NASHVILLE – No. 21 Tennessee baseball (18-8, 3-4 SEC) suffered a 3-2 walk-off loss in 10 innings to Vanderbilt (15-12, 3-4 SEC) in Friday’s series opener at Hawkins Field.
Aside from a crucial Levi Clark RBI single in the eighth, Tennessee’s offense was largely non-existent as Vanderbilt starter Connor Fennell shoved in 7.1 innings on the mound.
Tennessee starter Brandon Arvidson did well in 5.0 innings of work in his first start of the season, and Tegan Kuhns provided multiple strong innings of relief in his first bullpen outing of the season.
But with runners on first and second and two outs in the 10th, Commodores’ Logan Johnstone drilled a base-hit to left field to walk it off.
Here’s how it happened as Tennessee lost the Friday night heartbreaker.
Vanderbilt Strikes First
After a scoreless first two frames with only one baserunner apiece, Vanderbilt struck first in the bottom of the third.
The Commodores loaded the bases with a one-out double from Ryker Waite down the left-field line and a pair of two-out walks.
Vandy second baseman Brodie Johnston came through with the bases juiced, legging out an infield RBI single to Manny Marin. Marin had to wait on the tricky hopper off of Johnston’s bat, allowing Johnston to reach and a run to score.
Tennessee starting pitcher Brandon Arvidson delivered a crucial strikeout to Braden Holcomb to follow, stranding the bases loaded.
Brandon Arvidson Turns in Nice Outing
Aside from Vandy’s success in the third, Arvidson had lots of success against the Commodores.
The redshirt junior sat the Commodores down in order in the first and fourth with 10 or less pitches in each frame and faced no real trouble in the second.
In the fifth, however, the Commodores added to their lead with a solo homer off the bat of nine-hole hitter Korbin Reynolds.
The Vanderbilt catcher smacked a 1-1 pitch opposite field over the right-field wall to give the Dores a 2-0 lead.
Arvidson’s outing came to an end after the fifth inning as sophomore righty Tegan Kuhns got the ball to begin the bottom of the sixth.
In his first start of the season, Arvidson allowed two runs on four hits while walking two and striking out seven. He threw 54 strikes on 86 pitches.
Other than the back-to-back walks in the third, Arvidson did well and gave Tennessee a great chance to win.
“Good. I thought he was good,” Tennessee head coach Josh Elander said on Arvidson’s outing. “I thought the poise was good. That’s what you want. He threw on the road for the first time, throwing strikes and breaking ball was good.
“Change was good as well. So, got him close to 90 pitches and continued to push the envelope there. Keeping the big picture in mind with him. We got a lot of confidence in (Brandon) Arvidson.”
Tennessee No-Hit Through Five
Tennessee was no-hit through the first 5.1 innings by Vanderbilt starter Connor Fennell, struggling mightily against the Commodores’ ace.
“Just changing tempos,” Elander said when describing Fennell’s impact. “The tempo and the delivery. He’s always trying to fight guys on getting their eyes up. It’s been his MO and how he’s competed. Something we talked about all week, but just did a good job.
“Our guys did not get to the fastball. There were so many balls hit foul and he didn’t throw as many off-speed pitches as he did versus last year. But whether it was sink in the wind or whatever, we just didn’t get to the heater.”
Blake Grimmer recorded UT’s first hit of the evening with one out in the sixth, roping a double to right field.
Henry Ford followed up Grimmer’s hit with a single, putting runners on the corners with one out.
Ford and Grimmer then executed a stop-steal, as Ford intentionally got caught in a pickle between first and second while Grimmer scored to put UT on the board.
“So, it’s at that point of the game,” Elander said on the decision to do the stop-steal. “We got a look that we like on the defense. Not swinging the bat well. Again, a lot of balls are going on the ground and usually when that defensive look is there, they’re not going to throw the ball through to second base. And they did, but it’s a win-win either way.
“We get two guys in scoring position or we take a run right there where runs are at a premium. So, we’ll take that right there. We got a one-run game going in the seventh inning, and we need to execute. We had chances to win the game after that and didn’t do it.”
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Tegan Kuhns Works Out of a Jam, Lawless Comes Up Big
Sophomore right-hander Tegan Kuhns relieved Arvidson to begin the bottom of the sixth inning.
Kuhns had been Tennessee’s Friday night starter every week this season until the Vanderbilt series.
The Pennsylvania native was greeted by consecutive singles before recording back-to-back massive strikeouts.
Stone Lawless then provided one of the biggest moments in the series opener, catching Braden Holcomb stealing second on an attempted double steal by Vanderbilt. Lawless fired a dart to Grimmer who beautifully applied the tag to end the frame.
Lawless also caught a runner stealing to end the second inning, giving him a season-high two caught stealing on the evening.
Levi Clark Provides Big Moment
After going down in order on seven pitches in the seventh, Tennessee found more life at the plate in the eighth.
Manny Marin dropped a single in right field to lead off the inning before advancing to second on a failed pickoff attempt and third on a fantastic Jay Abernathy pinch-hit sac bunt.
Abernathy’s bunt spelled the end for Fennell, who allowed just three hits, two runs and one walk while striking out nine on 103 pitches. Right-handed reliever Luke Guth relieved Fennell to face Levi Clark.
Clark then provided the biggest moment for Tennessee of the night, sending an RBI single into left-center to tie the game.
Grimmer worked a walk against Guth to put runners on first and second with one out, prompting Vandy head coach Tim Corbin to go to the bullpen again and bring in right-hander Brennan Seiber. Henry Ford was the first to face Seiber and grounded into a 6-3 double play to end the inning.
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Vandy Walks It Off
After the Vols went down in order in the ninth, Kuhns sat down the bottom of Vanderbilt’s lineup in order to force extras.
In the 10th, Abernathy walked to give Tennessee a two-out baserunner, and Levi Clark supplied another massive hit, lining a single up the middle to put runners on the corners.
But Grimmer struck out to strand the pair. Before strike three, Grimmer took a foul ball off the kneecap and was in clear pain afterward. He subbed himself out of the game with one out in the bottom of the 10th.
Kuhns exited the contest after allowing a one-out hit-by-pitch and single to put a pair of Commodores on base.
“I thought it was good how he attacked the strike zone,” Elander said discussing Kuhns’ relief outing. “Did a really good job of holding the runners tonight. I know Stone (Lawless) threw out a couple. Just the last one there, breaking ball gets away from him a little bit, gets free 90 feet right there and then a good swing after that.
“Just thought it was time to go to the pen. But I really liked how he responded to the challenge and I thought he got better as the night went on.”
Bo Rhudy relieved Kuhns and struck out his only batter before giving way to Mark Hindy, as Elander played matchups with the pitching.
Vanderbilt’s Logan Johnstone provided the walk-off hit for the Dores, drilling a base knock to left field off of Hindy to score pinch-runner Cade Sears.
“Some of it was matchup,” Elander said about his 10th-inning pitching decisions. “(Braden) Holcomb is a big strong guy. He is a guy you got circled in the lineup. So, at that point, just wanted to go to (Bo) Rhudy. Fastball up and some sliders there. Had some numbers. He’ll go that way.
“The same thing went into the decision with the lefty (Mark Hindy). Left on left matchup. We had the matchup we want, pitched we wanted and tip of the cap. The guy put a good swing on the ball and beats the shift right there. Good with those decisions and those guys competing in the strike zone.”
Up Next
Tennessee will look to even the series Saturday in Nashville. First pitch is at 2 p.m. ET on SEC Network.
