Boxscore/Stats/Story: #4 Vols Fall to Top-Ranked Arkansas in SEC Tournament Final

Boxscore/Stats/Story: #4 Vols Fall to Top-Ranked Arkansas in SEC Tournament Final

Posted on May 30, 2021
Vols DH Pete Derkay / Credit: UT Athletics

HOOVER, Ala. – No. 4 Tennessee’s impressive run at the SEC Tournament fell just short as the Vols were defeated by No. 1 Arkansas, 7-2, in Sunday’s championship game at the Hoover Met.

The Razorbacks shook off a slow start to score all seven of their runs over the final five innings after falling behind 1-0 in the first.

Will Heflin got the start for UT and allowed just one hit through the first four innings before running into trouble in the fifth. The senior left hander finished with four strikeouts but allowed three runs on four hits and two walks in 4.2 innings of work.

Jake Rucker went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored while Drew Gilbert and Pete Derkay both drove in runs for the Big Orange.

Jalen Battles led the Razorbacks attack with a three-hit day while finishing with two RBI and a pair of runs scored.

Like they have for the past three days, the Vols opened the scoring in Sunday’s contest. Rucker recorded the game’s first hit with a two-out double down the right-field line before Gilbert drove him in with a single one batter later to give Tennessee an early 1-0 lead.

After recording just one hit over the first four innings, Arkansas took the lead with three runs in the top of the fifth. Cullen Smith walked to lead off the inning before three straight singles resulted in a pair of runs. A sacrifice fly plated the third run of the inning to give the Razorbacks a 3-1 lead.

Battles increased the Hogs’ lead to three with a solo home run in the top of the seventh, driving in his second run of the day. The junior shortstop ended up being named tournament MVP.

Derkay answered with a solo shot of his own in the bottom of the inning off of SEC Pitcher of the Year Kevin Kopps, narrowing the deficit back to two runs. It was the second homer of the tournament for the Georgia native and his fourth of the season.

Unfortunately, Tennessee was unable to keep Arkansas’ high-powered offense off the board in the eighth, as the Razorbacks struck for three more runs to increase their lead to five. The Vols were nearly out of the jam with just one run allowed, but Smith hit a two-run homer with two outs to make it 7-2 and essentially ice the game.

The Vols recorded singles in the eighth and ninth innings but were unable to get a significant rally started against Kopps, who got a flyout to end the game and earn his 10th save of the year.

Tennessee will now wait for its NCAA Tournament draw to be released. The 16 NCAA Regional host sites will be announced Sunday night at 8:30 p.m. ET on the NCAA College World Series social media platforms. The complete tournament bracket will be unveiled during the NCAA Selection Show, which will air live on ESPN2 at noon ET on Monday.

NOTABLE

WHAT A RUN: Despite falling in Sunday’s title game, the Vols had an incredible run in Hoover this week. Tennessee was able to battle back from an opening-game loss to advance to its first SEC Tournament championship game since 1995. The Vols’ three victories in this year’s tournament equaled the total amount of wins they had in their last six appearances combined.

FOUR VOLS NAMED TO ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM: Tennessee had four players earn a spot on the SEC All-Tournament team for their performances this week, marking the fourth time the Vols have had four or more players named to the all-tournament team and the first time since 1995. UT’s four selections were the most of any team with Florida coming in second with three.

Vols on 2021 SEC All-Tournament Team
P: Camden Sewell
C: Connor Pavolony
1B: Luc Lipcius
2B: Max Ferguson

Box Score (PDF) | SEC Tournament Stats (PDF) | SEC Tournament Notes (PDF)

-UT Athletics

Boxscore/Photos/Story: #4 Vols Shut Out #13 Gators to Advance to SEC Championship Game

Boxscore/Photos/Story: #4 Vols Shut Out #13 Gators to Advance to SEC Championship Game

Posted on May 29, 2021
Vols RHP Camden Sewell / Credit: UT Athletics

HOOVER, Ala. – No. 4 Tennessee will play in its first SEC Tournament Championship game since 1995 after shutting out No. 13 Florida, 4-0, on Saturday afternoon at the Hoover Met.

