by Tristan Thornhill
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – No. 2 Tennessee swept No. 7 Florida right outta Knoxville Sunday afternoon with a 7-4 comeback victory to stretch their lucrative start to 20-0.
After head coach Tony Vitello said the starter would be determined the day of, he ran out freshman Tegan Kuhns for the start.
Kuhns went 2.2 innings pitched only giving up a hit which marked a career-high in innings.
The scoring started in the bottom of the third inning when shortstop Dean Curley grounded out to the third base side, scoring Abernathy from third.
However, the Gators had a monster top of the fourth inning, which featured multiple blunders from the Tennessee defense less than 24 hours after Vitello and staff credited them for making several “ESPN-type plays” in the field.
The wind impacted several plays in the outfield, which hurt both teams throughout the entire game.
“The ball was dancing like crazy… We made a couple of mistakes on defense… If I’m a fan, it doesn’t look like we ever practice it, which we do.” – Vitello on Sunday’s defensive performance.
The fourth started with Brandon Arvidson returning to the mound. Florida third baseman Bobby Boser reached on a fielding error by Jay Abernathy, after it appeared he had tracked it down in no-mans-land in left-center field, on a play that Vitello felt “was the most difficult of all of them.”
Next, Colby Shelton singled to short on a ball that Dean Curley dove for but couldn’t come down with after he impacted the ground. Then Brendan Lawson walked on four straight pitches, ending Arvidson’s afternoon.
Tanner Franklin came in and immediately gave up a double down the line to Ty Evans, making it 2-1 Florida.
Franklin then drilled Stripling in the back, and Luke Heyman reached on a fly ball that was dropped by Reese Chapman in right field, allowing Lawson to score. Thankfully, Chapman rifled the ball into second to get the force out on Stripling due to the fact he had to pause to see if the ball dropped.
The inning ended on a caught stealing, however, Heyman got himself in a rundown long enough to allow Evans to score during the pickle, before he was finally tagged out, giving Florida a 4-1 lead going into the bottom of the fourth.
“It’s one thing to give up runs, but it’s another thing to how we got there. There was a walk and not making a catch and not making another catch. But also, you have to look at the flip side, like even from Florida’s talent, they were lacing balls at our guys that were dancing in the wind. So, it was a wacky inning. You got to regroup. Our players need to not pay attention to me when I get too emotional from that situation and just keep fighting because nine innings is a long time… it’s a marathon and you got to make sure you last the distance.” – Vitello on the sloppy fourth inning for the Vols.
The Vols would have their work cut out for them trying to bounce back in this one, but they started chipping away as early as the very next half-inning.
In the bottom of the fourth, Ensley reached on a hit by pitch, followed by an Andrew Fischer and Dalton Bargo pinch-hit walk.
Florida walked the very next batter (three straight), Reese Chapman to force in a run, making it 4-2.
Tennessee still had the bases loaded but couldn’t muster anything more in the inning after a Manny Marin ground out, and an Abernathy double play.
In the top of the fifth, Dylan Loy, the winning pitcher on Sunday, stepped to the mound and delivered a much-needed shutdown inning for the Volunteers.
In the bottom half of the frame, Cannon Peebles stepped into the box, pinch-hitting for his counterpart Stone Lawless, who has platooned the catcher position with Peebles all year long.
The two have gone on record saying they respect the hell out of each other, and Peebles reinforced that by saying “We love each other, just to set the record straight. Like that’s my brother.”
Peebles isn’t worried about who gets more reps, taking a “whatever happens, happens” approach to the situation, but could not be more animate about the fact he’s happy that Lawless is here with him. “Like I said, that’s my brother, he’ll probably be at my wedding one day, so, we hang around each other every single day. We make each other better, and it’s super easy to get along.”
During the fifth, Kilen went deep to right field, fighting the wind blowing in for his ninth homer of the year, making it 4-3 Florida.
After swapping his battery mate to Peebles, Loy dealt a massive one-two-three-inning for Tennessee, allowing the Big Orange to make some noise in the bottom half.
Freshly entered the game, Peebles doubled to deep right field, scoring Abernathy and Marin, after they both reached via walks earlier in the inning, making it a 5-4 Tennessee lead.
Loy worked yet another shutout inning, which would end his afternoon, going scoreless, and putting him in line for the win. Loy credited his performance to his “confidence is the curve all day.”
In terms of the comeback, Loy was pleased with his teammates’ “confidence in pitching and hitting.” As we learned in their walk-off run-rule last night, this team can explode at any given point and “never saw any sign of losing.”
“Two different catchers [Peebles and Lawless] being able to trust them tremendously… I was just trying to get it in the zone and let the defense work behind me.” -Dylan Loy on what was effective during his outing.
Loy handed the ball over to Nate Snead, who sat the Gators down in order in the top of the eighth.
After a Bargo ground-rule-double to right center, Chapman homered to center field, extending Tennessee’s lead to 7-4.
Nate Snead proceeded to slam the door after giving up a walk and a single, with throw K’s, ending this one and completing the sweep of the Gators.
Snead collected his third save on the year, but Vitello values his longevity and ability to work multiple innings, and not just be labeled the teams closer.
“He’s too valuable to be labeled our closer. But that’s what he was this weekend because of the way the situations popped up. But the only reason he was able to do that on two different days was because of his efficiency with his pitches. Reminds me of the old great Zach Lingenfelter… He put himself in a good position to be able to be used today.” – Vitello on Snead’s performance this weekend.
Tennessee will face ETSU in the mid-week spring break matchup, which is no easy task. ETSU currently ranks in the top 5 in homers throughout D1 baseball.
“It’s spring break so I think the key is for them to not end up in Puerto Vallarta, or a place like that,” Vitello said jokingly about his team.
He expects the team to “be at the park and be prepared.”
After the mid-week, they head down to Tuscaloosa for their first SEC road series of the year.
“For a group that claims they like challenges, you better be excited about what you ask for because it’s here.
First pitch against ETSU will be at 5 PM EST on Tuesday.