Tennessee baseball’s run of 14 straight victories in regional games came to a close Sunday night when Wake Forest used a walk-off walk to defeat the Vols 7-6 and force a decisive game seven on Monday.
Here’s how it went down.
Brandon Arvidson Settles In After Rocky Start
Tennessee went with a unique pitching plan, using Dylan Loy as an opener. Brandon Arvidson relieved Loy with one-on and one-out the second inning and got out of it unscathed.
But trouble quickly found Arvidson in the third inning starting with a four-pitch leadoff walk and a bunt single combined with a Dean Curley throwing error gave Wake Forest two in-scoring position with no-one out. Arvidson nearly limited the damage to just one run before back-to-back two-out RBI hits from Jack Winnay and Dalton Wentz made it a three-run inning.
Then in the fourth inning, Arvidson recorded three strikeouts but walked Jimmy Keenan before nine-hole hitter Javar Williams lined his fourth home run of the season over the right field wall.
But from there, Arvidson was stellar. He retired 10 of the final 12 batters he faced and struck out seven of them including the side in the sixth inning. His final line looks wonky due to five earned runs, but it was a good outing and Arvidson showed serious guts after the way it started. He also threw a season high 108 pitches.
Pair Of Two-Out Home Runs Pull Tennessee Even
Tennessee’s offense had a really strong first two games in the Knoxville Regional despite hitting just one home run in each game. After falling behind 6-2 in the fourth inning, Tennessee used a pair of two-out blasts to tie the game in the next two innings.
In the fifth inning, Manny Marin singled to give Tennessee a baserunner. Two batters later, Andrew Fischer hammered a 2-2 hanging breaking ball over the batter’s eye in centerfield to pull the Vols within two runs.
They’d get those two runs an inning later when Levi Clark made a one-out Dean Curley walk matter, taking Rhys Bowie deep into the Tennessee bullpen for an opposite field homer. It was Clark’s 10th homer of his freshman season and his first since game two at Arkansas.
The two long balls brought the crowd at Lindsey Nelson Stadium to a fever pitch and put Tennessee on even footing for the game’s final stretch.
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Things Get Away From Nate Snead In The Ninth Inning
Nate Snead was nearly perfect against the first five Wake Forest batters he faced and even came in clutch in the eighth inning when Jimmy Keenan hit a towering fly ball that left fielder Dalton Bargo never saw in the lights, allowing the fly ball to drop harmlessly on the warning track for a two-out triple.
The strange play suddenly put an abundance of pressure on Snead, who now had no room for error with a runner on third.Snead picked his teammate up, striking Javar Williams out on four pitches to strand the runner and end the threat.
But things went very poorly for Snead in the ninth inning. He offered a leadoff walk and then Marek Houston singled up the middle. Kade Lewis’ laid down a sac bunt and Snead foolishly turned to go to third base with the ball. He had no play there allowing all the runners to reach safely. Snead then walk Jack Winnay on four pitches to end the game.
Box Score
Up Next
Wake Forest forces a decisive game seven on Monday. The winner advances to super regionals. The loser’s season ends. The first pitch time has not yet been set.
