CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – After a sloppy play in the dry on Saturday, Tennessee turned around on Sunday and played clean and crisp despite the sloppy conditions at the AT&T Field.
The rain began falling before the game and the trend continued throughout the rest of the day. Most of the rain was off and on and fairly light but starting in the third inning the rain increased in intensity before tapering off during the sixth inning.
Despite the wet field conditions Tennessee (2-1) did not commit any errors and fielded the ball well on its way to a 5-2 victory in the rubber match of the series. This was an improvement from Saturday when the Vols had three errors and several defensive breakdowns.
Tennessee coach Dave Serrano reminded his team to stay mentally focused with the rain and the tarp coming on and off.
The Vols had no trouble obeying his order.
“Today was our best one through nine innings of how we played,” Serrano said. “We showed up ready to play and we talk about Sundays being attitude days and I thought we showed up with a good attitude.
“It was tougher conditions … Zach Warren set the tone … he went out and established his fast ball for a strike and he made two plays off the mound that we hadn’t seen made all weekend long.”
Memphis (1-2) put pressure on the Vols and starting pitcher Zach Warren (1-0) early in the first with runners on first and third with two outs. Tiger Chris Carrier stole second and Tennessee catcher Tyler Schultz threw down in an attempt to throw Carrier out, he beat the tag and Zach Schritenthal scored from third for Memphis.
It didn’t take long for Tennessee to respond though. In the second inning Schultz came to the plate with runners on and singled to the shortstop. Vincent Jackson broke for home on the hit and created a play at the plate as the Memphis shortstop threw home.
Jackson slid and beat the tag to give Tennessee its first run of the game. The Vols earned their second run during the next at-bat when Jordan Rodgers scored on a passed ball.
The offense kept up the momentum in the third. After Nick Senzel drew a two out walk and stole second, Jackson came up to the plate and smashed a two-run home run to right field that cleared everything.
“Honestly I didn’t even look the whole way,” Jackson said. “I was very excited and after that inning they told me it cleared the seats. I was pretty pumped about that.”
Memphis struck back in the fifth inning when Jason Santana drove in Andy Bowman with a grounder to third. Memphis never threatened to score again after the fifth.
Tennessee scored its final run when Rodgers singled to left with two outs to plate Jeff Moberg.
Closer Jon Lipinski made his Tennessee debut with two outs in the eighth and recorded a four out save to earn his first save with the Vols after transferring in from Palm Beach State.
Tennessee won the series two games to one. The last time the Vols and Tigers met for a three-game series was in 1981 which Memphis won 2-1. Serrano is now 4-1 as Tennessee’s head coach vs. Memphis.
“We came out here to sweep,” Serrano said. “That was taken away from us yesterday so all we could do was win the series … if we can win series’ week in and week out we’ll be pretty happy with the results at the end of the year.”
Freshman Vincent Jackson high fives teammates before the game against University of Mississippi Rebels at Lindsey Nelson Stadium in Knoxville, TN on April 20.
