Despite having a final-hour wrinkle tossed into his nonconference plan, Tennessee head coach Dave Serrano refused to accept a bare week.
“I don’t like not playing midweek games,” he said. “I think it gets your team out of rhythm. Sometimes you need it for rest, but I’m glad we were able to find a game.”
After inclement weather postponed the Vols’ Tuesday night showdown with Virginia Tech, UT successfully reached out to Western Carolina last-minute, securing the matchup a mere hours after the cancellation.
That initial excitement only grew Wednesday evening as the No. 29 Vols capped off the eventful two day-stretch with a 6-2 victory over the Catamounts at Lindsey-Nelson Stadium.
“It worked out best for us,” Serrano said. “We were lucky to get Western Carolina — which I think is a good opponent too — to come in here, and (we) come out on top.
The matchup with the Hokies was scheduled to take place in Salem, Va., as part of the 2014 Hokie-Smokey Classic, but continuous rain and harsh temperatures all cross the Southeast halted the Vols (24-11) before they could even depart from Knoxville.
Fortunately for UT, who had been considering adding WCU (24-12) to the schedule ever since the opening weekend eliminated one of the Vols’ 55 allotted contests for 2014, they had the Catamounts on speed dial.
“(WCU head coach) Bobby Moranda and I go way back, and we actually talked about this a couple weeks ago,” Serrano said. “But as soon as Virginia Tech called me yesterday morning early and said, ‘We’re going to have to cancel the game,’ I got on the phone with Bobby, and we were able to secure (the game) quite quickly.”
A rapid pace illustrated the game’s offense early on as well, with both squads producing runs in the opening frame. After the Catamounts initially struck in the first off UT starter Bret Marks, the Vols quickly responded in the bottom half, stringing together three consecutive hits with two outs.
Sophomore Christin Stewart and freshman Nick Senzel each singled in front of first baseman Scott Price, who proceeded to bring home the duo with a booming RBI double to left-center.
Price, who came into Wednesday’s contest hitting a dismal .125 (3-for-24) in his last seven games, fell behind 1-2 before fouling off three straight pitches that eventually led to the run-scoring two-bagger.
“We need Scott to be in character,” Serrano said. “It’s never about one guy on this team, but I know how good of a hitter Scott Price is and has been throughout most of his career. If he could just get close to that it’s going to help our lineup tremendously because he’s a guy we look to help our offense succeed.”
More cushion came just a few frames later as Serrano’s squad pushed across a pair of runs in both the third and fourth — each scoring spurt aided by one of the Catamounts’ 10 free passes.
Derek Lance and Taylor Schultz opened the third with a single and a walk respectively, moved up 90 feet on a fielding miscue by WCU third baseman Dylan Prevatte and later both touched the plate without the benefit on a hit.
In the ensuing frame, it was Senzel who drew a walk — one of three on the night — and eventually raced around the diamond on Taylor Smart’s RBI triple. The Vols’ senior third baseman ultimately scored as well, crossing home on a wild pitch for UT’s sixth run of the night.
“These weekday games are games we really look forward to after the weekend series because we carry our momentum or fix things that we didn’t do right in the past series,” said Stewart, who ended the night with four hits. “We’re just really happy we got a game in since we couldn’t go to Virginia.”
Making his second start in nine days, Marks (3-0, 4.82 ERA) went only two innings, allowing just three hits, one run and no walks with a pair of strikeouts.
The Roswell, Ga., native kicked off a six-pitcher outing in which every UT hurler tossed less than three innings — a common theme for almost all of UT’s midweek contests this season.
But while a bullpen-heavy evening can sometimes deliver unpredictable and high-scoring affairs, the Vols’ relief corps was rather sharp Wednesday night. UT pitchers retired the final 17 Catamounts, didn’t surrender a hit after the fourth inning and finished the contest without issuing a single walk.
“That’s better than a shutout,” Serrano said of his pitching staff’s zero free passes. “That’s what we strive to do each and every game, and I think that was the difference in the game.
“We gave up some hits — that’s a good hitting team — but the difference was they had a lot of free passes and we didn’t.”
