By Stephen Mason
On St. Patrick’s Day evening, the No. 22 Tennessee Volunteers found their pot of gold at Lindsey Nelson Stadium after the storms the team faced this past weekend in Athens. After dropping their first SEC series to No. 8 Georgia, the Volunteers defeated the Eastern Kentucky Colonels 10-3 in unseasonably cold temperatures.
Taking the mound for the Vols on a frigid afternoon was freshman Traylor Tracey, who lasted just over two innings. While Tracey was able to record four strikeouts during the outing, he also struggled with control, hitting three Colonels batters.
Head coach Josh Elander was quick to respond to his struggling pitcher and turned to graduate Mark Hinchy, who also struggled with ball control, hitting a batter during his short stint on the mound. Elander was once again quick to look toward his bullpen, handing the ball to Ethan Biaotto in the fourth.
After being criticized in Athens for leaving his pitcher in the game too long, Elander reacted to his pitching staff’s struggles Tuesday evening. By the end of the game, nine pitchers had taken the mound for Tennessee. The Tennessee pitching staff ended the game with 11 strikeouts while giving up three runs.
Tennessee’s infield also had its share of issues handling the ball in the cold temperatures, which played a large role in the three runs that the Colonels scored. However, Eastern Kentucky also faced the same challenging conditions, and most of Tennessee’s early runs were scored on ground balls that made their way out of the infield.
Levi Clark opened the scoring for Tennessee in the second inning on a two-run single that scored Manny Marin and Reese Chapman. After a slow start to the year, Elander is optimistic about the progress that Clark has made over the past few games.
“He’s getting closer, there’s no doubt. … We can talk about the contact quality or whatever, but executing right there … he’s doing well when he’s catching, it’s coming,” Elander said. “At some point, he’s going to be right in the middle of us, driving runs in and helping us win games.”
The first big swing of the night came off the bat of freshman Trent Grindlinger, who hit a triple to center field in the sixth, scoring Jay Abernathy from second. Grindlinger only learned that he was making the start one hour before the first pitch when Henry Ford was ruled out because of illness.
“Just a bunch of work I have been putting in behind the scenes, not trying to do too much when I am at the plate,” Grindlinger said. “We have a great group of guys, so I am not really trying to do too much, but just put good swings on the baseball.”
Manny Marin put together an impressive offensive showing for the Vols, recording two hits in four appearances at the plate. The second hit was a two-run home run out to the porches, putting an exclamation point on a solid offensive showing from Tennessee. The hit also extended Marin’s streak of multiple-hit games to six.
“He’s been doing a lot of things well. … The way he is approaching each day is much more professional,” Elander said. “He’s always been incredibly talented, Team USA shortstop … so it’s cool to see him playing to win.”
After tonight’s win, the Vols will again turn to SEC play as they face the Missouri Tigers this weekend for their SEC home opener. Given the challenges the SEC presents, the team will use the midweek games as springboards for competitive weekend series.
“They’ve got three good arms on the mound … playing better defense and playing better offense than they have in previous years,” Elander said. “It’s an SEC opponent coming to town, so it really doesn’t matter what the logo is; anyone can win on any day.”
Up Next — Tennessee will open its series against Missouri on Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.