By Anna Reiffer
Fresh off a desperately needed road sweep against the No. 9 Mississippi State Bulldogs, the Vols returned home to claim another pack of bulldogs.
This time, the Bulldogs came from UNC Asheville, whom the Vols dominated in an 11-1 run-rule victory in eight innings.
The Vols now find themselves on a five-game win streak and a record of 25-12 on the season with just over a month left to play.
“We’ve gone on the road and been swept, we’ve swept on the road. We’ve won close games, we’ve lost close games,” head coach Josh Elander said. “So as you take punches, you learn how to dodge some.”
Hot on the mound against the Bulldogs
Coming off a series where they relied heavily on their starters, Elander went with Blaine Brown to start Tuesday’s match, a situation that hasn’t occurred in about a month.
In Brown’s last outing, he was pulled in the first inning after tossing multiple batters’ worth of consecutive balls.
“I thought the difference with tonight was he really just slowed down,” Elander said.
In total, the Vols used six pitchers Tuesday, with the only run allowed to the Bulldogs being unearned.
Between Brown, Tracey, Haas, Baiotto, Frederick, and Krenzel, only five hits were allowed, all of which were silenced during subsequent batters.
Having a bullpen game not only maintained the momentum from the Mississippi State series but also gave the weekend starters a chance to rest ahead of the highly anticipated series against Ole Miss.
The bats are even hotter
In the past few weeks, there’s been a noticeable change not just in the performance but in the dynamic of Vol baseball.
One of the biggest recent highlights of the clubhouse is their increasingly situational offense, which was particularly evident in the Mississippi State series.
Thankfully for the Vols, that momentum carried into Tuesday’s match, particularly in the cases of Garrett Wright, Manny Marin, and Trent Grindlinger.
Wright was the Vol to break the scoring drought in the third inning, cranking a double that dribbled down the left field line to bring in Nate Eisfelder. He went on to hit another double in the seventh, eventually scoring off a single from Henry Ford.
Wright was astounding, but Marin is now the talk of the town. In the seventh inning, he broke the game wide open, driving a pitch deep to left center for the team’s third grand slam of the season.
In the eighth, Gridlinger shut the door on the Bulldogs, slashing a single to left to bring in Henry Ford.
The Vols have now scored 42 total runs over their last five games– momentum that is absolutely crucial heading into another weekend of conference play.
Adversity fuels the Vols’ motivation heading into their series against Ole Miss
It’s no secret to Vols and college baseball fans alike that Tennessee has seen its fair share of adversity in the first season of the Elander era, particularly in conference series. However, Josh Elander claims that he isn’t worried, and neither is his team.
“This league is crazier than it’s ever been,” Elander said. “You’d better hook it up because it’s a good opponent and anybody’s capable of winning on any day.”
Up Next: The Vols begin their series against the Rebels on April 17 at 6 p.m.
All games in the series will be available to stream on SEC Network+ and on the ESPN app.