Following a series win against Vanderbilt last weekend, Tennessee turned in a couple of lackluster performances on the diamond in the midweek.
The Diamond Vols split its two game series, defeating Eastern Kentucky 3-2 on Tuesday and falling to Alabama State 3-0 on Wednesday.
Walk off Winner
The Vols’ opening game against Eastern Kentucky was back and forth. Tennessee trailed for much of the game despite taking an early lead in the first. Vincent Jackson launched a solo home run in the sixth to tie things up at two. But the Colonels would answer quickly, tagging Zach Reid with the tying run in the seventh, knotting the score at two.
Jared Pruett led off the Tennessee 9th with a single. He would advance to second on a Brodie Leftridge groundout. Two batters later, Chris Hall ended the contest with a walk-off single down the right field line, giving Tennessee a 3-2 victory.
Serrano said his dream scenario played out in the ninth, when his veteran outfielder came to the plate with a chance to win it.
“After the day he had, the at bats he took, that’s the guy I wanted up there,” Serrano added. “That’s the guy that I felt most comfortable with because he felt the most relaxed.”
Shutout on Wednesday
Alabama State defeated Tennessee on Wednesday with stellar starting pitching and exceptional defense. The Yellow Jackets beat the Vols 3-0, scoring all three of its runs in the top of the second.
Derek Lance led the charge with a 3-for-3 night, reaching base four times. Lance and Vincent Jackson accounted for five of Tennessee’s seven hits.
Angel Alicea pitched seven innings for ASU, allowing just six hits and one walk on 118 pitches.
Dave Serrano said he was disappointed in the overall effort.
“Our approach isn’t very good,” Serrano said. “Our mentality isn’t very good and our swings aren’t real good. That’s a bad combination. We’ve got a lot of guys that aren’t swinging the bat real well all at the same time. In my opinion, it looks like there are a lot of guys that are pressing to get hits.”
The Vols seemed to get unlucky at times, hitting the ball hard right at outfielders. Tennessee’s best chance to score came in the first inning, when the bases were loaded with one out for Jordan Rodgers. But the threat would be quickly neutralized. Rodgers popped out to foul territory and Tyler Schultz struck out looking.
“This team has shown that when we score early it’s tough to beat us,” Serrano said. “We didn’t take good at bats. We couldn’t get it going. We didn’t really force any balls on the infield. It was either the strikeout or a pop up or a fly ball.”
The Bottom Line
The sky isn’t falling.
Alabama State is 18-0 in conference play this year, currently projected as a No. 4 seed in the Oxford regional. If Tennessee makes the NCAA tournament, they would likely have to beat a team like Alabama State in a regional elimination game.
Wednesday’s loss was Tennessee’s second loss in the midweek. In the game of baseball, you’re bound to drop a game or two against lesser opponents.
But the lineup has to start producing again. Tennessee was 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position on Tuesday and 0-for-10 on Wednesday.
Jordan Rodgers is 0-for-11 in his past three games. Both him and Senzel appear to be over-swinging and working too hard at the plate.
Serrano said Rodgers and Senzel need to “take good at bats” instead of trying to get hits.
“It’s human nature,” Serrano added. “These guys had lofty numbers. They look up and see the scoreboard like everybody else does. I feel they’re trying to do something special, instead of just going back and keeping it simple like when they were really rolling and not thinking about much. I see a lot of thinking and analyzing going on and you just can’t do that.”
The Vols head to Missouri on Friday to begin a three-game set. The Tigers (21-21, 4-14 SEC) are the only team behind Tennessee in the SEC East standings. Missouri is coming off of two straight sweeps against SEC opponents, dropping six straight to LSU at home and South Carolina on the road.
UT cannot afford to drop this series, and Serrano stressed the importance of getting “at least two wins.”
“As we wind down this season, in my mind every game is like a playoff game,” Serrano said. “And that’s the mentality that we have to start taking. This is a big weekend. We’ve got four big weekends left.”
