Tennessee advanced to the Knoxville Regional final Saturday behind five home runs and strong pitching from Blade Tidwell and Camden Sewell.
Tennessee 9 9 2
Liberty 3 8 0
W — Blade Tidwell, L — Dylan Cumming
Notes
If there were any questions about how Tennessee would respond after an emotional come from behind victory last night, the Vols put them to bed quickly. The Big Orange jumped out to a 7-0 lead with one run in the first inning, four runs in the second inning and two runs in the third inning.
The Vols’ power showed up early with Tennessee hitting five home runs and tying its program postseason record for the most homers in a game in the first three innings. Liam Spence picked up right where Drew Gilbert left off last night, homering on the first at-bat of the game and adding another blast in the second inning. Spence flew out to the wall twice last night and entered the game with just three home runs on the season.
Luc Lipcius, who is hitting 14-of-33 (.424) with six home runs over the last 10 games, added two more long balls Saturday, including one over the batter’s eye in center field. Drew Gilbert added a home run as well.
Blade Tidwell didn’t allow an earned run in 5.2 innings and put Tennessee in a prime position to win but the freshman wasn’t as sharp Saturday as he’s been in his last couple outings. Tidwell’s velocity was slightly down with his fastball sitting mostly in the 92-95 MPH range instead of his typical 96-98 MPH range. Tidwell gave up four hits and three walks while striking out just three, his least amount of strikeouts since his start against Texas A&M. Still, that shows how much the freshman has grown this season and how good he is for his age. Despite not being at his best, Tidwell gave the Vols five plus strong innings and put them in a great position to win.
Things did get a little dicey in the middle innings. Liberty scored three unearned runs in the fifth inning as a two-out Jake Rucker throwing error allowed a run to score and the inning to continue. After giving up a two-run single and getting out of the inning with a hard fly out, Kirby Connell ran into serious trouble in the seventh inning.
Connell gave up a hit and walk to begin the inning, opening up a prime opportunity for Liberty to cut into Tennessee’s four-run lead and get back in the game. Tony Vitello turned to Camden Sewell and the junior delivered. Sewell got a strikeout, which led to Liberty coach Scott Jackson getting ejected, and a 6-4-3 double play to get out of the jam. The Cleveland, Tennessee native took the Vols the distance, throwing 35 pitches while allowing just two hits and no runs in the final 2.2 innings. I was a little surprised that Vitello left Sewell out to pitch the ninth inning. Sewell had thrown just 17 pitches entering the final inning and could have conceivably still started for the Vols on Monday, if Tennessee lost Sunday. Now it creates an interesting pitching situation if the Vols were to lose on Sunday.
Sewell getting out of the seventh inning jam really sparked some life back into Lindsey Nelson Stadium and the offense responded by putting the Flames to bed. Gilbert and Lipcius walked and advanced 90 feet on a passed ball before Pete Derkay provided a two-out single that brought both runners home. Derkay continued his hot streak Saturday with a 3-for-4 performance.
Tennessee will look to punch its ticket to the Super Regionals Sunday night at 6 p.m. ET when they face the winner of Duke and Liberty. The winner of that game will have to beat the Vols twice to advance out of the Knoxville Regional.
Tony Vitello didn’t commit to a starting pitcher for Sunday but I would be shocked if it wasn’t Will Heflin
Quotes
Tony Vitello on how the team responded to the quick turn around after last night’s dramatic win
“I think it was a strong effort in that fashion. I think they learned their lessons and, not that they did anything wrong in the past, but you have to navigate through the waters of our league, tournament games in Hoover and a lot of emotional wins. We’ve had a lot of emotional wins and losses, and I tell the kids all the time that even if it’s the first time you’re doing something or it’s a new set of circumstances, it’s not like you can’t do well if you approach it well. But, it certainly helps when you have all of the practice that we’ve had of extra‐inning games, bounce‐back games, quick‐turnaround games, difficult games, catch‐a‐bad‐break games, playing phenomenal opponents. I just don’t think there’s anything we haven’t done yet—or at least experienced to an extent. Of course, as I say that, you still show up to the baseball field every day expecting to see something new. But whatever it is, I feel like our guys are well prepared.”
Vitello on the abundance of home runs in the Knoxville Regional
““I think you have phenomenal hitters. The No. 1 offense in the country (in Wright State) is sent here, and I feel bad for those guys. The storyline for the average fan or media person that doesn’t know that program, coaching staff and roster is that the No. 4 seed only wins a game at most or exits early, but it doesn’t do justice to that club. I feel like they deserved to be in a better position to make some noise. And I feel like they did make noise. They had us up against the ropes, and they swing the bats well. So, it starts from the bottom and goes all the way to the top. We feel like we have one of those SEC lineups where, 1‐9, you don’t get much breathing room, and we have a few strong pinch hitters. Then, the two teams in the middle are two teams who have slugged it out already and have put up double‐digits already in our park. So, it starts with the talent. And then, when it’s this late in the year—we see it all the time with guys in the summer—the warm weather is here, the ball is carrying, and that means you have kerosene on the dynamite there.”
