Tennessee baseball endured three big blows over the weekend.
Head coach Josh Elander didn’t have much to say postgame after his guys suffered their third straight walk-off loss, but after all the innings of baseball he’d seen, one word best describes them all.
“It’s a gutting, gutting game,” Elander said. “Tough, tough weekend. Our guys just need to get back off the mat. There’s plenty of conference play left, and we can talk about being in these games, but you got a five-run lead in the ninth – you got to attack the strike zone and go do it.”
If it wasn’t one thing falling short for the Vols, it seemed to be something else.
The offense drew a spotlight during the first two games as the main source of concern. Tennessee mustered only seven runs over 26 innings.
In the opener, Elander chose to make a switch to the weekend rotation, handing the ball to Brandon Arvidson in place of the usual Friday man, Tegan Kuhns. Despite the offense falling flat, Arvidson notched a solid start, and Kuhns provided some quality relief out of the bullpen. Arvidson allowed two runs over five innings, striking out seven. Kuhns worked six strikeouts over 4.1 innings.
Wasted opportunities ended the chance at a win. The Vols stranded two runners in scoring position in the top of the 10th before the Commodores walked things off in their turn at the dish.
“We’re far from playing anywhere near our best baseball,” Elander said. “We have four games at home next week, and we just need to get going, because it won’t be any easier. That’s part of this league. Our guys will and can respond.”
The middle game saw even lower production from the bats. Tennessee scored all five of its runs in one inning, coming up empty in the other 15 frames during the marathon contest.
Cam Appenzeller carried the Vols’ pitching staff with a stellar bulk relief appearance. He continues to impress in conference play with a 0.00 ERA over 7.1 innings.
The series finale proved that the bats are more than capable of making noise.
As the offense finally found itself alive, Tennessee’s pitching wilted. The Vols’ bullpen had been depleted after a long weekend, but Evan Blanco’s start put the team in an offense-dependent hole.
Blaine Brown broke out of his slump with a big day. He tallied three hits, including a home run.
“It’s one of those games, just everybody unloading the clip, and our guys just need to hit the reset button as fast as they can,” Elander said. “A different swing here or there, it’s a completely different weekend. But that’s not where we’re at right now.”