The trio of Camden Sewell, Redmond Walsh and Sean Hunley silenced a Gators’ lineup that scored 24 combined runs in their three tournament games leading up to Saturday.

Sewell turned in the best performance of his Tennessee career, allowing just two hits over six scoreless innings while setting a career high with six strikeouts to earn the win and improve to 4-0 on the year. Walsh and Hunley combined to pitch the final two innings to finish off UT’s second straight shutout.

Seven different players had a hit for Tennessee, led by a 2-for-3 performance by leadoff man Liam Spence, who also walked twice and scored a pair of runs. Evan Russell, Jordan Beck and Drew Gilbert each drove in a run for the Big Orange.

Russell drove in the game’s first run with a two-out single in the top of the third. With the bases loaded, the Lexington, Tennessee, native found a hole in the left side of the infield to score Spence from third and put the Vols ahead 1-0.

The Vols tacked on two more runs in the fourth to increase their lead to three. Luc Lipcius led off the inning with a walk and came around to score on an RBI double by Beck, who eventually scored on a wild pitch later in the inning to make it 3-0.

Tennessee added one more insurance run in the top of the seventh thanks to a clutch two-out RBI single from Gilbert to plate Spence from second.

The bullpen took it home from there, as Walsh and Hunley were able to strand three runners over the final three innings to keep the shutout intact and close out the game.

Florida, the No. 6 seed in the tournament, had just two hits entered the ninth inning. Saturday’s game marked the first time that the Gators had been shut out this year.

The Vols will play the winner of Saturday’s second semifinal between No. 1 seed Arkansas and No. 5 seed Ole Miss. First pitch for Sunday’s championship game is slated for 3 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

NOTABLE

VOLS TO THE SHIP: First time since 1995, Tennessee will play in the SEC Tournament championship game. This marks the first time in the tournament’s current format that the Vols have reached the final. UT won three consecutive tournament titles from 1993-95 when the eastern and western divisions had separate tournaments.

SUPER START FROM SEWELL: Junior right hander Camden Sewell had the best start of his Tennessee career on Saturday, tying a career high with six innings pitched while setting a new career best with six strikeouts. The Cleveland, Tennessee, native allowed just two hits and did not issue a single walk in his six shutout frames.

YOU GET NOTING AND LIKE IT: After recording just one shutout all year long, the Vols have posted back-to-back shutouts to advance to Sunday’s title game. Tennessee had recorded just two shutout wins during its entire SEC Tournament history prior to this week. Coincidentally enough, the last two shutouts prior to this week occurred in consecutive games during the 1995 tournament (8-0 vs. South Carolina & 11 vs. Georgia).

Box Score (PDF) | Photo Gallery

-UT Athletics

WATCH: UT 4-0 win over UF postgame – Tony Vitello, Camden Sewell and Liam Spence

WATCH: UT 4-0 win over UF postgame – Tony Vitello, Camden Sewell and Liam Spence

Posted on May 29, 2021

Tennessee baseball head coach Tony Vitello, junior right handed pitcher Camden Sewell and senior shortstop Liam Spence spoke to the media in the postgame after the Vols defeated the Florida Gators 4-0 to advance to the SEC Tournament Championship Game Sunday at 3pm ET. You can hear that game starting at 2:45pm ET on 99.1 and AM 990.

Vols RHP Camden Sewell / Credit: UT Athletics
WATCH: Vitello, Tidwell, and Russell Alabama postgame

WATCH: Vitello, Tidwell, and Russell Alabama postgame

Posted on May 28, 2021

Tennessee Baseball head coach Tony Vitello, starting RHP Blade Tidwell, and OF Evan Russell spoke to the media in the postgame press conference after the 11-0 run rule win over Alabama in the SEC Tournament in Hoover Friday afternoon.