Vitello on Pete Derkay
“Our second year here, Pete was injured almost the whole last third of the year. He just battled through it. He had a hand injury that was just very difficult to deal with. The kid is tough; he loves the Vols probably more than anybody I get to be around every day, and I think that moment allowed him to catch his breath a little bit and allowed him to tame that swing down. When he’s just swinging naturally with his bat, he might be the best bat‐handler on this team, and that’s why he’s in that spot. That’s why he’s had so much success during his entire career here for us.”
Vitello on Camden Sewell
“To be honest with you, I owe my man (Will) Mabry an apology. It just got really messy in that inning. It would have been a really difficult play to complete, but we could have made a play to get out of that thing. You know Blade is your guy stuff‐wise on our staff, and he was throwing the ball so well, so it was just really tricky how it all played out. Then, he goes 2‐0 on a lefty and we went with our gut to go left‐on‐left in that situation. You try to do all of the paperwork and be on your toes, but it shows you how quickly things can speed up when a few things go wrong. As Luc (Lipcius) alluded to, if we play catch a little better, I think we minimize the damage in that inning a little bit better, despite me needing to manage it a bit better. But, Camden and (Redmond Walsh) were the guys we envisioned finishing this game for us. Sean Hunley at the least needed a day where he wasn’t on the available list because of his pitch count. We expected that to happen, and I would say that maybe he threw one or two more innings than we wanted, but he was efficient in his pitch count with just 35 pitches to get the job done. He picked up right where he left off in Hoover. Kind of like Luc—and I don’t mean to speak for him—I think Luc is swinging the bat like Luc does. Like we saw all Fall and in Spring training. But like his teammates, I think it took him a while to just relax and play baseball. But Camden Sewell and Luc are two guys that are just playing baseball and following the lead of the Aussie (Liam Spence) who’s been doing it all year.”
Luc Lipcius on what was working for him at the plate
“I can’t point to anything specifically that was working today. It was just a buildup and a culmination of everything we’ve been doing in practice and our early work and all of that. You just get good pitches to hit, swing at them, barrel them, and on nights like tonight and yesterday, they’ll go out. Lindsey (Nelson Stadium) has been playing in our favor, and we’ll try to keep it going. I actually just pointed at the earned runs (on the box score). There’s a goose egg there, but that’s neither here, nor there. But, it’s really just a confidence thing. Me and the whole offense knows that if I don’t come through, someone else will. So, it allows us to relax in pressure situations. There are some tweaks here and there and everyone is rolling right now. It’s a really good time for us to get hot. We’re playing really good baseball, and it’s just really exciting.”
Tennessee 9 9 2
Liberty 3 8 0
W — Blade Tidwell, L — Dylan Cumming
Notes
If there were any questions about how Tennessee would respond after an emotional come from behind victory last night, the Vols put them to bed quickly. The Big Orange jumped out to a 7-0 lead with one run in the first inning, four runs in the second inning and two runs in the third inning.
The Vols’ power showed up early with Tennessee hitting five home runs and tying its program postseason record for the most homers in a game in the first three innings. Liam Spence picked up right where Drew Gilbert left off last night, homering on the first at-bat of the game and adding another blast in the second inning. Spence flew out to the wall twice last night and entered the game with just three home runs on the season.
Luc Lipcius, who is hitting 14-of-33 (.424) with six home runs over the last 10 games, added two more long balls Saturday, including one over the batter’s eye in center field. Drew Gilbert added a home run as well.
Blade Tidwell didn’t allow an earned run in 5.2 innings and put Tennessee in a prime position to win but the freshman wasn’t as sharp Saturday as he’s been in his last couple outings. Tidwell’s velocity was slightly down with his fastball sitting mostly in the 92-95 MPH range instead of his typical 96-98 MPH range. Tidwell gave up four hits and three walks while striking out just three, his least amount of strikeouts since his start against Texas A&M. Still, that shows how much the freshman has grown this season and how good he is for his age. Despite not being at his best, Tidwell gave the Vols five plus strong innings and put them in a great position to win.
Things did get a little dicey in the middle innings. Liberty scored three unearned runs in the fifth inning as a two-out Jake Rucker throwing error allowed a run to score and the inning to continue. After giving up a two-run single and getting out of the inning with a hard fly out, Kirby Connell ran into serious trouble in the seventh inning.
Connell gave up a hit and walk to begin the inning, opening up a prime opportunity for Liberty to cut into Tennessee’s four-run lead and get back in the game. Tony Vitello turned to Camden Sewell and the junior delivered. Sewell got a strikeout, which led to Liberty coach Scott Jackson getting ejected, and a 6-4-3 double play to get out of the jam. The Cleveland, Tennessee native took the Vols the distance, throwing 35 pitches while allowing just two hits and no runs in the final 2.2 innings. I was a little surprised that Vitello left Sewell out to pitch the ninth inning. Sewell had thrown just 17 pitches entering the final inning and could have conceivably still started for the Vols on Monday, if Tennessee lost Sunday. Now it creates an interesting pitching situation if the Vols were to lose on Sunday.
