the ninth inning. But Reese Chapman had other ideas, providing the swing of Tennessee’s season to date with a two-run opposite field homer to propel the Vols to a 10-8 series finale win.
Here’s how the Vols got it done on a day they blew a four-run lead and played truly pitiful defense
Tennessee’s Defense Lets Tegan Kuhns Down
Tennessee freshman pitcher Tegan Kuhns entered Sunday’s rubber match coming off his worst outing of his young career. Kuhns bounced back and pitched well against the Rebels, but Tennessee’s defense let him down.
The poor defense started from the jump when Dean Curley’s disastrous defensive weekend continued with a throwing error that allowed Luke Hill to reach second base with one-out. Kuhns worked around that miscue, striking out the next two batters he faced to strand Hill on second.
But Kuhns wasn’t as effective mitigating the damage after that. Ole Miss’ Ryan Moerman reached to lead off the second inning on an Ariel Anitgua fielding error. After Kuhns retired the next two batters, Austin Fawley stayed red-hot and took Kuhns deep to left-center field to give Ole Miss a 2-1 lead.
Isaac Humphrey reached on his own, singling to center field in the third inning but advanced to third after stealing second and reaching third when Cannon Peebles throw sailed into center field. Will Furniss drove Humphrey home with a single. Once Moerman singled, Tennessee went to the bullpen bringing Brayden Krenzel in. Right after Kuhns exited and with his runners still on base, his defense picked him up with Dalton Bargo throwing out a runner at the plate on a single to left field.
Kuhns allowed three runs on four hits in 2.2 innings pitched. Only one of the three runs was earned as Tennessee played poor defense behind him.
Cannon Peebles Big Swing Sparks Tennessee’s Offense
Tennessee was hitting zero-for-seven with runners on-base and had stranded six on-base through the first five innings. So when Reese Chapman singled to lead off the sixth inning it didn’t feel highly significant. But Peebles followed it up with a no doubt two-run bomb to left field to reclaim the lead for the Vols.
The big swing seemingly was a weight off the Vols’ shoulders and sparked a five-run sixth inning. Gavin Kilen, hobbled by a bad hamstring, legged out an infield single with two-outs to drive home a run. Then after an Andrew Fischer double, Kilen hobbled home on a wild pitch. Curley drove home Fischer from second with a single to center field which was just his first hit of the weekend. The inning didn’t end until Peebles roped a liner right at the shortstop to strand the bases loaded.
The Vols hit four-for-six with runners on-base in the sixth inning to claim the lead after struggling with runners on for the previous game and a half.
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Tennessee Implodes Late With Its Top Two Relieves On The Mound
Tennessee led 7-3 after the sixth inning and had its top two relievers, Dylan Loy and Nate Snead, fully available. But things still went sideways.
Loy entered in the bottom of the sixth inning with a runner on second and one Rebel run already scoring and it was clear from the jump that the left hander didn’t have it. He hit the first batter he faced and then allowed a RBI single and fielder’s choice which allowed Ole Miss to pull back within one.
The East Tennessee native retired the first batter he faced in the seventh but exited after allowing a single and a walk back-to-back. Snead entered for him and allowed the tying run to score after a wild pitch and a sac fly.
When Cannon Peebles caught a runner stealing to clear the bases with two outs in the eighth inning, the Vols looked like they were going to head to the ninth tied. But then Tennessee imploded.
Luke Hill walked, advanced to second on a wild pitch and third on an Ariel Antigua error before scoring on a wild pitch. The go-ahead run went from the plate to home without a single ball put in play.
Reese Chapman Comes Up Clutch
Tennessee was staring down the barrel of a brutal series loss when they came to the plate down one in the ninth inning. But the Vols kept fighting.
Dalton Bargo worked a leadoff walk and Reese Chapman’s fly ball just cleared the left field wall to give Tennessee a 9-8 lead in the ninth inning. It was the biggest swing of the Vols’ season to date given the circumstances around it and the stakes of the series. Importantly, Tennessee added one more insurance run when Hunter Ensley drove Manny Marin home with a two-out RBI single.
Snead came out again for the ninth inning, working around a single and more sloppy defense to secure the thrilling win.
Box Score
Up Next
Tennessee is back in action on Tuesday night when they’ll face Bellarmine in a midweek bout at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. First pitch is at 6 p.m. ET and the SEC Network+ is streaming the game.
