Saturday’s game two against Wright State had right-handed pitcher Landon Mack geared up for his fourth official start of the season.
Despite a slow start, the Vols grabbed the series win with a 5-4 win over Wright State. Henry Ford and Reese Chapman combined for six hits, and both went yard in the series clincher.
The Vols (12-3) were once again slow to find their offensive rhythm, but Mack kept things in check against Wright State (4-8) while the offense found its footing en route to the Vols’ series win.
“I think it’s a great test,” Tennessee pitcher Brayden Krenzel said. “Obviously, everybody comes to the SEC to play. It’s the best of the best, so these tests are great for us to really see what we’re made of and get ready to go again.”
Mack started off looking rusty in the top of the first inning, a leadoff walk followed by a hard-hit double put two runners in scoring position with no outs in the top of the first.
Hunter Warren continued his big series with a fielder’s choice groundout to second base, scoring the first run of the afternoon for an early 1-0 Wright State lead.
After another walk from Mack, which marked his second in his first inning of work, another fielder’s choice scored the second run of the afternoon for Wright State.
Trailing 2-0 after the first inning, the Vols once again found themselves in a hole they had to climb out of.
Mack settled back into his second inning of work nicely, sitting all three of the batters down in order while striking out his first batter of the day to end the frame.
Chapman put a charge into a ball that travelled over the right-field video board for the Vols’ first run of the day. The 371-foot bomb was Chapman’s first long ball of the season, and it cut the deficit in half.
“Just super happy for him,” Ford said. “That was a big homer to get us going. He’s one of the hardest workers on the team, and he’s been really grinding, and I feel he’s been all over the barrel to be honest.”
The next three Vols’ batters were sat down by Wright State’s starting pitcher Griffen Paige, but not before the Vols got on the board.
The pitchers’ duel continued in the third inning, Mack allowed a one-out single before settling back in and escaping with no runs allowed. Paige sat down the Vols in order to keep the Wright State lead at 2-1.
After Mack escaped a fourth-inning jam that included two runners on first and second with two outs, Chapman continued his big day in the bottom half of the inning.
With Blake Grimmer leading the inning off with a walk, Garrett Wright followed him up with a ripped double down the left-field line. With two on and no outs, Chapman smoked a two-run double over the right-fielder’s head, scoring two runs and putting the Vols up 3-2.
Mack went back out for his fifth inning of work, where he struck out his first batter, walked the second, before ending the inning on a double play.
“It was good. I thought the stuff, obviously, you never want to walk the leadoff guy to start the game, right?” head coach Josh Elander said. “But again, I think with the wind, it was his fastball that was just taking off. Even when I was throwing BP (batting practice) today, it was kind of taking off just because of that crosswind so much. Again, (he) could’ve landed the curveball and the change a little bit better at times, but he’s always going to compete and give you a chance.”
The fifth inning was his final inning of the day. His final line was five innings, three hits, two runs earned, four walks and five strikeouts.
After a leadoff walk from Jay Abernathy in the bottom of the fifth, Ford launched his fifth home run of the season, putting the Vols up 5-2 with some insurance.
The insurance was needed, as Wright State refused to be denied in the sixth, adding two more runs to the score. After a fielder’s choice scored Wright State’s third run of the afternoon, Cy Turner singled in their fourth to move the score to 5-4 Vols.
Cam Appenzeller bunkered down after two earned runs, forcing a groundout to end the threat. After Appenzeller was removed with two innings under his belt and two runs earned, Elander turned to Brayden Krenzel.
Krenzel handled two quick outs in the eighth inning before allowing an infield single. After the single, Krenzel struck out the final batter of the inning, giving the Vols just three more outs needed for a win.
“Just really good again,” Elander said. “I mean, up to 93, up to 97, the fastball taking off. I thought the slider was really good. Brayden had a good approach, kind of keeping those guys off balance, because of Wright State. I mean, they’re taking some comfortable swings across the board.”
The right-handed pitcher stayed out for the top of the ninth inning, where he stayed locked in, grabbing all three outs without allowing a single base-runner in the final frame, earning his second save of the season.
The Vols go for the sweep on Sunday, March 8.
