Tennessee baseball took care of business in its penultimate midweek game of the season, using a trio of long balls to coast past Presbyterian 8-1 on Tuesday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
Here’s how the Vols got it done in a midweek bout against the Blue Hose.
Ethan Baiotto Had A Stellar Relief Outing
It was a normal Johnny Wholestaff midweek approach for Tennessee pitching staff, but right-handed reliever Ethan Baiotto turned in the best performance of the bunch.
After struggling over the weekend at Kentucky, Baiotto came in with Tennessee trailing by one-run in the third inning and promptly retired all eight batters he faced while the Vols gained control of the game during that stretch.
It took Baiotto just 30 pitches to retire eight batters with 20 pitches as strikes. Baiotto struck out a pair of Blue Hose batters, but recorded five of the eight outs via ground ball.
It was a strong bounce back performance in the midweek after Baiotto struggled in Lexington over the weekend.
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Tennessee Baseball Relied On The Long Ball
Tennessee’s offense was largely quiet the first six innings of the game but used four long balls to take the lead and then give themselves a bit of breathing room later in the game.
Blake Grimmer opened the scoring by annihilating a 406 foot solo homer down the right field line to lead off the sixth inning. Tennessee then took the lead later in the third when Trent Grindlinger lined a solo homer 411 feet over all three porches in left field.
Then after a pair of quiet innings, Tennessee found some breathing room with a pair of 2-run homers in the sixth inning.
After Reese Chapman led off the inning with a single, Levi Clark hit his 10th homer of the season with a two-run shot into the second deck of the left field porches. Then after stranding four runners on base in his first three at-bats, Garrett Wright extended Tennessee’s lead to 6-1 with a 2-run shot to left field.
Four of Tennessee’s 10 hits were home runs while the Vols scored six of their eight runs on long balls.
Miscellaneous Notes
– Reese Chapman and Garrett Wright were the only Vols to record multiple hits. Chapman, who twice singled, totaled two of the six Tennessee hits that were not home runs. Stone Lawless did not record a hit but reached base on balls once, was hit by a pitch in another plate appearance and drove in a run with a sac fly.
-Freshman left-handed pitcher Will Haas impressed in his one inning pitched, striking out the side on 15 total pitches.
-It was a quiet night for incoming transfers Henry Ford and Blaine Brown. Ford went 0-for-4 with a walk at the plate while Brown went 0-for-3 with a walk.
Box Score
Up Next
Tennessee baseball hosts Texas this weekend in a three-game series at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. First pitch for the final home series of the season is at 6:30 p.m. ET on Friday night. The SEC Network+ is streaming the game.
