Brady Frederick can’t lose when Tennessee baseball and ETSU face each other at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
A season ago, the sidewinding righty helped the Buccaneers hand the Vols their first loss of the season in a dramatic extra-innings battle. This time around, the Knoxville native saw things from the home perspective.
Frederick led the charge against his former team on a strong night for the Tennessee bullpen, picking up the win after entering this year’s iteration of the midweek bout under emergency circumstances.
“What a great opportunity for Brady to get in there, put out a fire versus his old team,” head coach Josh Elander said. “He did a great job of getting ready and just competing, and that’s what we needed.
“That was a huge, huge deal I just think for the program and in general right there.”
The reigning SoCon Pitcher of the Year walked into a burning house out of the bullpen in the first inning.
Starting pitcher Blaine Brown failed to record an out amid a fit of wildness, hitting the first batter of the game and walking the next two on eight pitches. Elander turned to Frederick in hopes the former ETSU standout could limit the damage against some of his former teammates. He did just that.
Upon inheriting a 2-0 count, Frederick punched out his first man. The Buccaneers found the scoreboard during the next at-bat with a sacrifice fly, but the Vols turned out to be quite happy with that trade. Frederick danced out of the big spot, drawing a flyout to end the inning as Brown exhaled from the dugout.
“You just kind of got to make the most of the moment,” Frederick said. “I think in that moment a lot of people probably expect a run or two to score, and if I just stay true to what I have and trust my stuff, hopefully get out and limit the damage.”
The Bearden High School graduate kept the mojo rolling, working through two more hitless innings that only saw him surrender a single baserunner. He found the strike zone at a consistent rate, firing 25 of his 37 pitches within the black.
It set the tone for the rest of the Tennessee pitching staff.
The Vols blanked ETSU for the rest of the ballgame, not walking a batter over the final six innings. Cam Appenzeller, Brandon Arvidson, Mark Hindy and Bo Rhudy each fulfilled their duties to keep this season’s result on Tennessee’s side.
“I think it definitely helped set the tone,” Frederick said. “I think when you see guys before you go in and compete and throw strikes, it gets the umpire used to calling strikes. I think that’s just how it kind of wrote the story for us today.”
While the blood wasn’t pumping as hard as it did from the visitors’ side of the diamond last campaign, Frederick still managed to leave a mark in a battle for his home state. At the end of the day, he still has the bragging rights.
“I knew a lot of those guys,” Frederick said. “And actually, some of the guys are from Knoxville too. I knew them throughout high school, but it’s a good group of guys. I had a little bit of intel for sure.”
