It’s hard not to be romantic about baseball. 

Tazewell, Tennessee, native Tyler Myatt felt a calm settle over him as he grabbed a bat to prepare to pinch-hit in the home half of the ninth.  

Wes Rucker’s memorial in the Lindsey Nelson Stadium pressbox sat still as an evening breeze floated across the stalemate of the Vols’ series-opening matchup with Kent State. Just one day after the region tragically lost one of its most acclaimed media members, Myatt had a chance to send many of the Tennessee faithful who consumed Rucker’s work home on a higher note. 

The local kid dug into the left-handed batter’s box, taking a hefty hack at the first offering from Golden Flashes’ pitcher Caden Leonard. He watched a ball miss the strike zone a pitch later. The right-hander finished his windup and delivered his third. 

Myatt played the hero. 

“I kind of got in the box, I was calm,” Myatt said. “Normally, I’m kind of upbeat, like ready to go. It just kind of felt a little different, that AB. And then stepping in, it was over.” 

The somber evening along the banks of the Tennessee River finished in a way only baseball could write up. Myatt cranked a 434-foot walkoff blast over the center field batter’s eye, saving a Vols team that blew a lead in the top of the ninth with some self-inflicted mistakes. 

The contest that started with a moment of silence for the former Daily Beacon Sports Editor ended in storybook fashion, a fitting result to complete a game honoring one of Tennessee baseball’s longest tenured media fixtures. A game full of ups and downs for the Vols served as a symbolic way to pay tribute to the man who covered the negative and positive times of Tennessee baseball. 

“Wes has been a day one guy for us,” head coach Josh Elander said. “I’ve gotten to know him over the last nine years, and going to miss seeing him here. Just want to give a heartfelt, sending love and good vibes to his family, especially his wife, Lauren, his son, Hank, and his daughter on the way.” 

Back out on the diamond, the Vols spilled out of the dugout as Myatt rounded third base. The Walters State transfer tossed his batting helmet high into the air after belting his second pinch-hit blast. This one, no doubt, the biggest. 

The redshirt sophomore came up in the clutch to bail his guys out of a game where Tennessee tied a program record with six hit batters. Vols’ pitching awarded Kent State nine free bases with lapses in control on the hill. 

“I think honestly, we kind of stole one tonight,” Elander said. “I think we had nine free 90 feets we gave up tonight, so that’s the opposite of the M.O. we’ve been preaching. I think we played some great defense that bailed us out, and Tyler Myatt bailed us out.”

Even with the 111 mph exit velocity off the bat of Myatt and the roar from the crowd, the same calm breeze remained as Rucker’s framed portrait along media row smiled on. 

It’s hard not to be romantic about baseball.

“We’re going to miss seeing him here,” Elander said. “He was always good and fair to us, wish them nothing but the best going forward. That’s from everybody here at Tennessee baseball and the athletic department as a whole.”