Photo Credit: Kate Luffman/ Tennessee Athletics
By Riley Haltom
HOOVER, Ala. – The one-seed Tennessee Volunteers took down the four-seed Texas A&M
Aggies, 7-4, on day three of SEC Tournament play. In the close, back-and-forth affair, the Vols leaned on their pitching, something the Vols haven’t had to do very often.
Tennessee had yet to play the Aggies this season, so unlike the Vols’ first game against the Vanderbilt Commodores, Texas A&M was a new challenge for this Vols team. Aggies starter Ryan Prager came into the game with an 8-1 record and 106 punchouts over 79 IP. The Vols starter was graduate lefty Chris Stamos, who had only 29 IP this season.
Here are some takeaways from the Vols’ win over the Aggies.
Vitello Leans on Causey, Bullpen
Regardless of his playtime, Stamos was clearly dialed in. He went 3.1 innings and only gave up one hit, a solo homer by SEC Freshman of the Year Gavin Grahovac in the top of the third, with three strikeouts. Fellow pitcher AJ Causey is appreciative of Stamos’s experience.
“I think we’re two completely different looks, being like an over-the-top lefty, me being a low slot righty,” Causey said. “Other than that, I think he comes out and he competes and kind of calms me, makes me go out there and do what he did basically. Yeah, it’s really calming.”
Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello switched pitchers and brought in the junior righty Causey during the fourth frame. Causey went four innings with seven strikeouts and only one run, also a solo homer by Jackson Appel in the sixth inning. Causey was pulled in the eighth frame but not before the Tennessee faithful in the crowd cheered, and deservedly so. Grahovac recognized the difficulty of facing Causey.
“Yeah, a lot of movement on his ball, throws from a different angle. You don’t see it every day, so it’s hard to work on it anytime you have,” Grahovac said. “But guy has got good stuff, and he overpowered us today.”
Graduate lefty Kirby Connell took over in the eighth inning. Connell closed the game out and finished with a line of one earned run over 1.2 innings with two strikeouts.
Kavares Tears Gave A Spark
Dylan Dreiling got things started offensively for the Vols with a sac fly to score Christian Moore in the third frame. Moore followed that up with an RBI of his own in the fourth inning. Moore finished 3-5 on the day. Catcher Cal Stark also gave the Vols a solo shot in the eighth.
While Dreiling, Moore, and Burke were all as good as ever, Kavares Tears was the heartbeat of the Tennessee offense against the Aggies. Tears started with a two-out RBI double that scored Dylan Dreiling in the fifth. Tears then blew the game open with one big swing, a three-run homer to give the Vols a four-run lead in the seventh. Tears finished the game 3-5 with four RBIs and a homer. Vitello recognizes the passion Tears plays with.
“Yeah, I think anything that relates to doubt, failure, adversity, that’s when he takes his passion and directs it,” Vitello said. “He’s had some blowups in the dugout, he’s done a good job of not being a distraction with it, but it can be a home run or a hit. It can be something good happen or something bad. But he’s got a furnace in there. He’s got a lot of fire to him.”
The Vols will play the late game on Friday as they await the loser of Vanderbilt and Mississippi State.