Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello, winning pitcher Kirby Connell and center fielder Drew Gilbert reviewed the 1-seed Vols thrilling 12-7 comeback win over the 3-seed Campbell Fighting Camels in Game 4 of the Knoxville Regional.
Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello, winning pitcher Kirby Connell and center fielder Drew Gilbert reviewed the 1-seed Vols thrilling 12-7 comeback win over the 3-seed Campbell Fighting Camels in Game 4 of the Knoxville Regional.
Box Score (PDF) | Regional Central Page
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – No. 1 Tennessee broke the program record for single-season wins, securing their 55th victory of the year with a thrilling 12-7 triumph over Campbell in front of a raucous crowd on Saturday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
With the win, the Volunteers (55-7) advanced to Sunday’s regional final and will await the winner of Georgia Tech and Campbell, who will play an elimination game to kick off the action at 2 p.m.
Five UT players posted multi-hit efforts as the Orange and White cranked out 15 total hits on the night, including four home runs.
Drew Gilbert, Jorel Ortega and Cortland Lawson all homered and had three RBIs apiece to lead the offensive onslaught. Blake Burke also homered for the 14th time this season to tie the program’s single season record for home runs by a freshman.
Despite the impressive offensive numbers, it was the Fighting Camels that threw the first punch. The Big Orange had to battle back from a four-run deficit in the third inning, tying their largest comeback win of the season.
After getting runners in scoring position in the first and second innings but failing to capitalize, the Campbell (41-18) broke through in the third with four runs (two earned) on four hits and an error to take a 4-0 lead and chase Vols’ starter Chase Dollander from the game. Veteran lefty reliever Kirby Connell was able to strand the bases loaded with a fly out to left field to limit further damage.
Connell was nothing short of spectacular from that point forward, allowing just two runs on three hits in four innings of work while tossing a career-high 65 pitches en route to earning his fourth victory of the year.
Tennessee immediately answered the Camels’ four-spot with three runs of their own in the top of the fourth to cut the deficit to one. Gilbert got the rally started with a double to right field and raced home one batter later on a single by Trey Lipscomb to get UT on the board. Ortega continued his hot hitting with a no-doubt two-run homer over the porches in left field to bring the Vols within a run.
It was Gilbert who came up clutch once again for the Vols in the top of the fifth, blasting a mammoth three-run home run to give UT its first lead of the night. After falling behind 0-2 in the count, Gilbert hammered a hanging breaking ball over the videoboard for his 11th long ball of the year. UT added another run later in the inning on an infield single by Ortega to make it 7-4.
Campbell battled back to plate a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh with a Drake Pierson two-run homer to center field to pull back within one, but Burke quickly answered with a solo shot of his own in the top of the eighth to put the Big Orange up 8-6.
After another home run by Campbell in the bottom of the eighth to cut the deficit to one once again, the Vols got some much-needed insurance with four runs in the top of the ninth, punctuated by a three-run blast by Lawson.
With a win tomorrow, Tennessee would advance to its second consecutive NCAA Super Regional. First pitch for UT’s game against either Georgia Tech or Campbell is slated for 7:06 p.m.
VOLLIE FINGERS FOR THE WIN: Junior lefty reliever Kirby Connell improved his record to 4-0 on the year with Saturday’s win. Over his last 22 appearances, Connell has allowed just four runs and has not given up a run in 19 of those outings.
150 BOMBS: With Cortland Lawson’s three-run jack in the top of the ninth inning, the Vols reached the 150-homer mark for the season, which ranks sixth all-time in NCAA history. Tennessee has hit four-plus homers in each of their first two NCAA Regional games and has posted 17 games with four or more long balls this season.
BURKE TIES FRESHMAN HR RECORD: Blake Burke tied the program record for home runs by a freshman with his 14th dinger of the season. Burke pulled even with J.P. Arencibia (2005) and Alan Cockrell (1983).
RUSSELL ATOP GAMES PLAYED LIST: After entering the game in the bottom of the eighth as a defensive replacement, Evan Russell pulled even with former teammate Pete Derkay for the program record in games played (229).
