by Tristan Thornhill
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The No. 2 Tennessee Volunteers (15-0) took game two of a three-game set against St. Bonaventure (7-6) Saturday night by a final score of 11-1 in front of a packed Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
The middle game featured highly scouted MLB Draft prospect Michael Salina, the St. Bonaventure right-hander. Head coach Tony Vitello praised Salina, calling him a “first-round talent,” after their victory on Friday night.
Undoubtedly, the Volunteers are in a stretch of tougher opponents, having faced adversity several times throughout the week, notably the mid-week match-up against Radford.
This time it was in the form of a Junior pitcher Salina, who’s projected to be drafted in the first three rounds of the MLB Draft.
He limited the scorching hot Volunteer offense to just 3 hits and 3 runs through 3 innings of play, only giving up 2 walks with 2 strikeouts.
“There’s going to be innings where you get a zero on the board. Those innings need to be at least valuable because we’ve seen what the pitcher can do, or you start accumulating the pitches. And that didn’t really happen much until the second and third inning.” – Head Coach Tony Vitello on expectations against tough pitching.
Nevertheless, the offense battled and found ways to tack on runs, especially with the count not in their favor. Vitello loved that part of the approach tonight saying, “Our guys found a way to do damage and really, it was with two strikes.”
That toughness stood out today and has so far this week with closer games than in previous weeks. Vitello thinks the Vols have “shown toughness in a different way than other teams, and [he] hopes that trend continues. Because the season is going to get tougher, so you got one of those choices; you can get tougher along with it or you can go the other way.”
Marcus Phillips followed up his Astros Foundation Classic start nicely, going a career-long 5.2 innings, allowing only one run while striking out 5.
“What was working for me was just throwing the ball over the plate. I don’t know if I had a walk, or how many I did, but I just felt like I was competing in the zone and getting ahead and throwing the ball over the plate with some conviction.” – Marcus Phillips on his start against St. Bonaventure.
Phillips’s only major blunder of the night came in the first inning on the fourth pitch he threw; a 97 MPH fastball that was rocketed to the Tennessee bullpen to give the Bonnies an early 1-0 lead.
After that, he settled in and went three up and three down with two strikeouts in the second. He adjusted beautifully, trusting his stuff and “not changing anything.” The focus of his game is to “compete and attack them.”
That’s when Tennessee got to Salina. After a quick two outs, freshman Manny Marin extended the inning lining a double to left kicking up the chalk on the third base foul line, moving Reese Chapman to third.
Utility man Dalton Bargo worked a seven-pitch at-bat that resulted in a 2 RBI single to right field, making it 2-1, and the Vols were on the gas the rest of the way through.
In the bottom of the third, red-hot Andrew Fischer doubled to left center scoring Hunter Ensley, increasing the lead to 3-1.
After a pair of sacrifice flies in the bottom of the fifth by Ensley and Fischer, Dean Curley went deep into the corner of the Tennessee bullpen for his fifth of the season, making it 7-1 Tennessee.
Then, much like the game against Radford, the Vols suddenly found themselves celebrating a run-rule victory after appearing a full 9-inning game was heading their way.
Freshman Manny Marin blasted a grand slam that stayed fair long enough down the left field line for a walk-off run-rule win.
Manny was dealing with a nose injury all week long after sliding into the second baseman’s knee in last Sunday’s game but “the juices of just wanting to get back onto the field and be able to have the opportunity,” fueled him to play today.
The juices sure did the trick as Manny tallied a 3-4 night with two doubles and the walk-off slam.
Marin was a player who was highly scouted coming out of high school but elected to play at Tennessee, “because this is great baseball.” He credited this decision to the constant competition and mentorship on the team.
“It’s been really good. The older guys are able to mentor in a way, we get the energy from them. And it definitely translates… I’ve grown the most mentally. I have mentors like Fischer, Dean, Gavin, Reese, Backus, Alberto… they’ve all been huge, and I think that’s where I’ve gained the most.”
There’s no doubt the comradery on this team has had a direct impact on play, even with small bumps along the way.
Tennessee wraps up the final weekend series of non-conference play against Saint Bonaventure on Sunday at 1 PM EST.