Stone Lawless was hit in the face by an 89 mph pitch Sunday in the third inning of game three of the Vanderbilt series in Nashville.
The 3-1 pitch struck Lawless in the nose/eye area and he was down for several minutes before being assisted off the field by trainers.
UT shared during the game that Lawless was taken to a nearby hospital, and was “alert and coherent.”
After Tennessee’s 16-15 loss to get swept by Vanderbilt, Elander spoke on Lawless’ injury.
“No update yet,” Elander said on Lawless’ status. “It was a really scary deal and hope he’s okay. Got him right in that orbital socket. Again, scary, scary deal. Hope he’s okay.”
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Lawless started Sunday’s game as the DH after catching 26 innings in the first two games. Hunter High pinch ran for Lawless in the third, and Trent Grindlinger got every DH at-bat to follow.
As he has done in his past few performances, Grindlinger made the most of his opportunities. The freshman went 3-4 with a team-leading 5 RBI. Grindlinger had a pair of two-run singles and an RBI single in the ninth that was, at the time, a key insurance run.
Despite Grindlinger’s efforts, Tennessee suffered a 16-15 loss after Vanderbilt pinch-hitter Tommy Goodin walked it off with a grand slam.
Tennessee (18-10, 3-6 SEC) will look to bounce back after the sweep when it hosts Austin Peay Tuesday.
