Despite the performance of returning first baseman Cody Hawn, the Tennessee Volunteers fell to the Appalachian State Mountaineers 9-7 on Tuesday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
Hawn’s three-run homer, part of a five-run Tennessee first inning, looked like the beginnings of a rout, but the Mountaineers fought back all night. The team home run and RBI leader finished the day 4-for-5, adding two doubles and a single.
It was Hawn’s first game back since contracting mononucleosis. He had missed the last five games and was estimated to be out longer than a week.
Hawn said he tested positive for mono but was told he had either gotten over it or the lingering effects of having it in the past caused him to test positive.
While he did not like to miss games, Hawn said the break away from baseball allowed him to achieve an equilibrium and approach hitting fresh.
“I got to sit down and get my mind away from it,” he said. “I came in here last night, and I really only hit like 15 or 20 balls. I just felt real good, and it was back to the basics. It was just using my hands and everything all over again, and it just carried over into tonight.”
UT head coach Todd Raleigh said the team was plagued by runners getting on without a hit.
“I think we walked seven and hit a couple, and that’s just too many,” he said.
In addition to the Vols’ lackluster pitching performance, Raleigh said defense, something he said the Vols have excelled at this year, added to the loss.
“It’s a tough one,” he said. “We come out of the gates and got out to an early lead, and we just couldn’t hold it.”
Hawn said how the team lost especially hurt.
“We got runners on, and we had a couple of big hits there,” Hawn said. “We’re up 5-0, and they swung it good tonight, but we let them have too many runs. We made mistakes at bad times.”
The Mountaineers did battle back from that early 5-0 deficit. After a walk and two basehits, UT left-handed starter Adam Adkins hit Appalachian State third baseman Isaac Harrow on a 3-2 count to plate the team’s first run. A walk brought home another run, and then yet another crossed on an RBI groundout. Adkins and UT reliever Steve Crnkovich combined to allow the lead to slip away completely in the fourth.
The tie was immediately broken by back-to-back doubles from third baseman Tyler Horne and right fielder Matt Ramsey in the bottom of the fourth. Then, after a sac bunt from shortstop Zach Osborne to advance the runner to third, Ramsey came home on a wild pitch to give the Vols a 7-5 lead.
While an RBI single from Appalachian State catcher Jerod Faggart trimmed the lead to 7-6 in the fifth, UT relievers Jeff Lockwood and Stephen McCray nursed the lead with dominant innings in the sixth and seventh. But in the top of the eighth with one out, Faggart hit a solo home run to left center field to tie the game at 7-7, and the wheels came off for McCray. After getting a strikeout for the second out, he allowed two basehits and a walk to load the bases. Then back-to-back walks with the bases loaded brought home two runs to give the Mountaineers a 9-7 lead, their first lead of the game.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Vols brought the winning run to the plate with one out after walks to right fielder Josh Liles and catcher Blake Forsythe, but Hawn flied to left and second baseman Cody Brown flied to center to end the game.
UT hosts the Lipscomb Bisons on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Lindsey Nelson Stadium with Ty’Relle Harris starting for the Vols against the Bisons’ Charles Williams.