By James Stooksbury
On a beautiful Tuesday in Knoxville, the Tennessee Volunteers welcomed the Bellarmine Knights in a midweek showdown.
Tennessee took the win in dominant fashion, by a score of 13-3 in only eight innings of baseball.
Thomas Crabtree toed the rubber first for the Vols, but received a rude welcome by Bellarmine shortstop Landon Akers, who hit a solo shot deep into the left field porch.
Crabtree would respond with three straight outs at the top of the 1st, but didn’t last much longer as Vitello went to the pen after a leadoff walk in the top of the 2nd.
Andrew Behnke would be the pitcher of choice for Vitello, and Behnke did his job as he pitched a clean second inning while accumulating two strikeouts to his name.
The Vols offense exploded in the 2nd as after a leadoff hit for Dalton Bargo, Reese Chapman lasered a ball into the left-center gap that scored Bargo and ended with Chapman on third for a triple.
Manny Marin would be up next to the plate for the Volunteers as he scored Chapman on a deep sac fly to center field.
Tennessee wouldn’t be done there, as after a Stone Lawless walk, Dean Curley would hit a single into center field, scoring Lawless.
Dean Curley would meet with the media after the game and was asked how he found so much success during the game.
He said, “Swinging at the right pitches, and hitting it where their fielders weren’t.”
This would be the second of a three-hit game for Dean Curley as he bounced back in a large way after some struggles down in Oxford.
Tennessee would add three more runs in the second due to Andrew Fischer driving a ball over the right field wall for his 15th long ball of the year.
Austin Breedlove would take the mound for the Vols in the 3rd, but after a single by Joey Milto and a throwing error by Stone Lawless, the Knights would score their second run of the game.
The scoring would end until the Bottom of the 4th as after a clean inning pitched by Michael Sharman, the Volunteers scored two runs courtesy of a Reese Chapman double and a Manny Marin single.
The Scoring would cease as both teams’ pitching was magnificent until the top of the 7th when Bellarmine scored their third run of the game courtesy of a Christian Kiper RBI single.
The Vols would respond in a big way in the Bottom of the 7th as they scratched across four runs thanks to back-to-back home runs off the bats of Dalton Bargo, who hit a three-run homer, and then Chris Newstrom, who hit a solo homer into the left field porches.
Tanner Wiggins and Austin Hunley then combined to throw a clean top of the 8th due to two strikeouts.
The Vols would then end the game as a Hunter High rocket up the middle would scratch across the 13th run of the game for the Vols.
The Vols will host the Kentucky Wildcats, and in the words of Tony Vitello, “a brand of baseball offensively that’s different from the normal philosophy in the league.”
The Volunteers will look to pick up their 5th conference series win of the season, as the Wildcats will travel to Lindsey Nelson for their 3rd road series of the season.