Four Quick Takes on a late rally over South Carolina
Tennessee’s bats woke up and came through in a monster way as the top-ranked Vols took down South Carolina 8-3 on Friday night, securing the series win in game two of the Southeastern Conference series. It’s also the ninth-straight series win for Tennessee. Here’s Four Quick Takes on the night from Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
Who Else?
Tennessee’s bats were super quiet Friday night, managing just three hits through one out in the bottom of the sixth inning. The Vols were down 3-0 and South Carolina’s Garrett Gainey had retired eight-straight. Then stepped in Christian Moore and of course he’s the one to finally generate some type of offense for the Big Orange.
On a 2-1 count, Moore sent a home run soaring over the right field wall. The blast travelled 418 feet and was scorched at 109 miles per hour off the bat. It was his third home run of the series – his third in 15 innings – his 27th of the season and 54th of his career. The second baseman continues to create breathing room with teammate Blake Burke, who is second to Moore in program career home runs with 45, and Sonny Cortez, who was tied with Moore for the single season program record of 25 home runs as late as Thursday.
The longball woke Tennessee up as Billy Amick and Dylan Dreiling followed with two out singles. They both came around to score on the three-run home run off the bat of Hunter Ensley – a knock that put Tennessee ahead for the first time in the ballgame at 4-3. Ensley’s eighth home run of the season travelled 395 feet over the left-center wall and was 103 miles per hour off the bat.
We Want Some More
For a team that couldn’t muster anything offensively for five innings surely woke up in a major way. Christian Moore’s blast in the sixth sparked the four-run inning, paving the way for two singles and a three-run home run from Hunter Ensley.The Vols were right back to work in the seventh with four more runs of their own, though it only came from one swing of the bat.
Cannon Peebles started the rally with a pinch-hit, one out walk. Cal Stark reached base via hit by pitch right behind him and then Moore was walked to load the bases. The bases were loaded in quick fashion thanks to three freebies. Blake Burke made them pay. With one swing of the bat, the ball travelled 448 feet over the right-center wall for a grand slam, bringing the score to an 8-3 favor of the home team.
It was the 16th home run of the season for Burke, who hadn’t homered since going yard on May 4 at Florida. It’s also the 11th grand slam of the season for Tennessee, which is a program record. The 11 grand slams is also a new Southeastern Conference record as the Vols were tied with LSU (1998) with 10 before the blast. The NCAA record is 14, so Tennessee is now tied for third all-time in the category.
It was also the second grand slam of the season for Burke, who joins Cal Stark as also launching two on the year for UT.
Beamer Ball
Tennessee’s veteran righty picked up two quick outs in the first before allowing a two out walk to reach first. Still, it would go for not as the righties third pickoff of the season caught the base runner dancing off first as Beam ended facing the minimum in the opening act. The defense (two errors) along with getting knocked around for three hits allowed three runs to score in the second inning. Midway through the second, Tennessee trailed by a trio of runs.
In the third, Beam was able to strand runners at the corners by inning’s end after Cole Messina singled with one out and Kennedy Jones reached on a throwing error from Dean Curley at shortstop. It was a much needed 1-2-3 frame in the fourth for the righty, the first of the day, and in the fifth the righty faced the minimum once again.
Beam’s day was done after 104 pitches (59 strikes) and sixth innings of three-run, five-hit baseball with four strikeouts and two walks. It wasn’t Cy Young worthy, but it was yet another quality start for the veteran who is a machine in that regard. The righty earned his eighth win of the year after working through six innings for the seventh time this year.
Poor Defense & Poor Beam leads to Poor 2nd Inning
It was an ugly inning all around for the Tennessee fielders in the top of the second as South Carolina took an early 3-0 lead on three hits while also while taking advantage of two costly Volunteer errors.
Cole Messina singled up the middle to kick things off. Parker Noland flied out to left for the first out but an error from Blake Burke at first base allowed Messina to move up 90 feet to second. The attempted pickoff at the bag might have been out if Burke had not tried to swipe at the runner prior to catching the ball. Kennedy Jones walked behind him and then Dalton Reeves reached on a fielder’s choice after a routine 4-6-3 double play was fumbled as Christian Moore missed the second base bag and the return throw to first was late.
Because of the two defensive miscues by the home team, the Gamecocks had the bases loaded with one out. They would cash in.
Talmadge LeCroy drilled a ball deep in the 5-6 hole on the left side of the infield. Shortstop Dean Curley made a great effort to stop the ball and keep it in front of him to save multiple runs from scoring. However, the base runner at third was able to score easily and it was a 1-0 ballgame. Gavin Cases followed with an RBI single to centerfield, scoring another runner easily with the bases still loaded. Austin Brinling then brought in the third run of the frame on a sacrifice fly to right-center, still with the bases loaded. If not for the incredible running grab from Hunter Ensley, multiple runs would have scored on the play.
Sure, Drew Beam wasn’t fantastic in the inning, but his defense led him down in a huge way. There was a likely pickoff at first base and a routine double play ball that was for not. Beam ended up allowing only one earned run in the frame. Regardless, Tennessee was in an early 3-0 hole.
The post Four Quick Takes on a late rally over South Carolina appeared first on On3.
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