Vols OF Evan Russell / Credit: SEC Media Portal
Boxscore/Photos/Story: #4 Vols Roll Over Tide to Advance to SEC Tournament Semifinals

Boxscore/Photos/Story: #4 Vols Roll Over Tide to Advance to SEC Tournament Semifinals

Posted on May 28, 2021
Vols RHP Blade Tidwell / Credit: UT Athletics

HOOVER, Ala. – No. 4 Tennessee exacted some revenge with Friday’s 11-0 shutout win over Alabama and secured a spot in the SEC Tournament semifinals for the first time since 1995.

The second-seeded Vols posted their second straight run-rule victory, rolling over the Tide in seven innings. Freshman right hander Blade Tidwell threw six shutout frames while the bats exploded for 11 runs on 11 hits, including four home runs.

Luc Lipcius, Evan Russell, Liam Spence and Max Ferguson all went yard for the Big Orange in the win, marking the fifth time this season that UT has hit four or more homers in a game.

Tidwell continued his string of dominant performances on the mound, allowing just two hits while striking out five to earn the win and improve to 8-3 on the year. The Loretto, Tennessee, native’s eight victories are the fourth most by a freshman in program history.

The Vols got the scoring started with a Big Orange blast by Lipcius in the second inning. After Russell led off with a single, Lipcius destroyed a 2-2 pitch for his 12th homer of the year to put UT ahead 2-0.

Tennessee took a commanding lead with five more runs in the third inning. Ferguson, Drew Gilbert, Lipcius, Jordan Beck and Pete Derkay all drove in runs in the frame to put the Vols up 7-0.

Russell increased UT’s lead once again with a two-run home run in the fourth, his 13th blast of the season. It was the third hit of the day for Lexington, Tennessee native, who also scored three runs and finished a triple short of the cycle.

The Vols capped the scoring with back-to-back homers by Spence and Ferguson to lead off the sixth inning, extending the lead to 11 and bringing the run-rule into play.

Kirby Connell retired the side in order in the bottom of the seventh to end the game and secure a spot in Saturday’s semifinal.

Tennessee (44-15) will take on No. 6 seed Florida tomorrow at 1 p.m. ET for a spot in the SEC Tournament Championship game.

NOTABLE

ON TO THE SEMIS : First time since 1995, Tennessee will play in the SEC Tournament semifinals. This will mark the first time in the tournament’s current format that the Vols have reached the semifinals.

DERKAY TAKES OVER GAMES PLAYED RECORD: Vols senior Pete Derkay moved into first place in program history in career games played on Friday. The Acworth, Georgia, native has now appeared in 220 games during his Tennessee career, surpassing Michael Rivera who played in 219 games from 2003-06. Derkay had a hit and an RBI in Thursday’s win.

DIALING LONG DISTANCE: UT set a new single-game program record for homers in an SEC Tournament game with four on Thursday. The previous high was three against Vanderbilt on May 22, 1994. Tennessee has now hit four or more homers five times this year and has hit 81 long balls this season, which is tied for the third most in a single season in program history.

Tennessee Single Season HR Totals
1. 107 (1998)
2. 87 (2009)
3. 81 (2021 & 2010)

Box Score (PDF) | Photo Gallery

-UT Athletics

Chase Rice Added Up 1, 2 & 3 to Get The Album – Which is Available Now

Chase Rice Added Up 1, 2 & 3 to Get The Album – Which is Available Now

Posted on May 28, 2021

Chase Rice‘s The Album is available now!

Chase released Part 1 of The Album – which contained 7 songs – in January of 2020.

Part 2 – and its 4 songs was released after that, and then finally Part 3 with its 4 tracks — including Chase’s current single at country radio, “Drinkin’ Beer. Talkin’ God. Amen” with Florida Georgia Line, followed.

