By Jay King
Normally, when a baseball game goes into extra innings, it means peak excitement for viewers, with both teams doing whatever it takes to win. This was not one of those games.
A 16-inning game that never seemed to end is not the most entertaining thing to watch, even to the biggest baseball fan, especially when both teams go 10+ innings without scoring a run.
In the last three innings, it was basically a battle of who could get the runner at third home.
Vanderbilt ended up winning that fight, as backup catcher Mack Whitcomb bunted Rustan Rigdon home to take the game and the series.
This extends Tennessee’s road series losing streak to five games, dating back to April 2025.
This was a winnable series for the Vols, too, as Vanderbilt has had a disappointing season up to this point, with a 15-12 record, including three losses to mid- to low-major schools.
“It’s a tough one.. We’ve gotten walked off two nights in a row,” said head coach Josh Elander. “We need to make the adjustments about how we go about our business.”
What went wrong?
The bats have been concerning all season, and this game was no different. Nine hits are it for the 16-inning game, and four out of the nine were in one inning.
“I thought the guys ran out of gas a little bit,” said Elander.
Blaine Brown had six hitless at-bats, Levi Clark had five, and Jay Abernathy had four.
What hurts even more about that is that Vanderbilt does not have a good pitching staff at all. They have an SEC-worst 5.54 team ERA, which is a full .76 runs higher than 15th place.
The two lingering problems from this team are the hitting with runners on base and plate discipline. Nine runners were left on base today, and they had three times as many strikeouts as walks.
“When you chase pitches up and down… it’s not a formula for success,” said Elander.
It looked like Landon Mack was going to have another dominating performance, with nine strikeouts and five innings pitched, but there was one issue. He gave up five runs in the fourth inning, including two home runs.
Luckily for the Vols, someone else came in in relief to prevent Vanderbilt from scoring more runs.
What went right?
Freshman Cam Appenzellar is once again showing why he is a legend in the making for the Vols. The southpaw went six innings out of the bullpen, giving up only four hits.
He might have only had four strikeouts, but he was elite at forcing weak contact.
Bo Rhudy and Brady Frederick were also doing the best that they could this game, as Rhudy had three no-hit innings, and Frederick had 1.1 innings with one hit, but was rewarded with the loss.
The offense may have been bad today, but at least we saw their potential in the sixth inning. It started with Levi Clark drawing a leadoff HBP.
It then went back to the top of the order, where Garrett Wright got a single, but advanced to second on a Vandy error.
Blake Grimmer then drove Wright and Clark home on a single, and Manny Marin joined in on the fun with a third single. Henry Ford then hit a three-run home run for his eighth of the season.
This inning helped them come back from a five-run deficit.
Garrett Wright was the only position player with a positive game, as he had three hits and an incredible diving catch where he laid out everything for it in the bottom of the seventh.
What’s next?
Long story short, this team has issues to fix this year, especially in conference play. The perfect start is tomorrow’s game at noon. While they have already lost the series, not getting swept is a good start.
Also, Tennessee gets to go back home next week to play another disappointing SEC team, the 18-10 LSU Tigers.
There are still many games to be played, but there will need to be a sense of urgency now.