Sewell getting out of the seventh inning jam really sparked some life back into Lindsey Nelson Stadium and the offense responded by putting the Flames to bed. Gilbert and Lipcius walked and advanced 90 feet on a passed ball before Pete Derkay provided a two-out single that brought both runners home. Derkay continued his hot streak Saturday with a 3-for-4 performance.
Tennessee will look to punch its ticket to the Super Regionals Sunday night at 6 p.m. ET when they face the winner of Duke and Liberty. The winner of that game will have to beat the Vols twice to advance out of the Knoxville Regional.
Tony Vitello didn’t commit to a starting pitcher for Sunday but I would be shocked if it wasn’t Will Heflin
Quotes
Tony Vitello on how the team responded to the quick turn around after last night’s dramatic win
“I think it was a strong effort in that fashion. I think they learned their lessons and, not that they did anything wrong in the past, but you have to navigate through the waters of our league, tournament games in Hoover and a lot of emotional wins. We’ve had a lot of emotional wins and losses, and I tell the kids all the time that even if it’s the first time you’re doing something or it’s a new set of circumstances, it’s not like you can’t do well if you approach it well. But, it certainly helps when you have all of the practice that we’ve had of extra‐inning games, bounce‐back games, quick‐turnaround games, difficult games, catch‐a‐bad‐break games, playing phenomenal opponents. I just don’t think there’s anything we haven’t done yet—or at least experienced to an extent. Of course, as I say that, you still show up to the baseball field every day expecting to see something new. But whatever it is, I feel like our guys are well prepared.”
Vitello on the abundance of home runs in the Knoxville Regional
““I think you have phenomenal hitters. The No. 1 offense in the country (in Wright State) is sent here, and I feel bad for those guys. The storyline for the average fan or media person that doesn’t know that program, coaching staff and roster is that the No. 4 seed only wins a game at most or exits early, but it doesn’t do justice to that club. I feel like they deserved to be in a better position to make some noise. And I feel like they did make noise. They had us up against the ropes, and they swing the bats well. So, it starts from the bottom and goes all the way to the top. We feel like we have one of those SEC lineups where, 1‐9, you don’t get much breathing room, and we have a few strong pinch hitters. Then, the two teams in the middle are two teams who have slugged it out already and have put up double‐digits already in our park. So, it starts with the talent. And then, when it’s this late in the year—we see it all the time with guys in the summer—the warm weather is here, the ball is carrying, and that means you have kerosene on the dynamite there.”
Vitello on Pete Derkay
“Our second year here, Pete was injured almost the whole last third of the year. He just battled through it. He had a hand injury that was just very difficult to deal with. The kid is tough; he loves the Vols probably more than anybody I get to be around every day, and I think that moment allowed him to catch his breath a little bit and allowed him to tame that swing down. When he’s just swinging naturally with his bat, he might be the best bat‐handler on this team, and that’s why he’s in that spot. That’s why he’s had so much success during his entire career here for us.”
Vitello on Camden Sewell
“To be honest with you, I owe my man (Will) Mabry an apology. It just got really messy in that inning. It would have been a really difficult play to complete, but we could have made a play to get out of that thing. You know Blade is your guy stuff‐wise on our staff, and he was throwing the ball so well, so it was just really tricky how it all played out. Then, he goes 2‐0 on a lefty and we went with our gut to go left‐on‐left in that situation. You try to do all of the paperwork and be on your toes, but it shows you how quickly things can speed up when a few things go wrong. As Luc (Lipcius) alluded to, if we play catch a little better, I think we minimize the damage in that inning a little bit better, despite me needing to manage it a bit better. But, Camden and (Redmond Walsh) were the guys we envisioned finishing this game for us. Sean Hunley at the least needed a day where he wasn’t on the available list because of his pitch count. We expected that to happen, and I would say that maybe he threw one or two more innings than we wanted, but he was efficient in his pitch count with just 35 pitches to get the job done. He picked up right where he left off in Hoover. Kind of like Luc—and I don’t mean to speak for him—I think Luc is swinging the bat like Luc does. Like we saw all Fall and in Spring training. But like his teammates, I think it took him a while to just relax and play baseball. But Camden Sewell and Luc are two guys that are just playing baseball and following the lead of the Aussie (Liam Spence) who’s been doing it all year.”
Luc Lipcius on what was working for him at the plate
“I can’t point to anything specifically that was working today. It was just a buildup and a culmination of everything we’ve been doing in practice and our early work and all of that. You just get good pitches to hit, swing at them, barrel them, and on nights like tonight and yesterday, they’ll go out. Lindsey (Nelson Stadium) has been playing in our favor, and we’ll try to keep it going. I actually just pointed at the earned runs (on the box score). There’s a goose egg there, but that’s neither here, nor there. But, it’s really just a confidence thing. Me and the whole offense knows that if I don’t come through, someone else will. So, it allows us to relax in pressure situations. There are some tweaks here and there and everyone is rolling right now. It’s a really good time for us to get hot. We’re playing really good baseball, and it’s just really exciting.”
