Chicks dig the longball.
Tennessee baseball relied on its power to earn a 8-1 win over Presbyterian in midweek action at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. The Vols (32-17, 11-13 SEC) generated a majority of their offense with four home runs, capitalizing on Blue Hose (10-39, 6-12 Big South) pitching to remain unbeaten in midweek play.
Garrett Wright and Levi Clark each posted multi-RBI games.
Homers do the talking
While Tennessee hasn’t had the extreme affinity for the longball this campaign like in previous seasons, the Vols took full advantage of the round-tripper on this night.
Blake Grimmer found his power stroke first, launching a 406-foot blast over the bullpen in right field to get his guys on the scoreboard. Two batters later, Trent Grindlinger bettered his breakout freshman season with a solo shot of his own to give Tennessee a third-inning lead that it wouldn’t look back from despite a slow start at the plate.
The multi-homer innings continued to be a theme for the Vols. In the sixth, Clark and Wright joined the party to give Tennessee some breathing room in the run column. Clark popped his 10th blast to grow the lead to three while Wright jumped on a 3-1 pitch for an extra insurance run before things were all said and done.
Unblemished Baiotto
One of the Vols’ most utilized midweek arms turned in one of his strongest outings against Presbyterian.
Ethan Baiotto tossed 2.2 innings of perfect baseball, retiring all eight batters he faced. The right-hander kept the ball on the ground, inducing five groundball outs on the way to an efficient 30-pitch line.
Kentucky tagged the freshman for four runs in his 1.1 innings against the Wildcats over the weekend. Although his first SEC appearance didn’t go smoothly, Baiotto took full advantage of his get-back opportunity against the Blue Hose.
Slow start at the dish
Despite the final score, Tennessee struggled to rally for anything substantial throughout the early portions of the action.
The Vols clung to a one-run lead throughout the first five innings before posting a four-spot in the sixth to give themselves a comfortable cushion.
Tennessee will welcome Texas to Lindsey Nelson Stadium for the first time for a three-game set beginning on May 8. The Vols and Longhorns met last season in the SEC Tournament, a matchup that pitted the two programs against each other as conference foes for the first time.
