Adversity-ridden Tennessee baseball still hasn’t flipped the script.
The Vols’ late-inning struggles are becoming a pattern. A five-run seventh inning doomed them in a rubber match at Georgia. Three walk-off losses at Vanderbilt followed the last time out.
Friday added another chapter. Derek Curiel’s eighth-inning grand slam lifted the Tigers to a 7-5 win at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
Tennessee has not won a Friday opener since that series loss at Georgia to open SEC play March 13. The losses, and how they’ve unfolded, share a common theme.
“(They) haven’t been good,” head coach Elander said. “That’s a simple way to look at it.”
“And we’re right there. We could talk about if or that, or hey, can we do this better? My challenge to the team was, including myself included, is we all got to do our job a little bit better. Whatever your job is, whatever your task is, there’s no word for almost in this league.”
Bullpen management sits atop the list of concerns. Going to a reliever too early was the variation this time around.
Landon Mack surrendered a third-inning home run to break a scoreless tie, but he settled in from there. In his newly acquired Friday night role, Mack proceeded to retire the next 14 batters he faced. He did it through a brief scare of medical discomfort with two outs in the fourth inning, prompting a mound visit from trainer Jeff Wood, but showed no lingering effects.
He finished the seventh inning with a popout in foul territory to mark a season-high seven-inning outing. But the plan all along was to bring out Brandon Arvidson in the eighth.
And it unraveled quickly. After Arvidson walked three straight, Elander turned to Bo Rhudy — and it backfired.
Curiel crushed the 1-0 offering over the left-field wall for a go-ahead grand slam, the Tigers’ first hit in nearly two hours.
“Clearly the wrong decision,” Elander said.
It’s the same deal when Brayden Krenzel allowed a single and then walked two at Georgia. Elander needed to see an RBI single and a three-run home run before pulling Krenzel on the road.
“I think scars are good in this league, and we’ll figure out how tough we are real quick, because this league can knock you down,” Elander said. “It’s about getting back off the mat, and this is baseball.”
What may go overlooked is the missed opportunity an inning earlier.
Tennessee loaded the bases with two outs and the heart of the order at the plate. Blake Grimmer drew a two-out walk to bring in a run, then Reese Chapman — 3-for-3 coming into the at-bat — swung through a two-strike pitch to strand the runners.
Tennessee finished 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and stranded nine.
In the ninth inning, with a chance to respond to the adversity, Grimmer smoked a solo shot to right field while the other three batters that stepped to the plate struck out.
“I’m more than confident,” Chapman said. “Knowing every guy in there, what they bring to the table, how they compete, how they take care of their business, from practice to the game. Yeah, more than confident with everybody in that locker room, that we’ll turn things around.”
The Vols will look to even the series with a 6 p.m. ET first pitch on Saturday, donning their black uniforms.
