By Jay King
And with tonight’s loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide, Tennessee has five of the last six series openers.
“We just need to compete over the wire a little better,” said head coach Josh Elander.
Something that stood out in this game, and all season long, was a lack of fight. It was apparent that the Vols crumbled the second they faced any adversity.
This was shown especially in the sixth and seventh innings. Tennessee gave up six runs after they were only down by two. It was easily a winnable game until then.
The sixth inning was headlined by an Alabama moonshot by Eric Hines to left field.
After that, the seventh inning was where the brakes blew off. Alabama scored three runs, which does not sound so bad, but the way it happened made it so demoralizing.
“I’d rather see four guys hit four home runs in a row than watch what we did,” said Elander.
Three pitchers came in that inning, which made it as long and drawn-out as possible, but the worst part was that four Alabama batters were hit by pitches. This led to five batters seeing a bases-loaded situation then. Three runs were the best-case scenario there.
Pitching woes, and free bases specifically, were the struggle from the Vols today. Those four hit by pitches in the seventh inning added up to six on the day, including 10 walks and 10 hits.
“It was really just frustrating to watch. I mean its just painful just to sit there,” said Elander. “I mean over 20 [runners on base].”
Landon Mack and Cam Appenzeller both struggled again, just as they did last week. Mack picked up the loss with only 2.1 innings pitched, giving up four hits, four walks, and five earned runs. Appenzeller had four hits, three walks, and four earned runs.
It was not even like the offense was that bad; in fact, they outhit Bama. This included three home runs and two hits by Garrett Wright. They made it somewhat competitive.
The issue is that they can not hit late in the game. They were down by four in the bottom of the eighth, and could only get two hits in those two innings. Only eight batters were up for the last two innings.
Clutch hitting has been a problem all season, despite solid hitting in the beginning and middle of the game. This was no exception; it was the norm.
Up Next: After an inclement weather warning on Saturday, the Friday game has now become a doubleheader.
Doubleheaders are already a big challenge to begin with, but it is even tougher coming off a loss like this. The first game starts at 2:30 p.m. ET. Game 2 of the DH will begin at 6:30 p.m., approximately 45 minutes after the conclusion of Game 1.
Tomorrow will show the true resiliency of this team.