Chase shared why this project came out in stages, “I grew up like so many people did, listening to new CDs from start to finish in my truck for weeks at a time. That’s not the way music is consumed anymore with playlisting and streaming, so I wanted to give all of these songs their own moment. It’s been really cool to see people connect with songs off Part I and Part II that they might not have discovered if we had released all 15 songs at once.”

Chase adds “It’s crazy to look back now and see the journey this album has taken us on throughout writing and recording it. We shared so many of these songs with the fans as they were being written and got their input along the way – so it’s their journey that lives in these, too. I think this new music will always mean a bit more to me since it has carried us all through some strange and uncertain times.”

Now all 3 collections of songs are together as one. Chase explains the final version of this music, “I chose to call this The Album because it’s the first thing I would encourage someone to listen to if they want to know who I am as an artist. My career has been such a rollercoaster journey, but it’s all led to this moment and these songs. So much of what I’ve learned, so much of what I’ve fought through – it’s all reflected in this music.”

The Album Track List:
produced by Chris DeStefano & Chase Rice unless otherwise noted

  1. “American Nights” (Kevin Griffin, Martin Johnson, Francois Tetaz; produced by Martin Johnson)
  2. “Lonely If You Are” (Chase Rice, Lindsay Rimes, Hunter Phelps)
  3. “Everywhere” (Chase Rice, Zachary Kale, James McNair; produced by Zachary Kale)
  4. “Best Night Ever” (Chase Rice, Chris DeStefano, Matt Jenkins)
  5. “Messy” (Seth Ennis, Kylie Sackley)
  6. “In The Car” (Chase Rice, Jesse Rice, Hunter Phelps, Mark Holman)
  7. “Forever To Go” (Jordan Minton, Casey Brown, Geoffrey Warburton; produced by Casey Brown)
  8. “You” (Chase Rice, Jon Nite, Zach Kale)
  9. “Break. Up. Drunk.” (Chase Rice, Hunter Phelps, Jordan Schmidt)
  10. “Down Home Runs Deep” (Daniel Ross, Michael Hardy, Mike Walker, James McNair)
  11. “Belong” (Chase Rice, Chris DeStefano, Jon Nite)
  12. “The Nights” (Chase Rice, Zach Kale, James McNair; produced by Zach Kale)
  13. “Bedroom” (Chase Rice, Jon Nite, Jimmy Robbins; produced by Corey Crowder)
  14. “If I Didn’t Have You” (Chase Rice, Channing Wilson, Jonathan Singleton; produced by Jimmy Robbins & Jonathan Singleton)
  15. “Drinkin’ Beer. Talkin’ God. Amen.” featuring Florida Georgia Line (Chase Rice, Hunter Phelps, Cale Dodds, Corey Crowder; produced by Chase Rice, Florida Georgia Line & Corey Crowder)

Talking about “Drinkin’ Beer. Talkin’ God. Amen” Chase says that its a perfect description of his life…and he’s pretty sure a lot of other people’s lives too, over the past year, “Personally, this song is so special because it’s been a huge, huge part of my life this year – sitting around a fire, sitting on a rocking chair, sitting around with friends around a dinner table- whatever it is, I’ve done that more this year than I’ve ever done in my entire life I think. So it’s a very, very true song for what this year’s been for me and I think a lot of other people can relate.”

Check out the music video for “Drinkin’ Beer. Talkin’ God. Amen” – one of the 15 tracks from Chase Rice’s brand new project called The Album – which is available now!

Photo Credit: Kaiser Cunningham

Ashley McBryde’s EP, Never Will: Live From A Distance – Available Now!

Ashley McBryde’s EP, Never Will: Live From A Distance – Available Now!

Posted on May 28, 2021

Without being able to give fans a “live” music experience of the songs from her Never Will album yet due to the quarantine and shutdown, Ashley McBryde is releasing an EP, Never Will: Live From A Distance.

It’s 6 tracks that were recorded in the same way as they would sound at a concert.

