By Nick Rose
Tennessee outclassed the Longhorns in every facet of Saturday’s Game 2 matchup. The Vols out-homered, hit, fielded, and pitched Texas to secure a much-needed series victory in the last home series of the year.
Game 1 was all about the pitching performance of Tegan Kuhns – Game 2 was the offensive explosion the Volunteers have showcased with six powerful homeruns in a 14-9 victory over the Longhorns.
With the win, Tennessee now holds series wins over No. 9 Mississippi State, No. 13 Alabama and No. 4 Texas. As a team sitting on the bubble of the NCAA Tournament, the committee would be hard-pressed to find a team with a similar resume, given the Volunteers’ record.
Both offenses start hot
Evan Blanco had a shaky start to this one. Three batters in, he had runners on the corners with only one out. Blanco proceeded to balk, which brought in the runner from third, and on the next pitch gave up a two-run home run. He managed to retire the next two batters to end the inning, but Texas had already taken a three-run lead.
Garrett Wright immediately cut into the lead, as he started the game for the Vols with a leadoff home run. Three batters later, Trent Grindlinger took the third pitch he saw deep to cut the Texas lead to only one.
Blanco’s bounce back
After the rough first inning, Blanco bounced back strong, retiring five in a row with three strikeouts. Blanco was on cruise control until the fifth inning, when he allowed back-to-back walks and a single to load the bases.
He proceeded to allow a two-RBI single, but retired the following two batters to escape further damage. Blanco continued to face the minimum number of batters over his next two innings. He ended his day with seven innings pitched and eight strikeouts.
Vols score in every inning
Tennessee managed to plate runners in every inning, the first time all year they have done so.
In the second inning, Manny Marin hit his own solo home run to tie the game up at three. The third inning saw Trent Grindlinger bring home Blake Grimmer on an RBI double to take the lead 4-3.
The fourth inning saw chaos: with two outs, Wright struck out; however, the ball was dropped, and there was an error on the throw to first, allowing Wright to advance to second. Blake Grimmer capitalized on the mistake and hit a two-run home run to bolster Tennessee’s lead.
The fifth inning saw even more chaos, as with runners on first and second with no one out, Reese Chapman laid down a bunt that forced an error that scored both runners. Chapman would also come around to score after a sac bunt from Stone Lawless and a sac fly from Marin.
The sixth inning saw two runners cross the plate, with Chapman crushing a home run to right field after a two-out single from Levi Clark.
In the seventh, Blaine Brown was able to bring Marin home with a double to the left-center gap. Finally, Stone Lawless would score the last runs for the Vols in the eighth inning, where he crushed a two-run homer that plated Chapman.
Up Next: Tennessee looks to complete the sweep of the No. 4 Texas Longhorns tomorrow at 1 p.m. without Sunday starter Landon Mack, who was scratched from the start earlier today.
“We talked about a couple of different options,” Tennessee Head Coach Josh Elander said. “We’ll have to mix-and-match a little bit. We just got the Mack news pregame today, so, again, we’ll get with the rest of the crew and figure out what we got.”