Tennessee is one game away, but Evansville won’t make it easy
Tennessee baseball is just one win away from punching its ticket back to Omaha for the College World Series for the seventh time in program history and the third time in the past four years.
All that is standing in the way is a feisty Purple Aces club that surely won’t go down without a fight during Saturday’s elimination game.
“Their at-bats were going to be tough and [Kenton] Deverman was going to give us a tough look,” Tennessee coach Tony Vitello said following Friday’s 11-6 win over Evansville. “We thought with the game on the line, they would go to their guy, [Shane] Harris and our guys did an outstanding job in a bunch of situations just showing some toughness.”
UE tallied nine hits – the same amount as Tennessee – and took an early lead in the ballgame. Once Tennessee leapfrogged them in the third, the Aces tied things up once again in the fifth. Even trialing by five runs, the tying run was standing in the on-deck circle in the ninth inning for the visitors.
“Yeah, one through nine, they’re pretty good. They got guys that can leave the yard at any time, but you know, it’s a lot of guys that are gonna go up there and compete,” reliver Kirby Connell said of the Aces lineup. “Threw a lot of pitches – threw almost everything I had. Threw the kitchen sink at one dude and he ended up taking it for ball four. But for me it was just, throw it over the white deal down there like Coach (Frank Anderson) says and kind of let the defense play behind me.”
Three players tallied multi-hit days for the underdogs while designated hitter Kip Fougerousse and second baseman Cal McGinnis each drove in two runs apiece. The team worked four walks on to the base paths and had runners in scoring position ready to strike in several innings that ended in frustration. Point being, Evansville is aggressive and doesn’t quit.
“We knew exactly what we’re getting. I kind of think the players did too,” Vitello continued. “I think anybody that was wearing white today or wearing our uniform knew it was going to be hell. It’ll be like that tomorrow. And if it comes down to kind of like a lot of SEC series do where it’s 1-1 on Sunday, then it’ll be that too.”
The Purple Aces, who will serve as the ‘home’ team in Saturday’s contest, will send senior lefty Donavon Schultz to the mound. He’s got plenty of experience and has made all 16 weekend starts this year. Schultz owns a 6-2 record with a 5.84 ERA. He’s stuck out 72 batters and has walked 32 over 89.1 innings pitched.
Tennessee has its veteran leader in Drew Beam who will make the start. The righty is 8-2 on the season with a 4.16 ERA and has two years of experience pitching in big-time postseason games.
“Everybody knows when you’re in a series it’s a race to two wins,” the skipper concluded. “But really when you’re in a game, it’s a race to 27 outs so you’ll take them any way you can get them.”
The post Tennessee is one game away, but Evansville won’t make it easy appeared first on On3.
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