#4 LADY VOLS EVEN SERIES AT #16 MISSISSIPPI STATE WITH 6-1 VICTORY SATURDAY
Courtesy / UT Athletics

#4 LADY VOLS EVEN SERIES AT #16 MISSISSIPPI STATE WITH 6-1 VICTORY SATURDAY

Posted on April 14, 2024

Game Recap: Softball | April 13, 2024

STARKVILLE, Miss. – The fourth-ranked Lady Vols evened their series against No. 16 Mississippi State on Saturday at Nusz Park, knocking off the Bulldogs 6-1.

Tennessee (31-7, 11-3 SEC) got strong pitching in the circle from graduate Payton Gottshall and strung 11 hits together throughout the game.

Gottshall tossed a complete game, scattering three hits and allowing one run with no walks and seven punchouts. The right-hander was in control all day as she recorded four 1-2-3 innings en route to her 14th victory of the season.

Sophia Nugent and McKenna Gibson supplied the power for the Lady Vols, as each player hit a two-run home run – Nugent in the first inning and Gibson in the seventh. Gibson finished the day 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBIs.

Nugent was 1-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored.

Graduate Kiki Milloy found her groove again, going 3-for-4 with a pair of runs, while Rylie West and Taylor Pannell both finished with two hits on Saturday.

The Lady Vols plated three runs in the first inning as West knocked an RBI double off the wall to score Gibson before Nugent belted her eighth home run of the season with the following at-bat.

Mississippi State (29-11, 9-8 SEC) broke through on the scoreboard in the fourth as Jessie Blaine hit a solo home run to draw within two runs.

Tennessee immediately responded with a run in the fifth as senior Zaida Puni pulled an RBI single through the left side of the infield.

Gibson’s two-run home run in the seventh punctuated the Lady Vols’ win.

Josey Marron got the start for the Bulldogs in the circle, allowing six runs – five earned – on 10 hits. She walked two and notched six strikeouts as she suffered the loss – her sixth this season.

Marron faced two batters in the seventh before being lifted for Delainey Everett. She finished out the frame, giving up just one hit. 

UP NEXT
Tennessee and Mississippi State close out the three-game series on Sunday with a rubber-match first pitch time set for 1 p.m. ET.

Beam Wills #4 Vols to 3-1 Win Over 25 LSU to Secure Series
Courtesy / UT Athletics

Beam Wills #4 Vols to 3-1 Win Over 25 LSU to Secure Series

Posted on April 14, 2024

Game Recap: Baseball | April 13, 2024

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – No. 4/4 Tennessee recorded its seventh straight victory against LSU in Knoxville with a hard-fought 3-1 win on Saturday in front of a record crowd of 6,155 at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

Junior pitcher Drew Beam gave the Vols another quality start and earned the win to improve to 5-1 on the year. The junior righthander had five strikeouts and scattered eight hits but was able to work out of trouble on numerous occasions, giving up just one unearned run in 6.2 innings of work.

With runners on second and third with no outs and the Tigers having already plated a run to take a 1-0 lead in the second inning, Beam buckled down and struck out the next two batters before getting a groundout to escape the jam and limit the damage, giving the Big Orange some important momentum.

LSU starter Luke Holman put forth a great performance of his own, carrying a no-hitter into the sixth inning before a one-out single by Blake Burke started a rally for the Vols.

Billy Amick followed with a double to left field to put two runners in scoring position before Dylan Dreiling came through with the biggest hit of the night, a two-run single into right-center field on the first pitch he saw from reliever Griffin Herring, to put UT ahead 2-1.

Holman was stuck with the loss despite allowing just two hits in 5.2 innings of work, falling to 6-2 on the year.

Tennessee (29-6, 9-5 SEC) added an extra insurance run in the bottom of the eighth on an Amick opposite field home run off the videoboard, his second long ball of the weekend.

Nate Snead locked down the win with his third save of the year, tossing two shutout frames to cap the night, striking out three and allowing just one hit while lighting up the radar gun.

The Tigers (22-14, 3-11 SEC) outhit the Vols, 9-5, but were limited to just one extra-base hit, a leadoff double by Michael Braswell III in the second inning.

STAT OF THE GAME: Saturday’s attendance of 6,155 was the first in program history over 6,000. Tennessee’s single-game attendance record of 5,086 coming into this season has already been broken 13 times this year.

