The Tennessee Volunteers baseball team was finally able to play a weekend series at home for the first time this season, and they made sure it was a successful one. The Vols defeated the Grand Canyon Antelopes 7-1 Sunday afternoon to win Game 3 of the series and take the series 2 games to 1.
“It was really important to get these three games in,” Tennessee baseball head coach Dave Serrano said. It was the first time all season the Vols played at home, and it was the first uninterrupted weekend series the team played.
Tennessee’s bats finally came alive at home, as the Vols used a 5-run in the 6th inning to take a commanding 7-0 lead. Junior infielder A.J. Simcox started the scoring for the inning with a 2 RBI single up the middle that scored Vincent Jackson and Brodie Leftridge.
Christin Stewart then knocked in his 2nd RBI of the game with a single that saw him advance to third after an error by Grand Canyon right fielder Garrison Schwartz. Nick Senzel scored an unearned run, and Simcox scored as well. Parker Wormsley finished off the scoring by putting down a sacrifice bunt that scored Stewart. Wormsley also reached 1st on a fielding error by 3rd baseman Greg Saenz.
Serrano saw progress in Sunday’s offensive outburst, but he believes there’s still work to be done.
“I have full confidence that our offense is going to start clicking,” Serrano said. “These guys want to do it so badly for each other that I could sense they were pressing a little bit to get out of this funk.
“We did some good things, but we’re still not there yet.”
A.J. Simcox was one of four Vols with a multi-hit game, and he earned his 7th and 8th RBI’s on the season. Simcox noted that “it’s been our offense lacking all year” but the team made it work Sunday.
“Today we got it going a little bit,” Simcox said. “We just had better at-bats. I think scoring in the 1st inning got us going a little bit.
“It was definitely a step in the right direction.”
The offense was aided by another solid starting pitching performance, this time from Kyle Serrano. The sophomore pitched 5-plus scoreless innings and gave up only one hit, striking out 5 in the process.
“I was very happy with the command Kyle showed,” Dave Serrano stated. “He understands now that he’s been blessed with a great arm, but he understands now what it takes to win. It’s still not where he needs it to be, but it’s getting better each and every outing.”
Junior Andy Cox came into the game in the 7th inning and shut down Grand Canyon’s bats once again, striking out 4 batters in 3 innings without allowing a run or hit. Senior Peter Lenstrohm gave up the only run against the Vols on the day in his one-plus inning of work when Rouric Bridgewater grounded out to 2nd base and scored Brandon Smith from third in the 7th inning.
The Vols improved to 6-5 on the season with the victory, and they hope they have discovered some offensive rhythm after this series.
“The big innings are back breakers for other teams,” Simcox stated. “But that’s not what we try for.”
“We just try to go out there and try to win every inning.”
