BaseVols come up short on Sunday with 6-7 loss, Alabama takes series in SEC opener

Saturday and Sunday losses sink Tennessee’s series

Nate Snead gave up a three-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning, and Tennessee managed just one run out of a one-out, bases-loaded opportunity in the bottom of the ninth in Alabama’s 7-6 win.

The offense went just 3-12 with runners in scoring position, 1-5 in bases-loaded opportunities and 1-4 when it had runners 90 feet from home with fewer than two outs. Those numbers don’t compound well off Saturday’s effort when the Vols went 3-19 with runners on base and 0-7 with RISP.

AJ Russell made his return to the mound after not pitching since he left the Albany game on February 23rd due to soreness in his side. He pitched just two innings and allowed a first-inning run but, most importantly, he looked healthy. Russell tossed 40 pitches, 28 for strikes, allowed two hits, no walks and sat down two Tide hitters with strikeouts. One of the Ks was of the rarely-seen-variety, hit-batter strikeout:

He wasn’t stand-out sharp, but no reason to fret there.

Alabama starter Hagan Banks allowed two-out singles in the first and second innings but started the third with a full-count walk to Cal Stark and a single to Christian Moore. The Tide made a pitching change, and reliever Kade Snell issued a four-pitch walk to Blake Burke to load the bases with no outs.

Billy Amick hit an pop-up that didn’t get past the dirt, which the Alabama first basemen actually dropped, UA got the first out on the infield fly rule despite the gaff. After Kavares Tears struck out on three pitches, Dylan Dreiling got the offense going with a bases-clearing double to the wall in left:

Robin Villeneuve hit another double that brought Dreiling home, but Hunter Ensley grounded out to end the inning. Tennessee took a 4-1 lead after scoring four on three hits.

With the Vols having essentially its full complement of arms available in the bullpen after Beam tossed a complete game Saturday, Tony Vitello went to Chris Stamos to relieve Russell.

Stamos gave out a one-out free pass to Gage Miller, and on the second pitch to the next batter, Stark made a throw to first trying to pick him off. Burke nearly got Miller with the initial tag, but Miller was waved safe.

Burke immediately turned away to contest the call, and while his attention was elsewhere, Miller stumbled past and off the base. Miller quickly retreated and was called safe again with his hand getting back to the bag before Burke’s swipe. The call was reviewed and upheld, though it seemed like a pair of near-simultaneous sequences that just didn’t go Tennessee’s way.

I’m not endorsing the opinion in the above tweet about Burke’s behavior on calls at first, but I wanted to include it to give you an idea of the scenario to corroborate my convoluted explanation. But had Burke stayed with the runner, he would have absolutely gotten the out.

Vitello went to Nate Snead after Stamos allowed a single to put two on with one out, but Snead gave up a run-scoring single on a 2-1 count and a sacrifice fly to the next batter one a 1-0 count.

Snead managed to escape the rest of the half inning without any more runs scoring thanks to a fielder’s choice for the third out despite a passed ball and a hit batter on a 2-1. Snead didn’t seem sharp from the jump — after the two runs crossed in the B3, he gave up a solo home run to lead off the fourth that put Alabama back ahead, 4-3. After a one-out single on a 2-2 count, Snead threw four balls to the next two hitter but managed pop-up outs to end the inning.

UT’s sophomore transfer stabilized and found a bit of a groove through the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. Though he gave up a hit in each frame, he managed some quick outs and didn’t allow a run or a walk.

But Tennessee’s offense didn’t fare any better against UA reliever Braylon Myers as the Alabama native mowed through UT’s order in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. Myers got the win with the 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K effort. He needed just 27 pitches against the 11 hitters he faced.

Myers exited before the T7, and the Vols took advantage with a one-out, first pitch single from Burke and a subsequent double from Billy Amick. With two men in scoring position and just one out, Tears plated one run with a ground-ball out but Dreiling ended the inning with a first-pitch out that stranded Amick at third base.

Vitello sent Snead back out for the bottom of the eighth after the TN bats went down in order in the top half of the frame, and Snead hit the first hitter he saw.

Even though Snead got the Vols into the eighth with a one-run lead in-hand, despite decreased speed on his fastball with somewhat shaky command throughout, Vitello still kept Snead in the game after he pegged the lead-off man.

Snead got a three-pitch K for out No. 1 but then gave up a first-pitch base hit. He needed one pitch for the second out, but an error put both Bama runners into scoring position. That ultimately didn’t matter, as Miller sent a 1-0 pitch out of the park for a three-run homer that put UA up 7-5. Sunday marked Snead’s first loss of the year with a final line of 5.1 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 0 BB and two hit batters.

In the T9, Alabama committed two errors and gave up two singles to load the bases with just one Volunteer out. The Tide changed pitchers and brought in junior Aidan Moza, who gave up four runs in one inning in Friday’s UT win.

Moza struck out Tears on three-straight pitches, but Dreiling worked a full-count walk that pushed across a run and brought Villeneuve to the plate with the game-winning run at second. Villeneuve ended the game with another three-pitch strikeout from UT.

The Vols start off 2024 the same way they did in 2023 — with series loss to start conference play. They get Xavier on Tuesday (6 PM start) for the midweek game before 15-6 Ole Miss comes to LNS after beating No. 20 South Carolina 2-1 in its first SEC series.