UP NEXT: The Vols will play for their first SEC series sweep of the season on Sunday afternoon. First pitch for the series finale is slated for 3 p.m. on the SEC Network.

Amick Homers in Return as #4 Vols Take Opener vs. #25 LSU
Courtesy / UT Athletics

Amick Homers in Return as #4 Vols Take Opener vs. #25 LSU

Posted on April 13, 2024

Game Recap: Baseball | April 12, 2024

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – A strong relief outing from AJ Causey and a pair big home runs by Billy Amick and Dylan Dreiling led No. 4/4 Tennessee to a 6-3 series-opening victory over No. 25/NR LSU on Friday night in front of a record crowd of 5,901 at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

In his return to the lineup after missing the last eight games with an appendix issue, Amick wasted no time putting the Vols ahead with a two-run homer into the left-field porches on the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the first inning.

Graduate lefty Chris Stamos earned his first start for the Big Orange and got the Vols off to a good start on the mound with 2.2 innings of two-hit ball, striking out three and allowing just one run before handing the ball off to Causey in the top of the third.

The Jacksonville State transfer stranded the bases loaded in that third inning by getting Mac Bingham to strikeout to preserve UT’s one-run lead. Causey was dialed in from there, tossing 4.2 shutout innings with seven strikeouts to earn the win and improve to 6-2 on the year.

Kirby Connell took over for Causey in the eighth, inheriting the bases-loaded and just one out, but got a strikeout and a fly out in consecutive at-bats to get the Vols out of the jam unscathed.

Despite running into a little bit of trouble in the ninth, Connell was able to finish the game off and earn his second save of the year.

A three-run fifth inning proved to be big for the Vols (28-6. 8-5 SEC), as they were able to take advantage of two LSU errors before Dreiling hit his 13th home run of the season to put an exclamation point on the inning and extend Tennessee’s lead to 6-1 heading into the sixth.

Christian Moore and Blake Burke both had two hits apiece and combined to score three runs at the top of the order. With his pair of singles, Burke extended his hitting streak to 24 straight games, which is now tied for the third longest in program history and three shy of tying Condredge Holloway’s program-record 27-game hit streak.

Tigers’ starter Gage Jump allowed five earned runs on five hits and four walks in four innings to suffer his first loss of the year. Tommy White led the LSU (22-13, 3-10 SEC) offense with three hits and a pair of RBIs.

STAT OF THE GAME: With his relief outing on Friday night, Connell surpassed former teammate and Vol reliever Redmond Walsh for the most appearances in UT history with 105.

UP NEXT: The Vols and Tigers square off in game two of the series on Saturday evening at 5:30 p.m. on the SEC Network.

#4 Tennessee Falls 9-1 Friday Night in Starkville
Courtesy / UT Athletics

#4 Tennessee Falls 9-1 Friday Night in Starkville

Posted on April 13, 2024

STARKVILLE, Miss. – The fourth-ranked Lady Vols fell 9-1 Friday night at Nusz Park to No. 16 Mississippi State in five innings.
 
MSU (29-10, 9-7 SEC) strung back-to-back three-run innings together in the second and third en route to the series-opening win.
 
State scored once in the first and one run in the fourth before adding a final run in the fifth.
 
Tennessee (30-7, 10-3 SEC) opened the game with a run in the first. Graduate Kiki Milloy returned to the lineup after missing all three games last weekend and drew a leadoff walk to open the first frame.
 
After two groundouts advanced Milloy to third, senior Rylie West knocked a single through the left side of the infield to plate Milloy.
 
Aspen Wesley held Tennessee’s bats in check throughout the night, scattering two hits over seven innings of work. The right-hander tossed a complete game with four walks and four strikeouts. Wesley is 11-3 on the year.
 
The Lady Vols started Karlyn Pickens in the circle. She tossed two innings, allowing five runs – four earned – on five hits, a walk and three strikeouts. Pickens suffered the loss – her fourth of the season.
 
Charli Orsini replaced Pickens in the third – allowing two runs – one earned – on two hits. Orsini was lifted to start the fourth inning for Ryleigh White.
 
White finished the game, giving up two runs – one earned – on two hits. The senior walked a pair of batters.
 
UP NEXT
Tennessee and Mississippi State are back for game two of the series on Saturday with a first pitch time of 3:30 p.m. ET. Saturday is All for Alex Day with teams around the SEC wearing teal in remembrance of Alex Wilcox.

