Tennessee took the Super Regional opener over LSU, leaning on strong pitching from Chad Dallas and Sean Hunley.
LSU 2 8 0
Tennessee 4 6 1
W — Chad Dallas, L — Javen Coleman, S — Sean Hunley
Notes
Let’s start with Chad Dallas. The way Lindsey Nelson Stadium plays this time of year and Dallas tendency to give up the deep ball I did not think this was a great matchup for him. Fighting through adversity, Dallas was fantastic, allowing just one earned run on a solo home run in the downpour that occurred in the second inning. Dallas recorded a career high 12 strikeouts while allowing just five hits and no walks in six innings. The redshirt-junior earned the win to improve to 11-1 on the season.
At the plate, Tennessee’s bats struggled recording just six hits and reaching base just nine times. The Vols didn’t have a whole lot of hard contact either but capitalized on their scoring chances. A game like this showed the value of the first half of Tennessee’s season. The Vols’ power erupted the second half of SEC play but before that Tennessee won games grinding out at-bats. Tonight, UT found ways to get runs home without the long ball.
Credit Jake Rucker. He looked terrible in his second at-bat of the game and came back with two doubles in his last two at-bats. His one-out double in the sixth inning was Tennessee’s biggest hit of the night.
It was business as usual for Sean Hunley, who retired the final nine batters to earn his ninth save of the season. Hunley got through the seventh and eighth inning free of drama but the Tigers were able to move the tying run to second in the ninth inning. The Mt. Juliet, Tennessee native delivered, striking out Jordan Thompson to secure the win.
It won’t be talked about, especially because Rucker’s play before was so bad, but the back handed stop Lipcius made on a hard hit ball at first to get the second out of the ninth inning was difficult and its ramifications were massive.
Tennessee will look to punch its ticket to Omaha on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on ESPN2. RHP Landon Marceaux will get the ball for LSU and will face off with RHP Blade Tidwell.
QUOTES
Tony Vitello on what he saw from Chad Dallas
“I can’t coach pitchers like Frank (Anderson) but you go out on the road and scout them and I did coach pitchers for a few years. You kind of can see when a guy is locked in to the point where it’s almost like he’s not going to let anything happen that he doesn’t want to. Chad had that look to him and obviously he’s not invincible and he’s facing a really good team but he just had that look of determination. … He just kind of had that look like he was in get it done mode tonight and he certainly was and once again our guys followed.”
Vitello on the emotion leading up to the game
“Even though we were pushed to Saturday, the week wasn’t quite as slow as you might think. The guys were really good in training. There’s not much you can do in practice this time of year. Earlier in the day I kind of had that vibe that— this could be a good deal— the vibes we were getting. As that anthem picked up everybody, including the coaches and myself, got a little too jacked up. It’s hard to say that you should do otherwise when the environment is like that and you see a SEC opponent across the other side like that. Once we calmed down and played it was definitely in our favor.”
Vitello on his team finding runs other ways than the long ball
“It shows that you can win games in any situation. It’s really fun for the offense to explode and the fans to go nuts and win by eight or nine runs but it hasn’t happened often, especially early in the year the kids had to learn a way to find a way. It came in a variety of ways at home and on the road. In your utility belt when you need something we’re fortunate enough to have a diverse portfolio that you can go to when it relates to finding a way to win a game.”
Vitello on what the pitching looks like Sunday
“As far as Blade, it’s really been more about— obviously he’s pitched on game two or game three for us— he’s been able to watch the opponent and learn from his teammates, but really it’s been about Blade’s evolving as a pitcher and maturing as a college athlete. I think that’s kind of his deal, he’s just been getting better each week and it’s been fun to watch. I think Chad’s efforts certainly helped that.”
Chad Dallas on going through the rain delay
“Going through the rain delay was a little different. You sometimes wait through long innings but those aren’t as long as this rain delay was. Like coach Vitello said, I felt like it was my game to continue. In my heart and in my mind there was nothing that was going to take me out of that game— no matter how long it was. As soon as I saw it was a delay I went up to coach Anderson and asked him when I can go down to the cages to stay stretched out. It was just the competitor inside of me that didn’t want to get taken out of the game.”
Jake Rucker on what Hilliard was doing to keep them off balance
“He’s obviously a good pitcher. He threw pretty well today. All his pitches were working well, keeping the hitters off balance. He didn’t really have anything overpowering but all his pitches moved pretty well and that just allowed us to not be able to hit him that well.”
Rucker on bouncing back from a poor at-bat with two doubles
“Going back to what I was saying about Hilliard— his stuff was good and he was working all his pitches. Just all my teammates just picking me up and letting me know to go get the next one and not worry about that at-bat. Just trying to stay positive and that mojo that we have has been working so just having that confidence with each other and that trust helped me get those two doubles.
