by Tristan Thornhill
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The No. 2 Tennessee Volunteers (16-0) made a little history with a 13-2 victory and sweep of St. Bonaventure at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on Sunday.
While long winning streaks to start the season are normally run-of-the-mil for head coach Tony Vitello’s staff, Tennessee’s 16-0 start of the season sets a new program record for consecutive victories to begin a season. The previous record was set in 2019 after the Vols started their first 15 games 15-0.
“I wasn’t aware of that, but I do think you may not win every game, but you can get a vibe there of what’s going on. And it’s one of the better vibes I’ve been a part of not just here, but other programs as well.” – Vitello on Tennessee’s historic 16-0 start to the season.
Vitello also understands that it’s impossible to keep up this pace, and the team will eventually find out they’re “not invincible. This game will humble you in a hurry.”
“Our guys need to be prepared for adversity to come their way and fall back on the confidence of what they’ve accomplished so far.” -Vitello
It was a bullpen game for the Vols after Vitello said last night that there was no plan for a definitive starter, and everyone was “all hands on deck.” He loved the aspect of having a fresh pen, and with non-conference play winding down, and still a lot of guys looking for a spot in the rotation and the bullpen.
He’s described this team as “one big puzzle,” and it finally seems the pieces are coming together, especially in the pen after Sunday’s game.
“We want to see what we got,” said Vitello referencing his staff coming out of the bullpen. “As each day goes on for this team, we learn more and more.” Vitello is impressed with what he’s seen from his pitching staff early in the year and how they’ve made it difficult for him to find who he likes best in crucial situations.
Tennessee pitching looked fantastic in this one, only allowing two runs in the contest. Nine different pitchers came out in this one, showing just how deep this bullpen is, and why Vitello has made it a point to get in everyone he possibly can before conference play starts.
Tegan Kuhns earned the win, his second on the season, throwing 1.1 innings and striking out two.
Kuhns has also recovered well from starting the season with the flu, which also caused him to lose a significant amount of weight.
“Yeah, that was unfortunate, but I’ve been working with our nutritionist [Beth Schwartz] and it’s coming along.” – Kuhns on coming back after battling the flu.
Kuhn, again was one of nine pitchers that came out of today’s bullpen, and he loves how many pitchers they have on the team. “The trust we have for each other is unreal. [Vitello] doesn’t take the ball from us, we hand it to the next guy coming in. It starts with trust. It’s awesome.”
As for the game itself, it was a pitcher’s duel into the third inning, then the Bonnies struck first again after Chris Hoalcraft singled up the middle on a 0-2 pitch, scoring Conner Vossen.
The Vols responded immediately in the bottom half of the third. Gavin Kilen scored on a wild pitch, then Austin Fischer flew out to center for an RBI sac-fly.
Levi Clark went yard to right tacking on two more, and then Jay Abernathy singled through the left side of a shifted infield, scoring Manny Marin.
Stone Lawless, who got the start behind the dish today, capped off the seven-run third inning with a two-run homer of his own.
The Bonnies tacked on another run in the top of the fifth on a Gavin Constantine groundball single to left, making it 7-2 Tennessee.
After that, the Volunteer bats decided to end this one early (again) and blasted three home runs in the final two innings to end it.
In the bottom of the sixth, Dalton Bargo went deep to right center field to boost the lead to 8-2. A couple of batters later, Chris Newstrom jacked a three-run bomb off the batter’s eye that fell back into play and bonked off of centerfielder Paul Vossen’s head (he was okay) to make it 11-2.
Finally, Lawless dialed deep for the second time this afternoon as he followed in Marin’s footsteps of yesterday and hit a walk-off two-run blast to the left field porches to cap Tennessee’s weekend sweep with an exclamation point.
Lawless, who’s backed up Cannon Peebles behind the dish so far, wasn’t frustrated with the fact that he wasn’t starting a lot this weekend. “I trust the boss and I love watching Cannon play.”
With the amount of depth on this roster, it isn’t crazy to assume that some players might become frustrated with lack of play or competition, but Lawless is just “ready whenever [Vitello} calls on us. I’m usually just focused on whatever task is next and whether that be coming off the bench or starting on Sunday or Saturday, just being ready whenever and preparing each day, like I’m going to start.”
Tennessee hosts West Georgia on Tuesday in their final non-conference matchup before welcoming No. 7 Florida to Lindsey Nelson Stadium next weekend to begin SEC play. First pitch against the Wolves is at 4:30 PM EST.