by Tristan Thornhill
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – In their first game as the No. 1 team in the nation, Tennessee (20-1) finally lost their first game of the season against a gritty, overlooked ETSU team in Knoxville.
Some people, including myself, anticipated a close game in this one, knowing that ETSU is a tremendous hitting team, and sits in the top five of home runs in the country.
Even head coach Tony Vitello noted the dangers of overlooking ETSU, saying to his team “Be careful what you get excited for” knowing this game would present some challenges.
“To this point, it’s been nothing but glad-handing and hype and everything else. Some of it’s earned, some of it’s not. All of it’s been positive, and there are a lot of negatives in this game. There’s a lot of negatives in competing. And so, we’ll see what we got between now and a quick turnaround.” – Coach Vitello reflecting on the season up to this point and how they can bounce back with a short week ahead.
Regardless, Vitello stuck with his plan of getting as much of his bullpen in the mid-week game, allowing them to get some run, and went with Junior pitcher Austin Breedlove as the opener.
In the top of the first, ETSU got the scoring started in the top of the first with a single from Cooper Torres that scored Cody Miller.
The Vols answered in the bottom half of the first with some help from ETSU. Gavin Kilen reached on a single up the middle but was then called out at second after a Hunter Ensley grounder to short. Ensley reached on the fielder’s choice. Andrew Fischer got on via a hit by pitch, then, Levi Clark reached on a walk.
Reese Chapman reached on a fielding error by ETSU second baseman Torres, scoring Hunter Ensley. Torres regathered himself after the ‘OLAY’ but fired behind the runner at second, allowing Fischer to score on the throw, making it 2-1 Tennessee.
This ETSU team has zero quit in them. Tristan Curless homered to right field to tie up the ball game at two in the top of the second.
After Brayden Sharp handed the ball off to Thomas Crabtree, Jamie Palmese walked on four straight pitches to start the top of the third, a recipe for disaster.
Blake Jacklin reached on a fielder’s choice to the pitcher, and Palmese was out on the force at second.
Crabtree repeatedly checked on the runners at first, throwing over what seemed like every other pitch, and at one point, three times in a row. There were at least 10 throws over during his outing, which may have been something he noticed about the ETSU baserunning, however, none of the throws over resulted in a pick-off.
However, in the very next at-bat, Cody Miller homered down the left field line, seemingly commanding it to stay fair as it nearly missed the pole and landed in the second deck of the left field porches, making it 4-3 ETSU.
Tennessee pitching settled down and kept the Bucs in check long enough for Kilen to scratch them closer in the bottom of the fifth with a solo home run that landed in the upper deck of the left-center field porches.
The Vols had several near misses before Kilen’s home run in the fifth, everything seemingly dying on the track for a routine flyout, until Kilen blasted his tenth homerun of the year.
The Vols found themselves in some trouble twice, clinging to a one-run lead. In the top of the fourth, Lenny Montesano grounded into a double play that was turned nicely by Antigua to escape the jam.
Then, in the seventh, after Palmese and Miller singled, Torres grounded into a double play started by Kilen at second and returned to Curley at first by Antigua.
The Vols had left five runners on base up until the seventh and were 0-9 with runners on base.
The seventh started with a huge walk by pinch-hitter Jay Abernathy. Kilen followed with a 3-2 walk of his own, setting up Hunter Ensley to come through for the Big Orange.
Hunter Ensley broke the 0-9 streak with a clutch double to left field, on a 0-2 quick pitch from ETSU pitcher Andrew Ronne in the bottom of the seventh.
Jay Abernathy, who pinch-hit for Antigua to lead off the inning, came around to score the tying run, and the crowd finally came alive.
Fast-forward to the bottom of the eighth after the Vols finally got a one-two-three inning, Peebles led off the inning with a walk but was called out on a fielder’s choice, making Manny Marin safe at first. Tennessee challenged the call at second after it appeared Torres came off the bag early, but were unsuccessful, leaving Marin as the loan runner at first.
Then, Abernathy hit a ground ball to Torres, who fell funny but fired to second anyway, missing his target, allowing the ball to get as far as the D1 Training advertisement on the wall in foul territory right behind third base.
