Tennessee baseball was back at Lindsey Nelson Stadium early Tuesday afternoon for its second scrimmage of the week. The Vols played 5.5 half innings on the final day of fall break at six different pitchers threw.
Let’s start there. Virginia LHP Evan Blanco gave up one run in three innings of work and looked awesome doing so. He worked 1-2-3 innings in the first and third. His former Virginia teammate Henry Ford singled off him in the second inning and then Finley Bates drove him home with a double off the wall. While Ford allowed one run, the lefty was fantastic and struck out five batters while offering zero walks. His off-speed pitches were working.
Tegan Kuhns threw 1.2 scoreless innings. The sophomore had to work hard to get two first inning outs, throwing an abundance of pitches. But it was a clean 1-2-3 second inning for the talented right hander.
Rice two-way Blaine Brown had a chaotic inning where he somehow didn’t allow a run despite allowing two hits and offering two walks. Chris Newstrom hosed a runner out at home from left field and then Brown got out of a jam with an inning ending 6-4-3 double play. Brown was much more crisp in the second inning, retiring the side around a Manny Marin single.
Speaking of Newstrom, he made another really nice defensive play at third base to take a hit away from freshman catcher Trent Grindlinger. Newstrom also worked a walk in one of his two plate appearances.
Most of the offensive damage came off of ETSU transfer RHP Brady Frederick. Jaxon Walker led off the inning with a solo home run down the line. Blaine Brown worked a walk and Stone Lawless took him deep for a two-run opposite field homer. Frederick responded well in his next inning, retiring the side without allowing a run despite an error and walk to begin the frame.
Tuesday was my first chance to watch freshman pitchers RHP Ari Bethea and LHP Chandler Day. Day has a long and funky release, retiring the side after offering up a leadoff walk. Levi Clark took Bethea deep for a two-run homer.
It’s important to note that this was not a super formal scrimmage. Pitchers are on pitch counts, and each pitcher has designated innings to throw. That meant that Kuhns didn’t finish an inning due to hitting his pitch count. With that, it’s on to the stats.
More From RTI: Tennessee Baseball Fall Scrimmage Notes And Stats From Oct. 6
Orange 4, Grey 3
Orange
Hitting:
Jaxon Walker — 1/2, HR, RBI, K, R
Chris Newstrom — 0/1, BB
Tyler Myatt — 0/2, GIDP, K
Blaine Brown — 0/0, BB, R
Stone Lawless — 1/2, HR, 2 RBI, R
Henry Ford — 1/2, R
Hunter High — 0/2, K, SB
Finley Bates — 1/1, 2B, BB, RBI, CS
Ethan Moore — 0/2, K
Cash Williams — 0/2, K
Evan Hankins — 0/1, K
Taylor Tracey — 0/1
Pitching:
RHP Tegan Kuhns — 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1K
LHP Blaine Brown — 2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
RHP Aria Bethea — 1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
LHP Chandler Day — 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Grey
Hitting:
Reese Chapman — 0/2, 2K
Manny Marin — 1/1, BB
Jay Abernathy — 0/2
Ariel Antigua — 0/1, BB, SB, R
Levi Clark — 1/2, HR, 2 RBI, R
Blake Grimmer —0/2, K
Brennan Seigler — 1/2
Alex Bedford — 0/1, BB
Nathan Eisfelder — 1/2
Garrett Wright — 0/1, BB, K
Evan Hankins — 0/0, BB
Hutson Chance — 0/2, GIDP
Trent Grindlinger — 0/1
Pitching:
LHP Evan Blanco — 3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K
RHP Brady Frederik — 2 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 1 K