-UT Athletics
Box Score (PDF) | Postgame Transcript
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Top-ranked Tennessee took care of business with a dominating 10-0 win over Alabama State in its regional opener in front of a sold-out crowd of 4,340 on Friday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
The Volunteers (54-7) got an all-around performance in the victory, recording their ninth shutout and holding the Hornets to just four hits while cranking out 15 knocks, including five home runs. Six different UT players finished the game with multiple hits, led by Luc Lipcius, who had a game-high three base knocks to go along with a run and an RBI.
Blade Tidwell was spectacular on the mound, tossing a career-best 7.2 shutout innings to get his third win of the season. The sophomore right hander gave up just three hits and had a season-high seven strikeouts, as well.
Jordan Beck hit two of Tennessee’s five long balls and had a game-high four RBIs on the night. Jorel Ortega also had a big night with a double, a homer and two RBIs. Drew Gilbert and Blake Burke hit UT’s other two home runs in the late innings.
After a scoreless first frame, back-to-back hits from Trey Lipscomb and Ortega to lead off the second opened the scoring for the Big Orange. Lipscomb found a hole on the right side of the infield and raced all the way home from first on a double in the gap from Ortega to give the Vols an early 1-0 lead.
Ortega struck again in the fourth to double the Tennessee lead, sending a solo blast high off the batter’s eye in center field. Seth Stephenson sparked things in the fifth inning to help extend the Vols’ lead to 3-0. The junior leadoff man singled to start the inning before stealing second base. Stephenson advanced to third on a hard-hit single by Lipcius and completed his trip around the bases on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Beck.
After scoring single runs in the second, fourth and fifth innings, UT busted the game open with a five-spot in the bottom of the sixth to make it an 8-0 game. Charlie Taylor drove in Burke with a perfectly executed safety squeeze bunt and Lipcius followed with an RBI single before back-to-back homers from Beck and Gilbert to cap the scoring.
The Big Orange added runs in the seventh and eighth innings to round out the scoring while the bullpen duo of Ben Joyce and Mark McLaughlin pitching 1.1 shutout frames to finish off the shutout and send UT to the winner’s bracket game against Campbell tomorrow night at 7 p.m.
54 AND COUNTING: Tennessee tied its single season record for wins with Friday night’s 10-0 victory, recording its 54th of the year. The only other UT team to reach the 54-win mark was the 1995 SEC Champions that finished 54-16 and made the program’s second trip to the College World Series.
BIG LEAGUE BLADE: Sophomore right hander Blade Tidwell posted his best start of the season to lead the Vols to win to open regional play. Tidwell tossed 7.2 shutout innings to set a new career high in that category. The Loretto, Tennessee, native also had a season-high seven strikeouts.
-UT Athletics
Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello, winning pitcher Blade Tidwell and catcher Charlie Taylor reviewed the 1-seed Vols 10-0 win over the 4-seed Alabama State Hornets in Game 2 of the Knoxville Regional.
Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello discusses the Vols headed into the NCAA Tournament.
Tennessee pitcher Chase Dollander discusses the Vols headed into the NCAA Tournament.
Tennessee catcher Evan Russell discusses the Vols headed into the NCAA Tournament.
Tennessee catcher Evan Russell discusses the Vols headed into the NCAA Tournament.
LANCO showed up for their concert tonight, June 3rd, at the Beacon Theatre in Hopewell, Virginia to discover there’s no power!
A tanker truck hit a utility two poles knocking out power to more than a thousand Dominion Energy customers – including the Beacon.
But don’t worried – they are switching to plan B.
The guys in LANCO are hoping the rest of their June tour dates are tanker truck incident free…
Power or no power LANCO is ready to perform their latest single at country radio, “Low Class Lovers” – which lead singer Brandon Lancaster describes as, “This song is about feeling out of place. A feeling that I’ve had more times than I can count, and a feeling that even as a band we encounter. But with that comes the realization that the thing that makes you feel out of place, is what makes you special. Where your pride comes from. Revel in it, embrace it, celebrate it, and go out and ‘light it up baby tonight.'”
Photo Courtesy of LANCO
