On a rainy Friday night, the No. 15 Tennessee baseball team squeaked out a 4-3 win against Indiana State at Lindsey Nelson Stadium, after a mixed start from Chad Dallas. The Vols are still a perfect 6-0 on the season, while the Sycamores drop to 1-3 overall.
“Tonight, we were able to inch that pitch count up just a little bit,” Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello said on Dallas. “He had to work out of more jams tonight so it is all about getting better as the season goes on and just getting better as a player and his tenure in our program, but also to prepare for the battles of the SEC and that was kind of what we had on our hands tonight. It was good to see him show the fortitude that he has, which never seems to go away on game day. I thought it got challenged tonight, more than it did last Friday, with the situations he had to work out of.”
Jordan Beck continued his torrid pace, going 2-3 with two RBIs, including a home run which raised his average to .368 on the year. Beck leads the team with three homers, 10 RBIs, 20 total bases and a 1.053 slugging percentage. Jake Rucker drove in a run and scored one as well, as he went 2-4 on the night.
“It is just sophomore year confidence and it’s a big deal to me,” Beck said. “We prepare a whole lot for this and I always feel ready to play. I worked hard over quarantine and in the fall, we all worked super hard. We got with (coach Quentin Eberhardt), we got with (coach Josh Elander), we got with everybody and just put a ton of work into it. Hopefully, the results will show.”
The Vols opened up the scoring after Rucker scored on a wild pitch in the 1st inning. Beck smashed the second pitch of his at-bat for a home run in the bottom of the third inning. Later, Rucker slashed a ball into left field to drive in Max Ferguson giving Tennessee a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth. The final run of the game was driven in by Beck, on a single right back where it came from. Liam Spence crossed home plate on the hit, giving Tennessee the game-deciding run to eventually capture a 4-3 win.
Dallas earned the start today and gave Tennessee five innings of work. The junior right-hander surrendered nine hits and three runs, but struck out a career-high nine batters. Sean Hunley came in relief and dominated in his four innings of work. The senior veteran faced 11 batters and sat down all 11 batters while striking out three.
“It just comes from competing every single day,” Hunley said on his outing. “The coaches preach competing, and you want to go out there and do the best for your team and give them a chance to win. As a reliever, the role is to keep the game where it is at and I felt like I did that pretty well tonight.”
Indiana State pushed Tennessee to their brink this season. Max Wright finished the day going 2-4 with an RBI, and Diego Gines launched a home run too deep to right-center field.
Gines’ homer tied the ball game for the Sycamores in the top of the second inning. After giving up two unanswered runs, Indiana State scored two in the top of the fifth after Grant Magill scored on a throwing error by Connor Pavolony. Wright tied the game after driving in Jacob Schaffer with a single to right field.
Tristan Weaver started on the bump for Indiana State. The lefty scattered six hits and surrendered three runs over 4.1 innings of work. He struck out four Vols and walked two. The Sycamores relief corps combined to go 3.2 innings and allowed four hits and a run while striking out five and walking none.
The weekend series between the Vols and Sycamores continues tomorrow with a double-header with game one starting at 12:30 p.m. and game two starting 30-45 minutes after game one ends.