Ashley says “We released Never Will on April 3 last year, so we went straight from rehearsals for a tour to not seeing each other in person for months.” Ashley adds, “Getting together to rehearse and record these live versions safely was our way of giving the fans a taste of what they would have seen had the world not changed so much. Man did it feel good to strap on the guitar and see my guys and just play, but we cannot wait to do it again with our incredible fans in person soon.”

That “soon” will be starting in July – that’s when her This Town Talks tour kicks off!

Until Ashley heads their way on tour, fans can listen to the Never Will: Live From A Distance EP to hold them over.

The Never Will: Live From A Distance EP track list includes…
  1. “First Thing I Reach For”
  2. “Shut Up Sheila”
  3. “Velvet Red”
  4. “Voodoo Doll”
  5. “Martha Divine”
  6. “Sparrow”

Ironically, Never Will: Live From A Distance does not contain the title track “Never Will” – but it does have the song “Red Velvet” on it. Which before she made the change, Ashley shares that nearly became the title of her sophomore project, “We almost called it Velvet Red, because that would make sense, because it’s two words that make you see something visually, in your brain.” 

But after looking over the collection of music that was to be on the album, and what Ashley wanted to convey, “Red Velvet” just didn’t fit. Ashley explains, “We looked at the overall message of the record…and we’re telling Shelia to shut up, we’re telling Martha Divine that she’s a no good tramp, and we’re telling each other as a band, and to our fans, that when it comes to the background noise, and reading the comments…we don’t. And we’ll try to never do that. Then we promised each other, that’d we never will. So, the more I listened to the record, the more the overall message of the record was…it’s OK to be yourself, and if somebody doesn’t like it – tell them to look the other way. So, Never Will was obviously the title.”

From her new EP, Never Will: Live From A Distance, this is Ashley McBryde performing her current single at country radio, “Martha Divine.”

Photos Credit: Daniel Meigs

A Day In The Country – May 28th – Keith Urban, Eric Church, Little Big Town, Brad Paisley & Phil Vassar

A Day In The Country – May 28th – Keith Urban, Eric Church, Little Big Town, Brad Paisley & Phil Vassar

Posted on May 28, 2021

This is A Day in the Country with Paul Koffy – May 28th

On this day in 2015 Keith Urban and Eric Church were at number-one with “Raise ‘Em Up”

In 2012 Little Big Town debuted the video for “Pontoon”

On this day in 1999, Brad Paisley made his Opry debut – in the years since Brad is one of the biggest advocates for Country Music’s most famous stage. This is Brad & Carrie Underwood on the Opry last year singing his number-one song “Whiskey Lullaby”

And a very happy birthday to Phil Vassar…

Photo Courtesy of Phil Vassar

Jordan Davis is On a Mission To Bring His Dirt On the Road

Jordan Davis is On a Mission To Bring His Dirt On the Road

Posted on May 28, 2021

Jordan Davis just released his brand new EP, Buy Dirt, and now he’s heading out to give fans a chance to hear it live and in person with his Buy Dirt tour.

While Jordan is looking forward to bringing his new music to fans, he admits that his upcoming Buy Dirt tour has a bigger purpose.

Jordan shared that he has a special connection to the Nashville music club the Exit/In – where he held his livestream event this week “The Exit/In is where I played my first Nashville full band show, this place is super special and super woven into the Nashville music scene.”

So, when it comes to his tour, Jordan wanted to help out clubs like the Exit/In all the country – he says, “COVID hurt a lot of these small music venues and I wanted to help bring shows back and get us back on the road.”

Jordan added, “Can’t tell y’all how pumped I am to be posting this…Buy Dirt Tour this fall with Seaforth and MacKenzie Porter… Head to jordandavisofficial.com
to join The Parish for access to pre-sale tickets. General on sale Friday 6/4 at 10am local.”

Fans got a taste of what Jordan Davis’ new music would sound like live this week during his Buy Dirt livestream event – if you missed it, you can catch it here…

Photo Courtesy of UMG Nashville

Country News

Weather

  • Forecast
  • Currents
  • Planner