KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – No. 4 Tennessee improved to 4-0 on the year after defeating UNC Asheville 29-4 in their first mid-week matchup.
The Vols blasted 5 long balls in the contest, four of which came from Dalton Bargo and Dean Curley.
Curley’s first long ball of the day came on a 2-2 count: a solo shot into left-center field.
However, all the energy throughout the stadium was momentarily sucked into the Bulldog dugout during the second inning. Catcher Coleman McGinnis popped a home run into the wind, just above the outstretched glove of Tennessee right-fielder Reese Chapman.
The Bulldog bench lost their minds in celebration as Coleman slammed his foot on the dish after his trot around the pillows.
That was the highlight of the night for UNC Asheville.
The Big Orange responded with three home runs of their own in the bottom of the frame, coming from Dalton Bargo, Gavin Kilen, and Bargo again, this time a grand slam.
Bargo was confident in saying, “No matter how many runs someone puts on us, we’re never out of a fight, and we can bounce back in an inning like we did tonight.” Bargo credited the team’s early offensive onslaught to “trying to have fun at the plate.”
After a nine-spot in the bottom of the second, the Volunteers put up eight in the third.
Levi Clark started by drawing a walk forcing in Hunter Ensley. Then, after a sacrifice fly and a throwing error, Gavin Kilen followed up his homerun with an RBI single.
Cannon Peebles wrapped up the bottom of the third with a two-run single through the left side, scoring Ensley and Kilen.
Curley got his second tater of the day in the bottom of the fourth on a rocket to center field that also scored Jay Abernathy.
The bottom of the fifth allowed some players to come off the bench and get their reps in. Ariel Antigua singled through the left side of the drawn-in infield to score two.
All nine starters for Tennessee finished with at least a hit and a run as Tennessee totaled 18 hits, and at least one run in all six innings, leading them to another mercy rule victory.
“It means we are closer to putting that little feather in our cap,” said head coach Tony Vitello on the team’s production today, “it means we do have a well-balanced attack.”
Brandon Arvidson, who started Tuesday night’s game, finished with 2 innings pitched, 3 hits, 3 earned runs, a walk, and 4 strikeouts.
Vitello liked what he saw out of Arvidson’s start. He appreciated that he was “around the zone” and “throwing the ball well. I’m just glad he’s now in a rhythm because since he’s been here, nothing major, but, you know, he and a couple of the other pitchers just haven’t gotten a rhythm where they’re out there consistently, so just seeing them out there and getting reps is huge.”
As for Tennessee’s matchup this weekend against Samford, Vitello anticipates a tough matchup against the Bulldogs. “Clearly, they develop players. And we’ve seen that firsthand. Like I said, we played them last fall, and that was probably the most contentious moment we had, as a group last year.”
Coach Vitello said Liam Doyle will pitch on Friday if all goes right due to the cold weather Knoxville is expecting over the next couple of days, followed by Marcus Phillips for game two of the series.
The Vols next weekend series against Samford will be at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on Friday, with the first pitch coming at 4:30.