Knox County Schools will be Implementing a Realignment Plan which Could Send some Staff to Other Schools

Knox County Schools will be Implementing a Realignment Plan which Could Send some Staff to Other Schools

Posted on April 12, 2024

Knox County Schools is implementing a realignment plan that could affect full-time teacher and staff positions across the school district.

Officials say no one will be out of work and that the budget process has affected those teacher and staff jobs, causing changes.

They say Knox County is growing and the population is shifting so the realignment is to match our resources to student enrollment. KCS’s talent team is working with any of the employees affected by the realignment and say they may be serving a different school community but there will be a spot in KCS.

The district is still early in the realignment process and retirements and resignations could alleviate a lot of the realignment’s goals.

Letter from KCS to employees regarding realignment (courtesy of WVLT)

Knoxville Police are Investigating a Fatal Crash on I-75 in Knox County
TDOT Smartway camera

Knoxville Police are Investigating a Fatal Crash on I-75 in Knox County

Posted on April 11, 2024

Knoxville Police Department crash reconstruction personnel are investigating a fatal crash that happened early Thursday morning in north Knoxville.

At around 5:15 a.m. on Thursday, April 11, 2024, KPD officers responded to the ramp from I-640 West to I-75 North in regards to a multi-vehicle crash.

Based on the preliminary investigation at the scene, it is believed that a sedan was traveling from I-640 on to I-75 North when it collided with the rear end of a tractor-trailer. The semi-truck was parked on the right shoulder of I-75 North out of the traffic lanes.

The driver of the sedan was pronounced dead at the scene. The identity is being withheld, pending notification of next of kin.

The investigation into the crash is ongoing at this time.

Morristown Officials say a Road that’s been closed due to a fire that destroyed a historic building has re-opened

Morristown Officials say a Road that’s been closed due to a fire that destroyed a historic building has re-opened

Posted on April 11, 2024

The City of Morristown says traffic in front of the Parks-Belk Building has reopened to the public.

The intersection of S. Cumberland Street and Main Street has been closed since the building was intentionally set on fire in January.

A Firefighter was injured in that fire and a man arrested and charged with arson, reckless endangerment, burglary and vandalism. He had reportedly planned to burn more buildings, with investigators finding fire-starting equipment stashed in buildings downtown.

Knoxville Police say Four People have been Indicted in Connection to a Murder at a Home on Gilbert Lane
Photo courtesy of KPD

Knoxville Police say Four People have been Indicted in Connection to a Murder at a Home on Gilbert Lane

Posted on April 11, 2024

The Knoxville Police Department and Chief Paul Noel announced during a news briefing on Wednesday afternoon that four individuals have been indicted in connection to the April 5th murder of 22-year-old Danishka Sibaja-Mejia and wounding of a 23-year-old man and woman at a home on Gilbert Lane.

Following a Grand Jury presentment on Wednesday morning, the following individuals were indicted:

Latawyne Osborne, 39 of Knoxville

Marquis Ellis, 20 of Knoxville

Edward Wilson, 31 of Knoxville

Angela Greenberg, 59 of Knoxville

Osborne, Ellis and Wilson were indicted for numerous charges, including felony murder, first-degree murder, aggravated burglary, attempted first-degree murder and especially aggravated kidnapping.

Greenberg, who is Osborne’s mother, was indicted for tampering with evidence and accessory after the fact.

All four of those individuals are in custody.

Several hours prior to the events on Gilbert Lane, Danishka reported to KPD Special Crimes Unit detectives that she was the victim of a sexual assault, naming Osborne as the suspect in that assault.  

After Osborne was released from the hospital on Friday morning, where he had arrived to be treated for a gunshot wound, he was questioned by Homicide Unit detectives regarding both the alleged sexual assault and Danishka’s death.

He was charged on April 5th for the rape, which allegedly occurred sometime between April 1-2. Osborne has been in custody since April 5th.

Continued investigation over the past 72 hours and beyond led Homicide Unit detectives to identify the other involved individuals who were indicted today, alongside of Osborne.

Edward Wilson has been in custody since Monday afternoon, when he was taken into custody by Organized Crime Unit detectives for a warrant out of Blount County for failure to appear.

Marquis Ellis has been in custody since yesterday afternoon, when he was taken into custody by Community Engagement Response Team officers for violation of probation.

Angela Greenberg was taken into custody earlier this afternoon by KPD officers.

The investigation into the murder remains ongoing.

Country News

Weather

  • Forecast
  • Currents
  • Planner