Tennessee earned its first win in Columbia since April 6, 2012 Thursday, storming out to a 7-0 lead before securing the series opening win.
Tennessee 10 12 1
South Carolina 4 7 0
W — Chad Dallas, L — Brannon Jordan, S — Sean Hunley
Notes
It was a fitting start for Tennessee ace Chad Dallas to end the regular season on. The redshirt- junior's four earned runs in 7.2 innings don’t stand out as dominant but Dallas was really solid again for UT in the series opener. Dallas surrendered just four hits and six baserunners Thursday but two of the four hits were home runs. Dallas has thrown at least six innings in eight of his 10 SEC starts and in a handful of cases, like Thursday, ate outs for Tennessee deep into a comfortable lead to save the bullpen for the rest of the weekend. Dallas struck out eight batters in his winning performance.
For Tennessee’s offense it was all about the big inning as the Vols scored six runs in the third inning and three runs in the ninth. Tennessee had just two hits in the other seven innings but they made the most of their big innings, building a large lead. In the fourth inning, Tennessee jumped on South Carolina starter Brannon Jordan. Jordan was really solid the first three innings but Tennessee got to him as the top of its order saw him for the third time. The Vols had five straight batters reach in the inning and both Luc Lipcius and Max Ferguson went deep.
In the ninth inning, Tennessee had nobody on with two outs after Max Ferguson was picked off at first. South Carolina was down just three and in striking distance but four straight Tennessee hits added three runs and left no room for doubt.
The pressure was off Sean Hunley when he came to the mound to pitch the ninth inning but the pressure was on in the eighth inning when he got a huge 3-2 strikeout to strand a runner and end the two-run inning. For the first time all night, South Carolina’s fans were really getting into the game and Hunley and UT’s offense immediately closed the door.
Credit to Tennessee’s middle infield defensively tonight. Both Liam Spence and Ferguson were really solid in the field and made a handful of really nice plays.
Spence’s 54 game on-base streak came to an end with an 0-of-4 performance with a sac bunt and two strikeouts. Spence had reached base safely in every game this season before tonight. An incredibly impressive feat.
Tennessee can clinch a series victory and a top four seed in the SEC Tournament with a win tomorrow. First pitch between Will Heflin and Brett Kerry is set for 7 p.m. ET.
Quotes
Tony Vitello on what he saw from Chad Dallas
“Chad was outstanding. As always I say the team likes, and definitely the coaching staff, likes him leading us into battle. I think he had a little extra determination to him tonight. Last week didn’t go quite the way he wanted even though he did what he always does and kind of grinded out an outing and gave us a chance to win, but tonight he was a little extra special and got some help from the infielder’s as well.”
Vitello on Dallas’ consistent ability to go deep in games
“It’s rare. It’s impressive but it’s also rare. He’s been one of the main reasons we’ve been able to keep our rotation set the way it is and I think it helps our team and it helps our whole pitching staff when they kind of have an idea of what’s going to happen going into each weekend and not only that but he did it on short rest and when it relates to his next outing, because I think we’re fortunate enough that he’ll at least get one more— he went as deep as I think he’s been in a game all year long. That will benefit us greatly on top of getting us the W.”
Vitello on the six run fourth inning
“I think our guys just started to have conversations in the dugout on what they needed to do because we weren’t really close to him— now he walked a few guys early on so he gave us a few more extra looks or he wasn’t completely dominating us but he was certainly in control. Whatever it was, our guys kind of solved that rubix cube a little bit. He’s put up great numbers for a reason. He’s got good stuff, he’s a good competitor but there’s also some sort of deception he has running there too.”
Vitello on this team’s recent ability to explode for the big inning
“With our league being a bunch of power bodies and power bats and some speed, most the offenses are successful in bunches, with innings. We’ve kind of caught up to the rest of the league in that manor. Our guys have just been getting away with competitive or fiery at-bats but now we’ve kind of caught up with the league. I think this dugout— I’m looking at these guys now and there’s the potential for a little bit more because we’re starting to get in our groove a little bit. These guys are more comfortable and they’re starting to shine through who they truly are. It’s a dynamic offense. There’s is as well so it makes for a good matchup.”
Vitello on how impressive Liam Spence’s 54 game on-base streak was and if he can think of any he’s seen in the same range
“I don’t know. I didn’t even know that until you told me— the honest to God truth. I had a smart alec always tell me he thought streaks were involved with your underwear and you don’t want those but we’ll take a new streak starting tomorrow if he can get on base and the bottom line is we always get competitive at-bats out of him and going back to recruiting we wanted a field general at shortstop and he ended the game tonight with two really good plays and had kind of a web gem type play earlier in the game.”
