By Abby Doperak
The Volunteers ended a weekend series against Vanderbilt with a high-scoring 16-15 loss.
After a 3-2 loss in 10 innings on Friday and a 6-5 loss in 16 innings on Saturday, Tennessee looked for redemption Sunday as Evan Blanco started on the mound against Vanderbilt’s Alex Kranzler.
Tennessee struck first in the opening inning when Reese Chapman singled to drive in Blaine Brown for a 1-0 lead. Vanderbilt responded when Bordie Johnston hit a home run to tie the game at 1-1. The Commodores weren’t finished in the inning, as Rustan Rigdon added a three-run homer to extend the lead to 4-1.
The Volunteers answered in the top of the second when Brown hit a three-run home run, scoring Garrett Wright and Levi Clark to tie the game at 4-4.
Action continued in the third inning after Vanderbilt replaced Kranzler with Jacob Faulkner. The change came after Tennessee’s Stone Lawless was hit in the face by a pitch. Lawless exited the game and was taken for medical evaluation.
“No update yet,” Tennessee head coach Josh Elander said. “It was a really scary deal. I hope he’s OK.”
Chapman and Manny Marin both scored in the inning to give Tennessee a 6-4 lead. Vanderbilt responded with five runs in the bottom of the third, taking a 9-6 advantage.
Tennessee tied the game again in the fourth when Brown, Chapman and Blake Grimmer each scored to make it 9-9. The Volunteers then made their first pitching change, bringing in Nic Abraham for Blanco. Vanderbilt regained the lead in the bottom of the inning when Logan Johnstone drove in Clin Barczi to make it 10-9.
In the fifth, Vanderbilt brought in Nate Teague for Faulkner, followed later by Jakob Schultz. Tennessee responded in the top of the inning as Brown scored to tie the game at 10-10. Grimmer and Henry Ford followed, giving the Volunteers a 12-10 lead.
Neither team scored again until the ninth inning. Vanderbilt opened the inning by bringing Brennan Seiber to the mound. Grimmer, Marin and Chapman each scored for Tennessee, extending the lead to 15-10 heading into the bottom of the inning.
Vanderbilt came to the plate against Mark Hindy, who relieved Abraham. A single by Mack Whitcomb drove in Johnstone and Braden Holcomb to cut the deficit to 15-12. With no outs, Tommy Goodin hit a walk-off grand slam to secure the weekend sweep for Vanderbilt with a 16-15 win.
“We can talk about being in these games,” Elander said. “But you have a five-run lead in the ninth, you’ve got to attack the strike zone and go do it. Better response from our offense today, but we are far from playing anywhere near our best baseball.”
Tennessee finished with 16 hits and a .381 batting average, while Vanderbilt had 13 hits and hit .342. Tennessee committed one error, and Vanderbilt had two. Leading Tennessee offensively was Brown, who scored four runs, followed by Grimmer and Chapman with three each.
“It is a gutting game,” Elander said. “It was a tough weekend. There is plenty of conference play left.”
Tennessee returns to Knoxville to face Austin Peay on Tuesday. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET.