Tennessee takes the series rubber match behind Blade Tidwell’s best outing in a month and a seventh run sixth inning.
Kentucky 2 4 1
Tennessee 11 15 1
W — Blade Tidwell, L — Zack Lee, S — Redmond Walsh
Notes
Blade Tidwell gave Tennessee his best outing in some time, going 5.1 innings and giving up just two runs, one earned run and four hits while striking out five. The only real complaint about Tidwell was his command as he was inconsistent and surrendered three walks. Still, it was his best start since the LSU series as he got Tennessee into the middle innings with the lead.
At the plate, Tennessee bounced back from a poor outing on Friday with a strong performance, especially from the top of the lineup. Spence reached base four times, Ferguson reached base three times and Rucker and Gilbert each reached base two times. Credit to Rucker who went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts Friday. He had two RBI hits including the grand slam that broke things open in the sixth inning.
Jordan Beck continued his strong weekend with a great day at the plate. Beck went 4-for-5 with a RBI double and hit the ball really hard. He ends the weekend with his best SEC series to date, hitting 7-for-13 with three extra base hits, four RBIs and a homer. The sophomore right fielder had just nine hits in his previous nine games. Max Ferguson had a nice weekend too, going 4-for-11 with four walks. If those guys get going watch out for this offense.
Redmond Walsh can easily get overlooked since Tennessee blew the game open after his first 0.2 innings, but the senior was great coming into the game for Tidwell. He would have stranded the inherited runner at third if it weren’t for a Ferguson error. The lefty ended the game with 3.2 innings pitched, allowing zero runs and no base runners while striking out five. They have all been in more low leverage spots but since the series opener against Vanderbilt Walsh has allowed just one run in 7.2 innings in SEC play. Will be interesting to see if his role expands going forward.
Today’s win puts Tennessee at 14-7 seven weeks into SEC play. The 14 wins matches Tennessee’s conference total in 2019 when the Vols returned to a regional for the first time since 2005.
Vols are off in the midweek due to finals but will return to action Friday as they open a three game series at Missouri.
Quotes
Tony Vitello on Jake Rucker bouncing back from a four strikeout game
“It was like he wasn’t seeing the ball. Some of those at-bats were crazy. I think he swung with one arm one time. … I thought the at-bats were more than anything more true to himself. I think overall he did a great job of doing what the team needed to do last night and that’s hit the reset button and go 1-0 today.”
Vitello on Redmond Walsh’s improvements his last few times out
“A little bit of it is mentality. He was that guy thinking he needed to do more. He’s cruising along and it’s like ‘I’m very good so I’m going to try and be super good’ instead of just being himself. Along with that came a physical adjustment. In trying to do too much he starts messing the ball and doing a bunch of different things and it affected how he was throwing the ball overall to keep the answer a little short. There was a physical adjustment made over the last few weeks and he’s back to being himself and that’s all he needs to be.”
Vitello on Pavolony’s status going forward
“He’s had that little splint on and he’s been a great guy in the dugout over the course of the weekend. I’d be remiss if I didn’t say Jackson Greer caught his butt off and was tremendous at the plate so all things are looking good for the Vols, but we really won’t know an answer until the middle of the week. They’re going to leave that thing alone and then get back over there with the doctors and re assess before we get on a flight to Missouri. I’d expect him to be able to do something. He’s at least going with us. He was not on the active list this weekend but he’ll be there and he’ll be on the active list. I would sense that he will contribute in some form or fashion. I don’t think we’ll pinch run him, I can promise you that but I think he’ll be ready to help us at sometime soon.”
Jordan Beck on any adjustments he’s made the last few weeks
“I think for me if I swing at strikes I’m usually pretty good and if I’m chasing pitches down in the zone or up in the zone I put myself in a hole and if I’m doing that in a 0-0 count or something like that— it’s hard to hit with two strikes in this league.”
Redmond Walsh on the benefit of him coming in after a hard throwing righty
“I was actually thinking about that the other day. I think I play really well off of people like (Andrew) Schultz and Tiddy (Tidwell). Being able to manipulate speeds a little more it’s definitely something that I enjoy doing. I think it helps me out in the long run.”
Walsh on some of his mechanic changes this season
“I think I was trying not to be who I was. I was trying to add a cutter to attack lefties with. It was causing me to cut the ball on my changeup and that’s who I’ve always been— I’ve been a fastball, changeup guy, flip in a couple curves. When I started developing the cutter it started hindering my changeup so over the last couple weeks I’ve taken away the cutter and the changeup is slowly started to come back and I’ve kind of gotten back to who I was two years ago.”
