By Jay King
The stretch of bad luck is finally over, for now at least.
After getting swept on three straight walk-offs versus Vanderbilt last week, and losing a game where they led for eight out of the nine innings on Friday night, the Tennessee Volunteers are back in the win column in SEC play.
“There is definitely a sense of urgency to… get a win and come out there on top,” said freshman pitcher Cam Appenzeller.
The Vols played with urgency, too, especially with the pitching staff.
Appenzeller and Tegan Kuhns were the only pitchers who needed to play today, and both had great performances.
“Gritty” is what head coach Josh Elander had to say about Kuhns’ performance today. He started for four innings and only gave up four hits and one earned run.
The scary moment from him, though, was when he got hit in the neck with a ball on a comebacker. He was okay, and he stayed in for the rest of the inning.
“I don’t think [the ball] really squared him up all the way. It’s a terrifying moment,” said Elander. “As he pops up and is like, ‘ Hey, I’m good…’ we wanted to get him back out there again one more time to get through [the inning].”
While Kuhns was great today, Cam Appenzeller was the man of the night for the Volunteers.
Appenzeller came in in the middle of the fifth inning and gave up a hit against the first batter he saw. That would be the only player who would get on base against him this game.
It would be four straight perfect innings for Appenzeller to close out the game.
“I’ve just been going out with confidence, and threw all my pitches the best I can,” Appenzeller replied.
It was not just his on-field play that was electric; he played with lots of energy, and that carried over to his teammates.
“When we see him working hard and pitching at the way that he pitched tonight, it gives our whole team a little bit of energy,” said second baseman Blake Grimmer.
Looking at how the offense played, there were conflicting results.
On one hand, they were efficient, as they scored four runs, but only had three hits.
An LSU error is what caused the first two runners to score at the top of the first. After that, Grimmer hit a solo home run in the third, and the fourth was a two-out RBI double from Jay Abernathy, who was back in the lineup after being benched yesterday.
“He’s a guy that we still believe in,” said Elander. “It hasn’t gone well for him [in SEC play], but he’s still a dynamic talent, and he’s an unbelievable teammate.”
On the other hand, though, it was not consistent. Going hitless in the final four innings is not a key to success. Same thing with no players having multiple hits today.
Leaving seven runners on base and striking out 12 times are also things to note and need improvement.
Up Next: The Volunteers’ next game is tomorrow at 1 pm EST in a rubber match versus the Tigers. This is nothing short of a must-win game for both teams, as they are both trying to get back on track in the midst of SEC play.