Christian Moore worked a full count against Evansville’s Shane Harris. Lindsey Nelson Stadium was on its feet, and Tennessee baseball had the bases loaded in the ninth inning down 10-8 to the Purple Aces.
Moore popped out, stranding the bases loaded sealing a loss for Tennessee. He walked down the first-base line, looking down with his hands on his head. The disappointment was evident from Moore, but the reason for the loss occurred innings before Moore stepped in the box in the ninth.
Tennessee’s pitching staff crumbled when the Vols needed it most, surrendering 10 runs and 13 hits to give Evansville the Saturday win. The eight runs the Vols (54-12) scored is the most they have gotten in a loss.
“They got a good lineup and they’re certainly going to compete,” head coach Tony Vitello said. “At no point are they ever going to go away easy, so they were able to put some things together.”
The things the Purple Aces put together consisted of crooked numbers in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings while rolling through arms from the Vols. Drew Beam got the start and worked the first three innings without allowing a hit to Evansville. His outing ended with him allowing five earned runs.
Kirby Connell failed to get an out for Tennessee, an uncommon occurrence for the normal sturdy lefty who took the loss on Saturday. Nate Snead worked an inning while giving up three runs and four hits. The flamethrower couldn’t locate his curveball and the Purple Aces made him pay for it.
Andrew Behnke came on to work 1.1 innings, facing seven batters but only giving up one run. Finally, JJ Garcia worked a clean frame out of the eighth.
No matter who Tennessee put on the mound, it seemed that outs were impossible to get.
“Anytime you make decisions with pitching, if you get some zeros or ones out of the deal, then it went well,” Vitello said. “Maybe you made some accurate decisions and if it doesn’t, then maybe we could have made some better decisions in those situations.”
Tennessee offense went silent after three solo home runs in the first, but it scored enough runs for the Vols to be in the game. The bullpen crumbled and forced Tennessee to play an elimination game on Sunday.
It’s a position that Tennessee was in last year when it went to Southern Miss. The Vols won that series and went to Omaha. To a lesser extent, the Vols have been faced with several rubber matches but only lost one SEC series all season long.
Vitello and Tennessee are treating Sunday’s game like just another rubber match. The rubber match experience is a benefit to the Vols.
That experience will be something the Vols will have to tap into at 6 p.m. ET on Sunday against the Purple Aces. The game will be televised on ESPNU
“You want as many repetitions as possible,” Vitello said. “The one thing about practice is it’s tough to put yourself in a practice or training situation where you can replicate things like today or things like tomorrow or other, other opportunities we’ve had on game day that you could talk about. So, no question it’s a benefit.”
Drew Beam (32) during game against Evansville at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. Saturday, June 8, 2024.