LSU 2 8 0
Tennessee 4 6 1
W — Chad Dallas, L — Javen Coleman, S — Sean Hunley
Notes
Let’s start with Chad Dallas. The way Lindsey Nelson Stadium plays this time of year and Dallas tendency to give up the deep ball I did not think this was a great matchup for him. Fighting through adversity, Dallas was fantastic, allowing just one earned run on a solo home run in the downpour that occurred in the second inning. Dallas recorded a career high 12 strikeouts while allowing just five hits and no walks in six innings. The redshirt-junior earned the win to improve to 11-1 on the season.
At the plate, Tennessee’s bats struggled recording just six hits and reaching base just nine times. The Vols didn’t have a whole lot of hard contact either but capitalized on their scoring chances. A game like this showed the value of the first half of Tennessee’s season. The Vols’ power erupted the second half of SEC play but before that Tennessee won games grinding out at-bats. Tonight, UT found ways to get runs home without the long ball.
Credit Jake Rucker. He looked terrible in his second at-bat of the game and came back with two doubles in his last two at-bats. His one-out double in the sixth inning was Tennessee’s biggest hit of the night.
It was business as usual for Sean Hunley, who retired the final nine batters to earn his ninth save of the season. Hunley got through the seventh and eighth inning free of drama but the Tigers were able to move the tying run to second in the ninth inning. The Mt. Juliet, Tennessee native delivered, striking out Jordan Thompson to secure the win.
It won’t be talked about, especially because Rucker’s play before was so bad, but the back handed stop Lipcius made on a hard hit ball at first to get the second out of the ninth inning was difficult and its ramifications were massive.
Tennessee will look to punch its ticket to Omaha on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on ESPN2. RHP Landon Marceaux will get the ball for LSU and will face off with RHP Blade Tidwell.
QUOTES
Tony Vitello on what he saw from Chad Dallas
“I can’t coach pitchers like Frank (Anderson) but you go out on the road and scout them and I did coach pitchers for a few years. You kind of can see when a guy is locked in to the point where it’s almost like he’s not going to let anything happen that he doesn’t want to. Chad had that look to him and obviously he’s not invincible and he’s facing a really good team but he just had that look of determination. … He just kind of had that look like he was in get it done mode tonight and he certainly was and once again our guys followed.”
Vitello on the emotion leading up to the game
“Even though we were pushed to Saturday, the week wasn’t quite as slow as you might think. The guys were really good in training. There’s not much you can do in practice this time of year. Earlier in the day I kind of had that vibe that— this could be a good deal— the vibes we were getting. As that anthem picked up everybody, including the coaches and myself, got a little too jacked up. It’s hard to say that you should do otherwise when the environment is like that and you see a SEC opponent across the other side like that. Once we calmed down and played it was definitely in our favor.”
Vitello on his team finding runs other ways than the long ball
“It shows that you can win games in any situation. It’s really fun for the offense to explode and the fans to go nuts and win by eight or nine runs but it hasn’t happened often, especially early in the year the kids had to learn a way to find a way. It came in a variety of ways at home and on the road. In your utility belt when you need something we’re fortunate enough to have a diverse portfolio that you can go to when it relates to finding a way to win a game.”
Vitello on what the pitching looks like Sunday
“As far as Blade, it’s really been more about— obviously he’s pitched on game two or game three for us— he’s been able to watch the opponent and learn from his teammates, but really it’s been about Blade’s evolving as a pitcher and maturing as a college athlete. I think that’s kind of his deal, he’s just been getting better each week and it’s been fun to watch. I think Chad’s efforts certainly helped that.”
Chad Dallas on going through the rain delay
“Going through the rain delay was a little different. You sometimes wait through long innings but those aren’t as long as this rain delay was. Like coach Vitello said, I felt like it was my game to continue. In my heart and in my mind there was nothing that was going to take me out of that game— no matter how long it was. As soon as I saw it was a delay I went up to coach Anderson and asked him when I can go down to the cages to stay stretched out. It was just the competitor inside of me that didn’t want to get taken out of the game.”
Jake Rucker on what Hilliard was doing to keep them off balance
“He’s obviously a good pitcher. He threw pretty well today. All his pitches were working well, keeping the hitters off balance. He didn’t really have anything overpowering but all his pitches moved pretty well and that just allowed us to not be able to hit him that well.”
Rucker on bouncing back from a poor at-bat with two doubles
“Going back to what I was saying about Hilliard— his stuff was good and he was working all his pitches. Just all my teammates just picking me up and letting me know to go get the next one and not worry about that at-bat. Just trying to stay positive and that mojo that we have has been working so just having that confidence with each other and that trust helped me get those two doubles.