Marin bumped into Miller, who was covering the bag at first, however, no interference was called, even after Marin attempted to get up and advance to third, only to return to second, almost getting himself into a pickle between second and third.
Vitello immediately came out of the dugout to question why no call was made, looking for an explanation.
When I asked Coach Vitello why interference or obstruction wasn’t called, he said the umpires told him “There was obstruction, but not enough obstruction to go to the next base… There was obstruction but the guy’s got to run all the way to the base, which I’ll have to watch the video. We got a freshman out there. No one wants to win more than Manny, but also Manny’s a freshman. He wants to be safe, so he doesn’t want to do anything reckless. That was the explanation.”
However, after talking with the umpires, no interference was awarded, and the Vols would have to settle with runners on first and second. Luckily for the Vols, Dean Curley walked loading the bases for Hunter Ensley, who came up in another huge spot.
Ensley, on the second pitch of the at-bat, lined a ball to left field that was inches away from leaving the yard, but still good enough to drive in two. Tennessee, who had been fighting and clawing all game, took a 6-4 lead into the ninth.
But the Buccaneers are one of the scrappiest, underrated teams in college baseball, and would not go down quietly.
After Tristan Curless singled through the left side off of Ryan Combs, Palmese lined a ball off of the scoreboard in right field, tying the ball game up at six.
After the ball kept dying all game for Tennessee, Palmese found a way to muscle it over the wall on a liner that just kept carrying.
In the bottom of the ninth, Clark reached on a throwing error, and once Chris Newstrom came in to run, Chapman and Peebles both recorded outs. Marin walked, putting the winning run in scoring position for Abernathy.
Abernathy slapped it to right field, but Blake Jacklin made one heck of a sliding grab to keep the game knotted at 6, and we had bonus cantos in Knoxville.
Despite Tanner Franklin striking out the two first batters of the tenth inning, Grant Gallagher hit an absolute bomb, clearing the porches in left field, and giving ETSU the lead.
It was a 3-2 pitch that proceeded a pitch that many in the ballpark groaned over not being called strike three.
Either way, Tennessee needed to rally if they wanted to keep their incredible winning streak alive.
The inning started with a towering flyball the entire stadium thought was hit to Nashville, but once again, died on the warning track and fell for out number one.
Kilen followed with what most definitely would be a single 90% of the time, but Palmese made one of the most ridiculous, outrageous, impressive diving grabs ranging in from center field to rob Kilen of a single at the least. I’ve spent my entire life watching college and professional baseball, and I can only recall a few times I have seen a catch that impressive in a moment that humungous.
The Vols were down to their final out, which has not been a theme so far this year, but not every win can be a run-rule or five-run win.
After Ensley singled, and Fischer was hit by a pitch, Newstrom found himself in a momentous opportunity, with his first at-bat of the game, after coming in for Clark to pinch run. After a gritty at-bat, Newstrom went down looking on an inside 3-2 pitch, clinching the win for the Buccaneers.
Andrew Cotten turned towards the ETSU dugout after bear-hugging his catcher and went ballistic, as the entire team filed out onto the field in celebration of the upset victory.
After his performance, Cotten earned himself the win, and Tanner Franklin got the loss for giving up the go-ahead home run in the tenth.
It’s a reality check for Tennessee; no doubt you cannot win them all. However, coach Vitello hopes the team can “get back to work.”
“If I’m seeing stuff, then they’re seeing stuff times ten of this, that, how great you are and [how great] the league is… You’d like to think the ball fans see or you guys watch in February and March isn’t going to be as good as what you’ll see in May because teams will continue to progress, and repetitions are so valuable for these young kids.” – Coach Vitello on how the staff will evaluate the loss and hope to only get better.
There’s certainly no doubt that this squad, as talented as it is, has areas to improve all over the lineup, especially leaving 14 runners on base, and going Curley went 0-5 today in the leadoff which is not something that sets the rest of the lineup up for success. Austin Fisher and Reese Chapman also went 0 off in their at-bats.
However, it’s important to remember this is baseball, you’re not going to win every game. This is going to happen, and the only thing Tennessee can do is put their best foot forward in a short week, with Alabama on Thursday.
First pitch against No. 10/12 Alabama will be at 7:30 PM EST/ 6:30 PM CST, in Tuscaloosa.