
Tennessee baseball is coming off its most disappointing and certainly heartbreaking weekend of the season when Vanderbilt swept the Vols in a three-game series in Nashville.
All four of Tennessee games last week ended in walk-offs. After Bo Rhudy blew a save in the ninth inning against USC Upstate on Tuesday, Blake Grimmer was the hero in the bottom of the ninth inning by hitting a walk off homer.
But Tennessee was on the wrong side of heartbreak over the weekend at Vanderbilt with the Commodores sweeping the three-game series with three walk off victories. On Friday night, Vanderbilt used a single in the 10th inning to earn a 3-2 victory.
Saturday’s game was the longest in Tennessee history, going 16 innings before a bases loaded walk-off bunt clinched the series for the Commodores. The Vols inability to capitalize on scoring chances in the 14th and 15th innings proved costly as Tennessee scored all five runs in the sixth inning in its 6-5 loss.
But the biggest heartbreak came in Sunday’s series finale when Tennessee led 15-10 entering the ninth inning. The Vols recorded just one out before pinch hitter Tommy Gooden hit a walk-off grad slam to win 16-15.
The Vols’ offense struggled badly in the first two games before exploding in the series finale as Vanderbilt ran low on pitching. Of course, that is when Tennessee’s pitching struggled and was unable to get the Vols to the finish line.
Tennessee baseball fell out of all the major rankings following the series sweep and look to get back on track on Tuesday night against Austin Peay and then later in the week against LSU.
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D1Baseball
- This week: Not ranked
- Last week: No. 21
Baseball America
- This week: Not ranked
- Last week: No. 20
USA Today Coaches Poll
- This week: Not ranked
- Last week: No. 21
Perfect Game
- This week: Not ranked
- Last week: No. 21
NCBWA
- This week: Not ranked
- Last week: No. 23

