By Stephen Mason
It was just what the doctor ordered for Tennessee baseball. After a dismal showing in Thursday’s game against No. 13 Alabama (29-16, 10-11 SEC), the Volunteers (29-15, 10-11 SEC) came storming back Friday, sweeping the doubleheader.
The Volunteers dominated the afternoon game, winning 10-0, and kept the momentum rolling in the evening game, taking it 11-4. In both games, there was no area the Vols dominated more than their pitching, which was their Achilles’ heel in Thursday’s 12-8 loss.
In the eight-inning run-rule victory to start the day, the mound saw only one member of Tennessee’s pitching staff, Teagan Kuhns, who was absolutely dominant.
“Teagan set the tone for sure,” sophomore Blaine Brown said. “Teagan doing what he did really set the tone for the whole team. Him doing his thing really puts everyone in a good mental spot.”
In his outing, the Pennsylvania native threw nine strikeouts while giving up only three hits and one walk, shutting out the Crimson Tide. Throughout the afternoon, he took down the Alabama offense with lethal efficiency, retiring the side in order in six of the eight innings.
More importantly, Kuhns protected Josh Elander’s bullpen, which was vital if the Vols wanted to sweep the doubleheader. It’s no secret that the pitching staff has struggled for Tennessee this year, so pitching a full game made Kuhns the driving force for both of Friday’s wins.
“He’ll be pitching in the big leagues for a long time,” Elander said. “We won two games today because of Teagan Kuhns, when he gave us that first game and his competitiveness.”
Compared to the afternoon game, it was a bumpier ride for the starting pitcher in the second game, but a bumpy ride will get you to your destination, even if it’s not always pretty.
Evan Blanco took the mound for the Vols in the crucial rubber match, and while he did give up three runs on five hits over six innings, he also struck out nine batters, tying his career high.
When Blanco handed the ball over to Brandon Arvidson in the seventh, the Vols had a comfortable lead. Alabama got one more run off the Vols before Bo Rhudy took over in the ninth and slammed the door shut on the Tide.
After all the struggles the Tennessee pitching staff has had this year, including in the Alabama series opener, tonight’s performance will bode well for the team as it continues its playoff push. Allowing only four runs in 17 innings against a top-15 team will be a confidence builder for this staff going forward.
Less surprising than the pitching performance was Tennessee’s offensive showing today, which continued the production from Thursday night.
Designated hitter Trent Grindlinger was hot from the start for the Vols, opening the scoring in the first game with a 387-foot solo home run. He finished the game with two hits and two RBIs, but he wasn’t done yet. In the second game, he had three hits for three RBIs, making Friday a very productive day at the office.
“I thought we came out right away and started competing from the very beginning,” Grindlinger said. “We set the tone early and kept the energy up the entire time.”
After being moved down the order between the games of the doubleheader, Blaine Brown answered the call and had a statement game. Brown went 3-for-3 with two home runs and four RBIs. The first home run came in the sixth inning when the game was tied at 3, and Brown’s blast to the porches blew the game open for the Volunteers.
“I’ve just been able to slow everything down. That’s the biggest thing, just slowing the game down and letting it come to me,” Brown said.
There were plenty of other members of the offense who had productive days for Tennessee, including Henry Ford, who had three RBIs across both games and also had a solid defensive showing. While the offense has struggled with consistency, it seems Elander has it moving in the right direction as the regular season winds down.
“I think our guys, as they see more SEC high-level stuff, they just slow down and are able to navigate the bats a bit better and the moment a bit better as the crowd gets going,” Elander said.
While the first game had a sparse crowd due to the schedule change that moved it from Saturday afternoon, the evening crowd at Lindsey Nelson Stadium was electric throughout and gave the team a taste of what playing in front of supportive fans in a pivotal matchup is like.
With their current record, it is highly unlikely the Volunteers will see postseason action in Knoxville; however, going into today, it was possible they wouldn’t see any postseason action at all. Losing another SEC series would have been catastrophic for the Vols’ playoff chances, which makes winning this doubleheader all the more impressive.
UP NEXT: After a weekend off, Tennessee will host West Georgia on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. ET at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.