Kentucky 2 4 1
Tennessee 11 15 1
W — Blade Tidwell, L — Zack Lee, S — Redmond Walsh
Notes
Blade Tidwell gave Tennessee his best outing in some time, going 5.1 innings and giving up just two runs, one earned run and four hits while striking out five. The only real complaint about Tidwell was his command as he was inconsistent and surrendered three walks. Still, it was his best start since the LSU series as he got Tennessee into the middle innings with the lead.
At the plate, Tennessee bounced back from a poor outing on Friday with a strong performance, especially from the top of the lineup. Spence reached base four times, Ferguson reached base three times and Rucker and Gilbert each reached base two times. Credit to Rucker who went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts Friday. He had two RBI hits including the grand slam that broke things open in the sixth inning.
Jordan Beck continued his strong weekend with a great day at the plate. Beck went 4-for-5 with a RBI double and hit the ball really hard. He ends the weekend with his best SEC series to date, hitting 7-for-13 with three extra base hits, four RBIs and a homer. The sophomore right fielder had just nine hits in his previous nine games. Max Ferguson had a nice weekend too, going 4-for-11 with four walks. If those guys get going watch out for this offense.
Redmond Walsh can easily get overlooked since Tennessee blew the game open after his first 0.2 innings, but the senior was great coming into the game for Tidwell. He would have stranded the inherited runner at third if it weren’t for a Ferguson error. The lefty ended the game with 3.2 innings pitched, allowing zero runs and no base runners while striking out five. They have all been in more low leverage spots but since the series opener against Vanderbilt Walsh has allowed just one run in 7.2 innings in SEC play. Will be interesting to see if his role expands going forward.
Today’s win puts Tennessee at 14-7 seven weeks into SEC play. The 14 wins matches Tennessee’s conference total in 2019 when the Vols returned to a regional for the first time since 2005.
Vols are off in the midweek due to finals but will return to action Friday as they open a three game series at Missouri.
Quotes
Tony Vitello on Jake Rucker bouncing back from a four strikeout game
“It was like he wasn’t seeing the ball. Some of those at-bats were crazy. I think he swung with one arm one time. … I thought the at-bats were more than anything more true to himself. I think overall he did a great job of doing what the team needed to do last night and that’s hit the reset button and go 1-0 today.”
Vitello on Redmond Walsh’s improvements his last few times out
“A little bit of it is mentality. He was that guy thinking he needed to do more. He’s cruising along and it’s like ‘I’m very good so I’m going to try and be super good’ instead of just being himself. Along with that came a physical adjustment. In trying to do too much he starts messing the ball and doing a bunch of different things and it affected how he was throwing the ball overall to keep the answer a little short. There was a physical adjustment made over the last few weeks and he’s back to being himself and that’s all he needs to be.”
Vitello on Pavolony’s status going forward
“He’s had that little splint on and he’s been a great guy in the dugout over the course of the weekend. I’d be remiss if I didn’t say Jackson Greer caught his butt off and was tremendous at the plate so all things are looking good for the Vols, but we really won’t know an answer until the middle of the week. They’re going to leave that thing alone and then get back over there with the doctors and re assess before we get on a flight to Missouri. I’d expect him to be able to do something. He’s at least going with us. He was not on the active list this weekend but he’ll be there and he’ll be on the active list. I would sense that he will contribute in some form or fashion. I don’t think we’ll pinch run him, I can promise you that but I think he’ll be ready to help us at sometime soon.”
Jordan Beck on any adjustments he’s made the last few weeks
“I think for me if I swing at strikes I’m usually pretty good and if I’m chasing pitches down in the zone or up in the zone I put myself in a hole and if I’m doing that in a 0-0 count or something like that— it’s hard to hit with two strikes in this league.”
Redmond Walsh on the benefit of him coming in after a hard throwing righty
“I was actually thinking about that the other day. I think I play really well off of people like (Andrew) Schultz and Tiddy (Tidwell). Being able to manipulate speeds a little more it’s definitely something that I enjoy doing. I think it helps me out in the long run.”
Walsh on some of his mechanic changes this season
“I think I was trying not to be who I was. I was trying to add a cutter to attack lefties with. It was causing me to cut the ball on my changeup and that’s who I’ve always been— I’ve been a fastball, changeup guy, flip in a couple curves. When I started developing the cutter it started hindering my changeup so over the last couple weeks I’ve taken away the cutter and the changeup is slowly started to come back and I’ve kind of gotten back to who I was two years ago.”
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