Tennessee baseball took an early lead and leaned on a strong Marcus Phillips start to defeat Cincinnati 10-6 and advance to the Knoxville Regional finals.
The Vols are now just a win away from advancing to the super regionals as their stars came through against the Bearcats on Saturday night.
Tennessee’s Offense Provides Pressure From The Jump
As the away team at Lindsey Nelson Stadium, Tennessee baseball’s offense came out juiced from the game’s offset. Gavin Kilen led off the game with a single to center field before both Andrew Fischer and Hunter Ensley worked walks to load the bases with no-one out.
Dean Curley opened the game’s scoring by driving two of the runs home with a single to right-center field. The Vols threatened to do even more damage, loading the bases again after Levi Clark worked an 11-pitch walk. Cincinnati centerfielder Derrick Pitts then made one of the game’s biggest plays with a spectacular diving catch to take away a multi-RBI hit from Cannon Peebles.
But it was still undoubtedly a strong first inning from Tennessee. They kept the pressure on in both the second and the third inning, adding another run with a Curley solo homer in the third inning.
More than anything, they made life very difficult on Cincinnati starter Kellen O’Connor. He threw 37 pitches in the first inning and 57 pitches through the first two innings.
Marcus Phillips Rises To The Occasion
Cincinnati batters combined to work four walks against Tennessee starter Marcus Phillips. That number before the game seemed like a recipe for trouble, but Phillips worked around it effectively.
Let’s start by the way he was able to control the run game. Cincinnati’s top stolen base man Landyn Vidourek was not in the lineup, but the Bearcats stole just one base with Phillips on the mound. Phillips effectively picked off one Bearcat, with one-out in the fifth inning, more than making up for the stolen base.
Cincinnati scored two earned runs off of Phillips in the third inning but even then the junior starter limited the damage on what could have been a big inning. His day ended with a solo homer to leadoff the seventh inning.
Phillips also worked around trouble in the first inning but it was otherwise smooth sailing. He faced the minimum in three separate innings and ended his day tied for a career-high eight strikeouts in six innings pitched.
The six innings pitched marked his longest outing since April 26 against LSU and tied for his third longest outing of the season against SEC competition.
More From RTI: Why Tennessee Baseball Is Not The Home Team In Knoxville Regional Matchup Against Cincinnati
Tennessee’s Middle Infield Rakes
Gavin Kilen and Dean Curley hit in some version of the one and two spots for Tennessee most the season and the duo were fantastic for the Vols against Cincinnati.
Kilen went four-for-six at the plate on his way to scoring three runs. He was a consistent force at the top of the order totaling three singles and a bloop triple to left field that beat the shift in the fourth inning. Curley has been much maligned this season, in large part due to his defensive shortcomings but was stellar against the Bearcats. He drove in a team-high four runs, going two-for-four with a home run and a walk.
The duo didn’t do anything spectacular but were both solid defensively up the middle which is all the Vols are truly looking for.
Through two NCAA Tournament games, the duo has combined to hit eight-for-16 with a home run, triple, six RBIs and four walks.
Box Score
Up Next
Tennessee baseball is a win away from advancing to the super regionals for the fifth straight season. The Vols will face either Cincinnati or Wake Forest at 6 p.m. ET Sunday night. Tennessee would have two chances to win one game and advance out of the Knoxville Regional.
