Photo Credit: Kate Luffman/Tennessee Athletics
By Riley Haltom
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The #1 Tennessee Volunteers blitzed the Knoxville Regional #3 seed Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday in a packed Lindsey Nelson Stadium, 12-6.
Dean Curley started the offensive explosion for the Vols in the top of the second with a two-run shot into the porch. Despite some struggles from the pitching staff, the Vol offense, as potent as ever, kept Tennessee on top. Head coach Tony Vitello was impressed with the crowd that filled Lindsey Nelson Stadium on Saturday night.
“It felt like I was coaching football there for a second, with the crowd interfering with the pitch comms,” Vitello said.
Here are a few takeaways from the Vols win over the Hoosiers:
Christian Moore, One Of The Best In The Country
Christian Moore continued his string of strong performances with a 2-4 performance at the plate with two walks. Moore joined Dean Curley with a second-inning two-run blast, scoring Cal Stark. Moore also drew a walk with the bases loaded in the third inning and singled in the sixth inning. On top of his offensive contributions, the Vols junior made play after play at second including a diving line-drive catch that likely saved a run.
Beam Starts Strong, But Struggles With Bullpen
Starting pitcher Drew Beam started Saturday throwing lights-out, but started to struggle after the top of the third. Beam started the night with two three-up, three-down innings and three strikeouts, but after the long start to the third frame, gave up a single and a walk leading to a three-run blast by Devin Taylor. Beam gave up another single before escaping the third inning. In the fourth, Beam hit two batters and gave up an RBI double. Vitello then pulled Beam for Andrew Behnke, and pop-out helped Beam and Behnke escape loaded bases to end the fourth frame.
Behnke was the bright spot for the Vol pitching staff, going three innings, giving up three hits but notching three strikeouts and earning the win. Behnke was pulled for Marcus Phillips who didn’t last an inning and was pulled for Dylan Loy who faced even fewer batters than Phillips, who faced only two to Phillips’s three. Reliable righty Aaron Combs helped the Vols close things out with four strikeouts over seven batters faced. Vitello was impressed with Behnke’s approach.
“The second appearance in Hoover was as good as I’ve seen him throw the ball. The next one wasn’t as good,” Vitello said. “But I’d rather coach a guy that empties the clip one day and is running on fumes.”
Amick Headlines Wild Third Inning
Once again, Billy Amick made a big play at a big moment. In an inning that started with a Kavares Tears walk and ended with a Dean Curley strikeout following another Tears walk, Curley singled to load the bases along with a couple of walks, including the first of the two Tears walks, leading to the Christian Moore walk to score Tears. After a pitching change and a Blake Burke strikeout, Billy Amick hit his third home run in as many games and it couldn’t have come at a bigger time. The grand slam marked Tennessee’s 12th of the season, tying the 1996 Oklahoma State team for second most in a season. The grand slam put Tennessee up 9-0 to set them up for a win.
The Vols will play the winner of Southern Miss and Indiana on Sunday as they attempt to close out the Knoxville Regional to face the winner of the Greenville Regional in the NCAA Super Regionals.