For the first time since early March, the Vols are winners of five straight.
Tennessee baseball worked an 11-1 victory over UNC Asheville in the two teams’ second midweek meeting of the season at Lindsey Nelson Stadium in eight innings. The Vols (25-12, 7-8 SEC) started things slowly at the plate before registering some clutch hits with runners in scoring position, knocks they would stack on the way to a blowout defeat of the Bulldogs (16-21, 4-8 Big South) in run-rule fashion.
Manny Marin enjoyed a career night, driving in six runs while blasting his first-career grand slam.
Brown back on the bump
In his first start since March 3, Blaine Brown returned to the hill for the Vols.
The two-way player had some control demons to exercise from his last time out against ETSU, an ugly showing that saw Brown fail to record an out after walking two batters and plunking another.
His fortunes proved better on this warm night against the Bulldogs. Efficiency was the name of the game for Brown this time, only needing 10 pitches to send the side packing in order. He didn’t rely on his strikeout stuff, inducing a trio of groundouts in his lone inning. Fellow two-way talent Taylor Tracey came on to relieve Brown in the second. Head coach Josh Elander has yet to let Brown pitch out of the first inning this season.
The 6-foot-5 southpaw stuck around for his usual duties in the batter’s box, filling the six-hole in Tennessee’s lineup.
Offensive hangover?
After a weekend sweep of Mississippi State that saw the Vols post 19 runs, it took a little while for Tennessee to get its bats going against a new breed of Bulldogs.
Tennessee checked off a few firsts in the third inning, both thanks to leadoff man Garrett Wright. The Vols center fielder notched his team’s first hit with a sharply lined double into the left field corner, a knock good enough to score a hustling Nate Eisfelder from first base for the first run of the game.
Two-hitter Reese Chapman kept the rally alive a pitch later, dropping a perfectly placed bloop single in between the UNC Asheville alignment to plate Tennessee some insurance. Through five innings, though, those two hits were the only ones the Vols could boast in their middle column.
Bulldogs’ starting pitcher Garrett Crum, who entered the action with an 11.05 ERA, had settled into a bit of a groove. He was able to pull his weight despite walking four hitters in the early going, stranding a pair of them in the fifth inning. As he crept towards the 100-pitch mark, the Vols found their stroke.
Tennessee pieced together another two-spot in the sixth, chaining three hits together to buy some insurance.
Manny drives them in
The Vols got the big inning they needed.
Marin delivered in the seventh, launching Tennessee’s third grand slam of the campaign towards the left field porch to bring the advantage to eight runs. Alongside his two-run double an inning earlier, the sophomore eclipsed his previous career-high of three RBIs, a mark he set on March 13 against Georgia.
The Vols will look to extend their winning ways as they welcome Ole Miss for a three-game set beginning on April 17.
