Tennessee baseball’s offense has not lived up to the numbers it has put up in previous seasons. The Vols’ .266 batting average ranks as the third-worst in the conference.
But Friday night’s outing at the plate was irregular in many facets — Tennessee posted a double-digit hit night, and did it against one of the conference’s best pitchers.
Why?
Because of Henry Ford’s prior encounter with Mississippi State ace Tomas Valincius. The two played together at Virginia last season, and that knowledge of his repertoire, paired with assistant coach Chuck Jeroloman’s scouting report, prepped the Vols’ lineup well for a 6-5 win over the Bulldogs on Friday night.
“I thought Chuck and our staff did a great job getting ready,” head coach Josh Elander said. “Even with talking with Henry, who has played with Tomas before. Just what our approach will be? What is the pitch we’re attacking in this spot? And our guys were really able to execute.”
Ford not only got the leg up with a win over Valincius’ squad in the opener, but he took him deep with a 386-foot no-doubter on the 42nd pitch of the game. Levi Clark also added a blast, marking just the sixth SEC game this season in which Tennessee has hit multiple longballs.
“Henry crushed that one to left, and Levi, it was a good sign too,” Elander said. “Just a lot of guys driving the ball low and in the middle of the field and taking some high percentage swings.”
Tennessee went 8-for-24 at the plate against Valincius, who held batters to the SEC’s second-best mark of a .170 batting average against.
Valincius was held to some of the worst marks of his season as a result of Ford’s scouting. He hadn’t allowed more than five hits in a start this season, and no more than four in an SEC game — but the Vols connected for four hits while he was on the mound.
The 6-foot-2, 225-pound left-handed pitcher has been a strikeout machine, posting the conference’s fourth-most strikeouts with 66. He’s had outings of 14 strikeouts against Vanderbilt and 10 in his last start against Georgia. But the Vols only struck out six times, which ties a season-low for the future professional.
A lot could be attributed to Garrett Wright, Tennessee’s leadoff hitter, who posted a three-hit day. While Valincius won the first battle with a four-pitch strikeout to open the game, Wright followed with a third-inning triple off the top of the wall that helped break a scoreless tie. He added a fifth-inning single to go 2-for-3 off the lefty.
“Just taking good swings, not trying to do too much, and using the whole field,” Elander said. “He drives a ball to left-center that almost goes out tonight, and staying to the baseball a little bit more. But he’s a guy that has so many winning qualities, and I think the more at-bats he gets, and the more he plays in SEC, the more he’s going to settle in.”
Valincius got tagged with a no-decision in his 6.0-inning outing. He allowed eight hits and a season-high three earned runs across 80 pitches, raising his season ERA to 1.53.
He was saved by the Bulldogs’ back-to-back home runs in the fifth inning to tie the game, before Tennessee answered with a three-run eighth inning to pull out an upset win.
Fortunately for the Vols, Ford also played under Mississippi State head coach Brian O’Connor while at Virginia — so his expertise should be leaned upon when Tennessee returns to the diamond at Dudy Noble Field on Saturday at 7 p.m. ET.
