FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Tennessee’s infield defense was the horror that couldn’t be avoided watching the Vols’ at Arkansas Friday night.
Tennessee committed three errors in the third and fourth inning as Arkansas scored four of its five runs in the frames and the Vols never reclaimed the momentum afterwards.
But Tennessee’s inability to regain the momentum or make its series opening loss hotly contested fell just as much on the bats that fell flat at Baum-Walker Stadium.
The Vols started fast as Jared Dickey hit a leadoff homer on the fourth pitch of the game and scored two runs on three hits in the first inning. Tennessee has mostly struggled early in games offensively but came out with the right mindset offensively.
“The guys were juiced,” Tennessee coach Tony Vitello said. “They had a really good vibe going. Going into the weekend, anticipation has been almost kind of a negative for us… They were relaxed and enjoying the opportunity to compete, and it bled into the game.”
But there were few positives after the first inning. Arkansas’ starter Hunter Hollan threw 47 pitches through two innings and seemed unlikely to get deep in the game. But Hollan got into a groove and got through six innings without allowing any more damage.
More From RTI: Everything Tony Vitello Said After Tennessee Dropped Its Series Opener At Arkansas
Once Arkansas took the lead in the third inning, Tennessee had just one runner in-scoring position the rest of the game.
“When you get punched in the gut, the challenge is can you maintain that? And I will say, for what it’s worth, it doesn’t show on the scoreboard but in the dugout, there were moments of frustration, but I didn’t see any of our guys tailspin because things went wrong, where, to be honest with you, they have in the past,” Vitello said.
No one tailspinning in the dugout was a minor victory on a night with few of them at the plate for Tennessee. There were a handful of other ones. Tennessee fouled off 19 two-strike pitches and worked more competitive at-bats than they did last weekend against Florida.
The Vols also made Arkansas’ best bullpen arm Hagen Smith throw 55 pitches and Razorbacks’ coach Dave Van Horn said he would not be available the rest of the weekend.
But there’s no moral victories in SEC baseball especially for a team that continues to struggle and play to its potential.
“No moral victory tonight,” Vitello said. “You want quality at-bats and you want to go somewhere with them, and we didn’t really do that after the first couple innings of the game.”
No amount of quality at-bats makes you feel better about three hits and five baserunners after the first inning. That combination gives you a small path to victory even if your pitching and defense is stout in a SEC Friday night showdown.
The Vols’ pitching was pretty darn good but their defense was an eye sore as Tennessee dropped to 1-4 in SEC series openers this season.
One Response
The Tennessee defense is horrid and their hitting is not much better in clutch situations. Pitching is a big disappointment as well. This team is going to languish in mediocrity unless these issues are addressed and rectified! So far, not impressed.