Photo Credit: Kate Luffman/ Tennessee Athletics
By Riley Haltom
HOOVER, Ala. – The #1 seed Tennessee Volunteers lost their SEC Tournament opener to the
Vanderbilt Commodores, 13-4. The loss makes two in a row for Vanderbilt over Tennessee,
after the Dores took game three of their SEC series with Tennessee.
Because the Vols were a top-four seed in the SEC Tournament, the Vols still have a shot at the tournament title. They will play the loser of the Texas A&M and Mississippi State matchup later tonight.
Quiet Night for Volunteer Offense
Despite striking first from a Hunter Ensley RBI double, the Vols failed to generate much offense in the game. The only other score for the Vols came from a three-run blast to right field for Reese Chapman in the fourth inning. Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello felt the offense was better than what the box score shows.
“You’ve got to rally together,” Vitello said. “I think our guys did that okay. We did have some
hard contacts that were right at guys, but that’s part of the deal. I just think as you go through the lineup, some guys were in there fighting, saw the ball well but didn’t have much to show for it. And as you look at the box score, there’s blank spots that pop up a little too often. A lot easier to hit when you’re winning the game.”
Usually reliable fixtures of the Vol offense like Christian Moore and Billy Amick failed to record a hit against the Commodores.
Vanderbilt Offense Was Hot, Tennessee Bullpen Was Not
The Vanderbilt offense was quiet until an explosive third frame where things fell apart for
starting pitcher Nate Snead, who had not started a game this season. After Vandy put runners on second and third, a wild pitch scored Troy LaNeve. Davis Diaz hit an RBI single to score Calvin Hewett. A walk to RJ Austin set up a three-run homer for Alan Espinal. Vitello remains confident in Snead going forward.
“I think it’s just more information. We just talked, you could argue I could have done a better job of either sticking to the script or communicating better with Nate, but we honestly were waiting to see who we would play to determine what we wanted to do,” Vitello said. “We gave Snead a chance, really in the off case that he would have to throw or start later on this year for some reason or another, that he wouldn’t have to say it’s his first time. So at least we checked that box.”
The Vols brought Andrew Behnke in for the fourth frame, but a Hewett single scored Braden Holcomb. Tony Vitello switched to a pitcher-per-inning strategy that saw Kirby Connell give up a Colin Barczi sacrifice groundout, Marcus Phillips give up an Alan Espinal two-run homer, and Matthew Dallas give up a Jonathan Vastine three-run homer. Closer JJ Garcia gave up a solo shot to Colin Barczi, his first homer of the season.
“We knew who we were going to throw, which was pretty much everybody that’s on the list, one way or another,” Vitello said. “Guys getting out there was huge. I think Behnke gets us out of a jam. I think he’s capable of doing that. Kirby has kind of been that guy for us. There’s some obvious positives in AJ. Then the rest of those guys just gave us information. I trust D. Loy when we use him in the situation that’s best for him, but I’m willing to bet those first-year guys had a little bit of a wow moment. Like even AJ, he had a different story, but had to manage his breath there a little bit. It’s good those guys got to experience that so there’s not a shock the next time it comes around.”
What Does the Loss Mean?
Vitello’s reluctance to throw his best arms and starting a pitcher who had not started a game all season made his intentions very clear. Vitello was using the Vanderbilt game as an experiment for his bullpen, as well as a chance to break the ice for returning pitcher AJ Russell. Now is not the time to panic for the Vols. Pitching a midweek staff to an SEC offense was not a recipe to win.
The loss to Vanderbilt marks the third time in the Wednesday slate of games that a team that was playing for nothing was beaten by a team near the bubble for the NCAA tournament field. Kentucky dropped their game to LSU, Arkansas dropped their game to South Carolina, and now the Vols drop theirs to Vanderbilt.
Tennessee is back in action tomorrow against the loser of Texas A&M and Mississippi State.