Tennessee 10 12 1
South Carolina 4 7 0
W — Chad Dallas, L — Brannon Jordan, S — Sean Hunley
Notes
It was a fitting start for Tennessee ace Chad Dallas to end the regular season on. The redshirt- junior's four earned runs in 7.2 innings don’t stand out as dominant but Dallas was really solid again for UT in the series opener. Dallas surrendered just four hits and six baserunners Thursday but two of the four hits were home runs. Dallas has thrown at least six innings in eight of his 10 SEC starts and in a handful of cases, like Thursday, ate outs for Tennessee deep into a comfortable lead to save the bullpen for the rest of the weekend. Dallas struck out eight batters in his winning performance.
For Tennessee’s offense it was all about the big inning as the Vols scored six runs in the third inning and three runs in the ninth. Tennessee had just two hits in the other seven innings but they made the most of their big innings, building a large lead. In the fourth inning, Tennessee jumped on South Carolina starter Brannon Jordan. Jordan was really solid the first three innings but Tennessee got to him as the top of its order saw him for the third time. The Vols had five straight batters reach in the inning and both Luc Lipcius and Max Ferguson went deep.
In the ninth inning, Tennessee had nobody on with two outs after Max Ferguson was picked off at first. South Carolina was down just three and in striking distance but four straight Tennessee hits added three runs and left no room for doubt.
The pressure was off Sean Hunley when he came to the mound to pitch the ninth inning but the pressure was on in the eighth inning when he got a huge 3-2 strikeout to strand a runner and end the two-run inning. For the first time all night, South Carolina’s fans were really getting into the game and Hunley and UT’s offense immediately closed the door.
Credit to Tennessee’s middle infield defensively tonight. Both Liam Spence and Ferguson were really solid in the field and made a handful of really nice plays.
Spence’s 54 game on-base streak came to an end with an 0-of-4 performance with a sac bunt and two strikeouts. Spence had reached base safely in every game this season before tonight. An incredibly impressive feat.
Tennessee can clinch a series victory and a top four seed in the SEC Tournament with a win tomorrow. First pitch between Will Heflin and Brett Kerry is set for 7 p.m. ET.
Quotes
Tony Vitello on what he saw from Chad Dallas
“Chad was outstanding. As always I say the team likes, and definitely the coaching staff, likes him leading us into battle. I think he had a little extra determination to him tonight. Last week didn’t go quite the way he wanted even though he did what he always does and kind of grinded out an outing and gave us a chance to win, but tonight he was a little extra special and got some help from the infielder’s as well.”
Vitello on Dallas’ consistent ability to go deep in games
“It’s rare. It’s impressive but it’s also rare. He’s been one of the main reasons we’ve been able to keep our rotation set the way it is and I think it helps our team and it helps our whole pitching staff when they kind of have an idea of what’s going to happen going into each weekend and not only that but he did it on short rest and when it relates to his next outing, because I think we’re fortunate enough that he’ll at least get one more— he went as deep as I think he’s been in a game all year long. That will benefit us greatly on top of getting us the W.”
Vitello on the six run fourth inning
“I think our guys just started to have conversations in the dugout on what they needed to do because we weren’t really close to him— now he walked a few guys early on so he gave us a few more extra looks or he wasn’t completely dominating us but he was certainly in control. Whatever it was, our guys kind of solved that rubix cube a little bit. He’s put up great numbers for a reason. He’s got good stuff, he’s a good competitor but there’s also some sort of deception he has running there too.”
Vitello on this team’s recent ability to explode for the big inning
“With our league being a bunch of power bodies and power bats and some speed, most the offenses are successful in bunches, with innings. We’ve kind of caught up to the rest of the league in that manor. Our guys have just been getting away with competitive or fiery at-bats but now we’ve kind of caught up with the league. I think this dugout— I’m looking at these guys now and there’s the potential for a little bit more because we’re starting to get in our groove a little bit. These guys are more comfortable and they’re starting to shine through who they truly are. It’s a dynamic offense. There’s is as well so it makes for a good matchup.”
Vitello on how impressive Liam Spence’s 54 game on-base streak was and if he can think of any he’s seen in the same range
“I don’t know. I didn’t even know that until you told me— the honest to God truth. I had a smart alec always tell me he thought streaks were involved with your underwear and you don’t want those but we’ll take a new streak starting tomorrow if he can get on base and the bottom line is we always get competitive at-bats out of him and going back to recruiting we wanted a field general at shortstop and he ended the game tonight with two really good plays and had kind of a web gem type play earlier in the game.”
