Despite struggling to hit with runners on base, Tennessee baseball clinched its first weekend series of the season by knocking off Nicholls 5-1 in game one of Saturday’s doubleheader.
Tennessee’s pitchers turned in strong performances while Blaine Brown had his coming out party. Here’s more on how the Vols got it done.
Offense Fails To Take Advantage Of Early Opportunities
Nicholls starter Austin Vargas struggled to keep it in the strike zone in his 2.1 innings pitched, but the Vols struggled to capitalize. Vargas walked four batters and hit another while allowing two hits in his outing
The Vols scored one run on a Jay Abernahy hit-by pitch in the first inning but Ariel Antigua grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the inning. In the second inning, Tennessee couldn’t do anything with a one-out walk. And then in the third inning, the Vols put two-on with two-outs but an Abernathy fly out and Antigua strikeout ended the threat.
Despite a poor outing from Vargas, Tennessee scored just one run and stranded six baserunners. It was not a crazy occurrence but led to the game staying tighter.
Landon Mack Effective In His Tennessee Debut
Rutgers transfer Landon Mack had a tough act to follow after Tegan Kuhns dominated Nicholls in 6.2 scoreless innings against Nicholls. Mack didn’t keep the Colonels off the scoreboard but turned in a strong performance nonetheless in his Tennessee debut.
Mack struck out the first batter he faced and that set the tone for his outing. The sophomore pitcher struck out nine in five innings pitched. His fastball sat at 95 mph for most of his outing while he threw multiple off-speed pitches for strikes consistently— which was the most impressive part of his outing.
The right-handed pitcher ran into some trouble in the fourth inning when he allowed a solo home run and then a pair of singles. But Mack got out of the inning and cruised from there, including a five-pitch sixth inning to finish his day after six innings.
Mack allowed four hits and a walk while striking out nine batters in six innings pitched. It was a strong Tennessee debut for the Rutgers transfer.
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Blaine Brown Introduces Himself
Two-way Blaine Brown projects as one of the Vols’ best bats after transferring to Tennessee from Rice a year after an all-conference freshman season. Brown had a nice debut on Friday, totaling two hits in five at-bats. But Brown took it to another level in game one of Saturday’s double-header.
With the game tied in the fourth inning, Brown opened things up with a 374 foot three-run homer to right field. It was a lined shot that was 111 mph off the bat. Tennessee’s offense was quiet until Brown’s next at-bat when he hit a 399 foot home run off the batter’s eye in centerfield.
Brown finished the game going three-for-five with two home runs, four RBIs and three runs. Quite the way to introduce himself to Tennessee.
Some Base Running Mistakes
Tennessee baseball played a very clean game both on the bases and with its defense in Friday’s season opener. The Vols’ defense remained clean in game two of the weekend series but they had an inexcusable amount of base running mistakes.
In a stretch from the fifth and sixth inning, Nicholls recorded three of four outs with strikeouts. Levi Clark didn’t even dive while getting picked off first base to end the fifth inning.
Then in the seventh inning, Nicholls pitcher Will Mabry caught Abernathy well off second. Then, after a pitching change, Nicholls got out of a jam by picking Trent Grindlinger off second base. All three were bad mistakes, but three happening in short order was particularly bad. Something Tennessee will look to clean up.
Box Score
*Last two outs still not recorded on statbroadcast
Up Next
Tennessee baseball and Nicholls will conclude its three-game series later Saturday afternoon due to projected inclement weather on Sunday. First pitch for game three of the series is at approximately xx p.m. ET.
